Do you know if professional players pre-stretch strings that go on their racket? For example, official Yonex stringers at badminton events - do they pre-stretch the strings before stringing the player's racket? Also, is the above the only way to pre-stretch string? Are there other ways such as tensioning the string then releasing it and the tensioning again?
tournament stringers in official events have to string 20, 30 rackets a day. there is no way they can do pre-stretch. even professional stringer who works at shops, time is money for them. pre-stretching is not an option.
There are other ways to pre-stretch. Electronic machine will usually pre-stretch your string when tensionning. It's also possible to do it with a crank machine by just waiting ~1 minute while the string is tensionned and then retension it, same thing for a drop weight. As far as I know, this video is the only well known efficient method to remove the coil before stringing a racket (I'm sure there are other less known methods). I use it for every racket I string. If you don't, I think you'd have to string the racket 1 or 2 lbs higher overall to have the equivalent tension after 24-48 hours. Also, thanks for the link. I will add it to the sticky.
all strings naturally stretches over time and usually in the first day and first game, will lose around 2 lbs due to stretching. pre-stretch gets rid of the slack before stringing and the string maintain tension better. the downside is that it is a time consuming process to take away the slack. you need to pull it pretty hard and not on the machine. it need space too.
ok does it mean that it is always recommended to string slightly higher by around 2 lbs... to anticipate the lost of strenght?
I would guess so if you would like to retain a higher tension (according to the above). I think I will try to pre-stretch one time and see if it's better
