Still in Black Protect 1.23 Tennis String Review

I received a set of these strings from the company to test and review. This is a brand new (to the US) that hails from France. The company started in 2009 and is trying to get into the USA market.

I playtested these strings over a 2 week period and had good results. The company claims that: "The objective for the PROTECT was to design a monofilament string providing comfortable feel while having the performance of a stiff string". Did it live up to that claim? Let's see.

I was surprised at the "softness" while stringing it and that it did stretch more than a normal poly. On court, it played comfortably and I loved the spin, control and amount of power it produced. My regular string is Big Hitter Blue Rough 16 and it preformed well against it. BHBR is stiffer but Protect produces nearly the same results, with a tad more power than the BHBR. I did feel (and measure) a loss of tension after 8 hrs of play but it's not too bad (-16%). I can still play with it without too much loss of control. There's very little signs of notching.

Protect is soft and one I would recommend for anyone who doesn't currently have arm issues. I felt completely confident going for angles, drop volleys as well as full-blast. Perhaps the only issue I would have with this string is the price. It retails for about $12 which is near the high side for poly strings. There are quite a few other strings that preform as well at a lower price. However, this is an excellent string that preforms well and may very well be worth the price for some players.

This string would be best suited for 4.0 and above baseliners and all-court players. Since it's soft (for a poly), arm problems shouldn't be an issue for anyone that doesn't currently have pain. As always, don't play with poly or other stiff strings if you're experiencing any arm or wrist problems. Stay with a natural gut, multifilament or soft synthetic gut.

As for the Still in Black Protect, it's a solid string that can fill the needs of lots of different player types.

Keep hittin'
Dan