Breakdown

Control: 8.5

While most polyester strings tend to fall into a more control-oriented classification, Alpha pushes the envelope of how powerful a polyester setup can be while still allowing for excellent command over where the ball is going. Munish's power-based game was enhanced by Alpha, and after an initial adjustment period, he was able to go after bigger shots without fear of missing. He explained, "Alpha felt quite powerful, especially compared to Tour Sniper, another Grapplesnake string with five sides. I found a lot of my balls flying out, and I had to add a lot of racquet head speed to keep the ball spinning and dipping in. Stringing it at a higher tension helped me feel a lot more confident going for bigger and more angular shots."

Oak didn't find Alpha's hitting experience quite as powerful as Munish did. Instead, his playtest was defined by this string's all-around playability. He noted, "Alpha is an exceptionally made polyester string, offering phenomenal control, comfort and reliability. I was shocked at just how playable Alpha really was regardless of the frame I had it strung in. I found a good blend of power and control for a polyester string, and I appreciated the easy depth I was getting with Alpha. Although it's not as controllable as some other polys out there, Alpha is consistent enough to let me know what is working with my swing and what isn't."

Spin: 9.0

Spin proved to be a little divisive for our team, with our flatter hitter loving Alpha's spin access, and our more topspin-based player finding nothing too extraordinary in this category. Oak would have appreciated a little more spin access, but he noted that the string felt good when utilizing spin-heavy shots. He said, "Again, while not at the top of the charts in anyone's book, Alpha delivers sufficient spin and easy RPMs. I felt like I was able to generate adequate levels of spin, and I liked how the string pocketed the ball when I used spin-based mechanics. I'd say Alpha has better spin when it comes to slice and volleys, as opposed to topspin drives or kick serves. Basically, upward spin was not as easy to generate as downward spin."

Conversely, Munish found excellent spin capability and felt comfortable going for juicier kick serves or hitting nastier drop shots. He said, "The spin on this string is great. It didn't take much effort to generate lots of spin and kick on my shots. Hitting kick serves was an absolute blast with Alpha. I was able to get a few aces off my second serve just because of the extra kick I was getting. Another highlight for me was the amount of spin I could add to my drop volleys. It had been a long time since I hit one where the ball came back over the net to my side. I'm thoroughly impressed with the spin potential of Alpha."

Feel: 8.6

Feel and comfort were both highlights of Alpha's performance, although that did prove to be a little tension specific. Regardless, the massive amounts of comfort won over both of our testers. Munish had to experiment to dial in his string setup, but eventually he enjoyed Alpha's feel. He said, "I initially strung Alpha on my Wilson RF 01 Pro at 57 pounds, and I wasn't getting any discomfort or arm issues. I still got decent feel, but I didn't expect a ton with that tension. I raised my tension to 60 pounds and found that Alpha still felt crisp, but not stiff. I had enough feel to hit touch volleys and drop shots from the baseline with great precision, but I was also clocking balls whenever I got the chance, and I didn't have any discomfort."

Oak added, "The feel is just incredible. It's one of those strings that is so reliable and so feedback-oriented that it lets me focus on my mechanics. The comfort is also exceptional for a polyester, and I loved testing this string in stiffer frames to see if the comfort could offset the inherent harshness of the frame (it easily did so). I also tried to see how Alpha's comfort held up in a smaller head size with a denser 18x20 string pattern, to which it responded fantastically. This made me realize that Alpha's best quality perhaps is its playability regardless of the racquet it's in."

Playability Duration: 8.7

Grapplesnake Alpha's tension maintenance, or playability duration, also proved somewhat divisive, with Oak enjoying how the string broke in and Munish feeling like the string broke down somewhat. Oak thought Alpha settled in quite nicely and liked the string more and more as the playtest went on. He said, "Alpha has surprised me with how well the playability holds up. The string does drop its tension of course, but the drop doesn't feel dramatic, and the comfort only got better while thankfully still maintaining its good playability."

For Munish, the drop in tension did not work as well as he would've hoped, prompting him to increase his initial tension. He explained, "Alpha's tension maintenance isn't my favorite. The tension seemed to have dropped a fair amount, and the feel of the ball on the string changed due to that. My balls were a bit more floaty, and it was difficult to hit my spots consistently. I restrung it the second time at a higher tension (60 pounds), and that eventually dropped to a more familiar and preferred tension. There was very little notching on my first string job before I cut it out, and I haven't seen any notching on my stringbed yet the second time around."

Breakdown Summary