Yonex Poly Tour Spin String Review

The first thing to mention about Yonex Poly Tour Spin is how eye-catching the cosmetic is.

The light blue colour makes it really stand out from the crowd and the pentagonal shaped construction means your shots will also be something to shout about!

Strings with angled edges are quite a revolutionary piece of tennis technology that has only really become mainstream over the past decade or so.

Nowadays, practically all tennis string manufacturers produce strings that have five, six or even eight sides to enhance the amount of bite you get on the ball. The idea here is that the more the string grabs the ball, the more friction it will generate, which in turn gets the ball spinning more than a smooth, round string.

However, these strings tend to be made from polyester based materials as these are much easier to manipulate and shape to the manufacturer’s specifications. This results in harder strings that are firm to play with and tend to be fairly low powered, especially when compared with naturally soft multifilament or gut strings.

This is most definitely the case with Yonex Poly Tour Spin, as it is a firmer poly that doesn’t give you much in the way of easy power. Yonex have really nailed the name of this string, as most touring professionals tend to prefer low powered strings because they have no issues generating power themselves thanks to their long swings and near perfect technique.

What they tend to want is a spinny, control oriented string that will help them keep the ball in the court time after time. This string definitely does this thanks to the great levels of spin it generates. This is clearly the main focus of the string rather than giving you extra power, which is exactly what you would expect.

That being said, it is not the most dead polyester string out there. Whilst it does not offer much in the way of pop, you can get a little bit from it especially if you string it at slightly lower tensions. There is enough give in the string to make it slightly more playable and powerful than say a Solinco Tour Bite for example.

Control is an area in which Yonex Poly Tour Spin performs pretty well. The string is pretty consistent in its response and the five sided construction helps it catch and release the ball really well.

You can feel the string grip the ball nicely as it enters and exits the string bed. This gives you more confidence that the ball will dip back down into the court and also increases the tactility of the hitting experience.

The biggest benefit of Yonex Poly Tour Spin as far as control is concerned is its consistency. You get a pretty uniform response from the string from the baseline, which really enhances the predictability of the string.

Unlike some softer, more lively strings out there, you can dial into Poly Tour Spin pretty quickly and just sitting back and ripping balls can yield some great results.

Touch is not bad with Yonex Poly Tour Spin. There are other strings out there such as Solinco Hyper G or Babolat RPM Power which offer a little more responsiveness and help you feel more connected to the ball.

That being said, Poly Tour Spin’s firmness does help communicate what is going on in the string bed pretty well, just not as clearly as the other strings mentioned.

The string feels a little on the thick side for a 16 gauge, and perhaps this limits the amount of feel and touch that it offers. It is definitely one of the more dead feeling strings out there, so could benefit from being cut with a more responsive and communicative multifilament such as Wilson NXT for example.

Spin is of course the name of the game with Yonex Poly Tour Spin. This string will chew up the ball and spit it out with oodles of topspin both on baseline ground strokes and kick serves. Slices stay nice and low too which will help to throw off opponents thanks to the variety in depth.

You can swing aggressively at the ball and you can generate a lot of topspin, which increases margin over the net. This again adds to the sense of control on the court, which is a major factor in this string’s overall rating.

It is not quite as spin friendly as some of the most textured or aggressively constructed strings on the market today. Eight sided strings and typical ‘rough’ named strings tend to offer a little more friction on the ball, which in turn generates more RPMs. However, you definitely get a decent grip on the ball when ripping it with Poly Tour Spin.

Durability is a very strong component of Yonex Poly Tour Spin. This is one of the unique selling points of the string, not only in terms of overall shelf life but also tension maintenance. Polyester strings tend to be quite responsive straight off the stringer, but then will have a quite dramatic drop off in performance as they bed in.

This can be one of the major downsides of these types of strings, as they may last for a long time without breaking, but at the highest of levels, professional players want the best performance they can get for as long as they can have it.

However, Yonex Poly Tour Spin was surprisingly good at maintaining its level of performance throughout its life.

This is a major benefit to using this string, and one that reminds me of Babolat Pro Hurricane Tour and Solinco Hyper G for example.

You can expect great bite from these strings for a long period of time, making them one of the most high performing polyester models out there!

Comfort is not something commonly associated with polyester strings. This is because they are firm by design and shaped strings in particular tend to be a little on the harsher side.

However, Yonex Poly Tour Spin is on the softer side of the polyester string spectrum. It is no multifilament or natural gut, don’t get me wrong, but as far as polyester strings go it is not going to cause you tennis elbow after one hit!

The string feels fairly pliant and playable considering how much spin and control it offers, which will be a welcome relief for players that have previously suffered from arm issues as a result of using polyester strings throughout their string bed.

This is definitely a string that would pair well with a softer string in a hybrid setup however. This is something that I would recommend for players that want to experience the spin and control of Yonex Poly Tour Spin but also need a bit of added forgiveness.

Yonex Poly Tour Spin is a solid spin friendly string that ticks a lot of boxes for players that need a bit more help in the way of generating RPMs on the ball, but also want a slightly more forgiving experience.

Poly Tour Spin does a great job of gripping the ball and sending it high over the net, but it will come down dipping back into the court time after time thanks to the pentagonal construction and consistent response.

This is not going to set the world alight, but it is definitely a solid poly string that will generate an above average level of spin whilst retaining a good amount of comfort, playability and tension maintenance.