Construction: Co-polyester Monofilament (6-sided)

Colors: Champagne or Gray

Gauge: 16G (1.30 mm), 17G (1.25 mm)

Length: 40 feet (12.2 M) or 656 feet (200 M)

Test Racquets / Tension
HEAD Graphene 360+ Prestige MP / Lynx Tour 17G strung at 47 pounds, Tecnifibre T-Fight 305 XTC / Lynx Tour 17G strung at 50 pounds, HEAD Gravity Tour / Lynx Tour 17G strung at 50 Pounds. Also strung the Gravity Tour with Lynx Tour 17G in the mains at 49 pounds and Hawk Touch 19G in the crosses at 48 pounds.

Intro

HEAD has further diversified their polyester string lineup with the release of Lynx Tour. Contrasting with the smooth and round earlier versions of Lynx, Lynx Tour has a six-sided profile that’s designed to be HEAD’s most spin friendly string.

The previous entries of Lynx tennis string have been on the softer side of polyester strings. They offered a surprising amount of comfort for a string category not known for arm-friendliness. Lynx Tour is a much more controlled polyester than Lynx, and it offers a firmer response than its predecessors.

Comfort & Tension

Though Lynx Tour offers a more crisp response than Lynx, I would still rate it above average in comfort. Even in a more dense 18 x 20 pattern, I found Lynx Tour to be friendly enough on my arm, and still offer the control I crave from a polyester string. In terms of tension I did find it to play best between 50-52 pounds in most racquets. However, in the HEAD Graphene 360+ Prestige MP I had to drop the tension just below 50 pounds to get the right feel.

Power & Spin

I do believe HEAD has made perhaps their most spin-friendly string to date. Though it is six-sided, it doesn’t cause premature sawing of the mains on the crosses, and the subtle nature of the shape creates an impressive amount of ball rotation. After several hours the shape begins to smooth, but the string still produces a predictable and controlled ball flight. As far as power is concerned, Lynx Tour is much lower powered than the other strings in the Lynx product line. A better name I think for Lynx Tour would have been “Lynx Control”.

Durability

One of the biggest downsides to soft polyesters like Lynx, is that they tend to lose tension rather quickly. Lynx Tour does a much better job of maintaining tension and keeping the playability consistent for a longer period of time. Even as the edges started to smooth, the string plays predictably and comfortably without losing much tension. I would say for a polyester string, Lynx Tour probably has the best tension maintenance in HEAD’s polyester lineup.

Overall

While not a powerful polyester, Lynx Tour excels for advanced players who need control to fine tune their heavy hitting game style. It offers more comfort than most control-oriented polyesters, and maintains playability very well. I had a lot of success blending Lynx Tour in the mains with 19G Hawk Touch in the crosses. It ups the power and spin factors, and is still durable in an 18 x 20 string pattern.

About the Reviewer: Sam Jones currently works at Tennis Express on the Content Marketing team. He previously played at Southwestern University, taught tennis for 10+ years and earned his USRSA Master Racquet Technician Certification in 2011. He is an active NTRP 5.0 League and Tournament player.