Double AR Twice Shark String Review

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Double AR Twice Shark String Scores
Power	75
Spin	93
Comfort	80
Control	72
Feel	80
Playability Duration	40
Durability	85
Overall	78

Upsides

• Comfort
• Spin
• Perfect starter poly for less advanced players

Downsides

• Low powered
• Tension Maintenance

Summary

Twice Shark is an uncommonly elastic co-polyester from a new Italian string manufacturer, Double AR. Our playtest team found a very stretchy co-poly that had an almost unbelievably high comfort level for a poly-based string. Even at higher tensions, it managed to stay comfortable outside the sweetspot. We were also very impressed with the spin potential. On big swings the combination of bite and snap provided the recipe for heavy balls that jumped off the court. The biggest downside was poor tension maintenance followed, predictably, by control problems. In this regard Twice Shark is no different than the majority of soft co-polys, many of which need to be cut out of the racquet long before they snap. Ultimately, though, for the player who wants a lively and truly comfortable co-poly with great spin, Twice Shark is very hard to beat.

Control - Score: 72 / Power - Score: 75

According to our playtest team, Twice Shark definitely has a powerful side, a fact Tiffani discovered after the "break-in" period. She said, "If you asked me if this was a powerful string at the beginning of the test and at the end, you would get two different answers. When it was fresh off the stringer at 57 lbs Twice Shark offered me more control than free power. However, after the initial hour of hitting the string really opened up. Perhaps predictably, the more the string dropped tension the more powerful it felt to me, and I was able to hit with more depth easily."

Chris also found this string getting more powerful over time. He said, "This string offered more power than I'd expect from a poly. When freshly strung it blends power with moderate control (assisted by excellent spin). However, as the string set in it lost tension and became very lively. I increased the tension a couple of pounds and had our string guru, Wolfman, slow pull/pre-stretch when stringing to increase the level of control -- otherwise this string was just too powerful."

Spin - Score: 93

With its excellent bite and robust snap back, Twice Shark received an incredible spin score from our team. Chris had no complaints. He said, "I found this string to be very spin-friendly. It was making all the right moves when it came to spin. There was ample snap back to give the ball a little kick as it left the stringbed, and the string seemed to grab the ball well for ample bite. Lastly, the soft response meant the stringbed was pocketing the ball well for a smidgen more dwell time and added access to spin. I sure was glad to be getting lots of spin as it helped me control the lively response. With the power I found, this string had my shots kicking nicely through the court."

Tiffani found excellent spin, especially at the beginning of the playtest. She said, "I typically like softer strings, and a lot of times that means using a multifilament. I felt like I was getting easy topspin with this string, and nice bite on my backhand slice shots. However, toward the end of the testing period I noticed that my shots weren't dropping in as reliably as they were at the beginning."

Comfort - Score: 80

Let's not mince words. Twice Shark is very comfortable. In our Tennis Warehouse University String Lab it posted a stiffness score that is more commonly seen in multifilament strings. This helps explain why Tiffani found it so comfortable in her stiff racquet. She said, "I strung it fairly tightly considering it's poly-based, and even though it was in my stiff feeling Pure Drive Play racquet, Twice Shark was always comfortable. As someone who frequently plays with the likes of Tecnifibre's X-One Biphase I hesitate to say plush comfort, but Twice Shark was still very comfortable on my arm. I didn't have any jarring sensations to worry about, even on mishits."

"This is a very soft string for a co-poly" said Chris, who was also very impressed with the comfort. "I had absolutely no comfort issues with it at all. I hit this string in everything from a Pure Drive to the new Blade 98S, as well as a Volkl Super G 10 (295g), and it felt plush and comfortable in every racquet. This is up there right now as one of, if not the most, comfortable poly based strings I've hit."

Feel - Score: 80

Compared to the feel of a traditional polyester, Twice Shark is very soft. For Chris, who typically plays with firmer polys, it was actually a little too soft. He said, "This a very soft string for a co-poly. It offered excellent ball pocketing but was a tad too soft and lively for me. It got livelier as the test wore on and the tension dropped. I was reminded of Polyfibre TCS and Cobra, as well as Poly Star Classic; all have that soft and elastic feel to them."

The softer feel of Twice Shark worked a little better for Tiffani, who said, "I've certainly played with crisper feeling strings, and I like a softer feel from my strings. This is as soft as Polyfibre TCS or one of my new favorites, YTex Quadro Twist. I had enough feel for the ball to keep me from calling it mushy. It's a feel that I like -- comfortable, with sufficient ball feel."

Playability Duration - Score: 40

Like death and taxes, stringbed tension loss is one of life's few certainties, especially when it comes to soft co-polyester tennis strings. Twice Shark definitely lost its fair share of tension, and the playability changed as a result. According to Tiffani, however, a little tension loss is not necessarily a bad thing. She said, "There is a noticeable drop in tension after the first hour or so. For me, this was welcomed to open up the power level a bit more. After stringing my Pure Drive at 57 lbs I felt like Twice Shark needed to loosen up some. Stringing it a little tighter helped lengthen the amount of time it remained playable, though. For whatever reason, I actually like the feel of polys as they begin to age, so I might leave a string in longer than some others would like, but I will cut this out soon after this playtest wraps up. After about four weeks on the same set of Twice Shark the ball is beginning to launch too frequently."

"The downside to this string was how fast the tension dropped out of it," said Chris, who ran into some control issues with Twice Shark. "I tried a set strung up at 40lbs and it felt AMAZING for the first 30 minutes of hitting. After that it became too lively and I was struggling to control depth. At higher tensions I was able to get 3-4 one-hour hitting sessions on a set before I wanted to restring due to tension loss."

Overall - Score: 78

Scores

(Scores are determined by averaging individual play test scores)

Playtester String Setups

Review date: January 2015. If you found this review interesting or have further questions or comments please contact us.

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