Strings (tennis) be more durable than many other types of strings due to its outstanding tension retention. This may help to offset the high initial cost. The use of a dense string pattern also generally improves the longevity of natural gut. Natural gut is produced by drying fibers extracted from a part of the cow intestine called the serous membrane, or serosa, which contains collagen designed to withstand the stretching and contraction of the intestine. It is this elasticity that makes the fibers useful for tennis string. Sheep intestines have also been used for racquet strings in the past. The first natural
Strings (tennis) contemporary string material. It is usually added to nylon string to increase nylon's durability and stiffness, as with Kevlar. Yonex, for instance, offers two badminton strings, made primarily from nylon, which have Vectran strands. However, the Ashaway company offers a braided Vectran tennis string. Zyex string offers more rebound efficiency, i.e. gut-like dynamic stiffness, than other synthetic strings, particularly when strung at low tensions. This gives it playability that is more similar to natural gut than, arguably, other synthetic materials. It also has low overall stiffness. The ProKennex IQ Element Z string, for instance, has the lowest stiffness of any