Tecnifibre adds to polyester string family with Ice Code
Fresh off their partnership with popular clothing manufacturer Lacoste, Tecnifibre is rebranding with a new logo to celebrate 40 years in tennis. The first new product to sport the new look is an expert category polyester string called Ice Code.
Following in the footsteps of Red Code, Black Code, and Razor Code, Ice Code is touted to be a more powerful polyester for demanding, high-level players. According to Tecnifibre’s extensive playtesting, players experienced 10% more power with the new string over Black Code, and 18% more power than their most controlled polyester, Razor Code.
As part of the brand’s new image, Ice code is a Diamond white color that has deep roots in tennis history. Ice Code has a slick round profile that feels surprisingly stiff in your hands, but Tecnifibre promises the string has never-before-seen “highly reactive” properties to help players produce more power.
A staple of the Tecnifibre polyester segment is their Thermocore technology.
With Thermocore, they vary the temperature during the manufacturing process to soften the material and structure of the string.
Ice Code uses Thermocore, but also a new technology called High Crystallinity Degree or HCD Processing. HCD slows down the process of manufacturing to (like a diamond) align the material’s molecular chain to enhance energy return and feel.
Though Ice Code is a powerful polyester, it has been designed for players with elite racquet head speed and excellent control. Ice Code is meant to provide more controllable power, and not one at the expense of the other.
On court I can say that Ice Code plays like a supercharged polyester. I can’t say I completely understand Tecnifibre’s Ice Code technology, but I can say it’s an explosive playing polyester which I thought was impossible. It had excellent touch, and good spin generation with Ice Code at 48 pounds. Another intriguing aspect of Ice Code, is the tension maintenance and resistance to notching. If you are fan of any of Tecnifibre’s polyesters like Black Code, Red Code, or Razor Code, you should give Ice Code a go.
Black Code is Tecnifibre’s softest polyester string and one of the most popular soft polyesters around. It plays comfortably powerful. Ice Code feels a touch firmer than Black Code, but at contact is incredibly explosive. I don’t mean to say the ball flies, or there is a loss of control, it seems like you get a “controllable boost” when striking an aggressive shot.
Ice Code Revisited (10 days later)
Thus far, Ice Code has played remarkably consistent. It is easy to predict the response of the string bed, and though the string moves and re-aligns, it has thus far avoided any severe notching.
Ice Code is one of the most arm friendly polyesters I have used, and I don’t finish matches with a sore elbow and shoulder, as I might with stiffer polyesters. I feel the tension maintenance has been close to best-in-class for a co-polyester mono-filament construction. With a softer polyester like Black Code, you can get away with stringing a few pounds tighter for more control. But with Ice Code I got the best of all worlds, control, surprising power, and excellent comfort at a low tension.
Ice Code drops May 15th and is available at Tennis Express!
Related Blog Posts
