Funny you started this discussion. Last week I had a USTA league match at Club Sport in San Ramon. I was warming up with some teammates and I popped my string which were on there for a couple of weeks. Then I pulled out another racquet that had brand new strings that I haven't used yet. I served twice and...pop. I'm serious! and it popped in the weirdest place! I only have 3 sticks so I stopped warming up because I didn't want to forfeit my match due to no more racquets lol. I called my stringer and told him. He was super cool about it and re-did it for free for me. But I usually pop strings every month or so. Not very often at all! Shoot...at least I save money that way! lol
I had the same thing happen to me. J.B. (racquet solutions) gave me a racquet and I broke it in the third game of the set. He was on the court so I hollered out, "what the heck jordan, you better do this again for free"
HE TOLD ME TO HIT THE MIDDLE OF THE STRINGS NEXT TIME and charged me full price lol
Was this break pictured a huge miss-hit? It has to be that, a kinked string, or roughed up gromit
strange spot on the side like that, although the string looks roughed up, could just be a weak spot also. I have one kid who miss hits high on the head and breaks them quickly but not that spot. If I use 17g I get about 4-6hrs, 16g a little longer but big time tension loss.
Strings aren't supposed to pop near the grommet like that. I agree with those who said either bad grommet or stringer error. A legitimate string break would usually happen on the mains or the crosses near the center not near the frame like that.
it could also be your racquet stringer not adjusting the string clamps properly switching from a 17 gauge to a 16 gauge poly string job. so when he clamps the crosses which is closer to your grommet the string appears roughed up or almost square which weakens the clamped spot.
i just noticed the scratches on the frame where the string broke... it might also be the headguard not being deep enough so when the racquet "accidentally" scrapes the ground part of the string that's exposed gets scraped as well.