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Head to head

Babolat Super Fine Play 16 vs Dunlop Explosive Synthetic 16

They split the measurements 3–3. The widest gap is ball bite, where Explosive Synthetic 16 is 40 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Babolat

Super Fine Play 16

Nylon · 16 ga

Dunlop

Explosive Synthetic 16

Nylon · 16 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
19258th pct
18046th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
2224th pct
2120th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
9495th pct
9386th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
3.824th pct
3.621st pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.37812th pct
0.44452nd pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.10063rd pct
0.12284th pct

Bars are percentile against all 791 strings, and the marked side is the one that measures better, which is not always the one you want. A firmer bed is worse for your elbow and better for your control, and no measurement knows which of those you came for.

Which one wins, by problem

Each string's standing on the site's rankings, out of every measured string in the database. This is where a comparison stops being arithmetic and starts being a decision.

Swapping between them: what tension?

Bed stiffness is published at one reference tension, so the only honest conversion is to scale it. These are starting points from 52 lb, not prescriptions. The calculator takes your own tension.

Coming from Super Fine Play 16 at 52 lb

String Explosive Synthetic 16 at 57.5 lb 26.1 kg

Coming from Explosive Synthetic 16 at 52 lb

String Super Fine Play 16 at 47.5 lb 21.5 kg

Hybrid: what if you used both?

Estimated, not measured. No hybrid combination has been tested as a bed. These figures are the two strings' own lab measurements weighted by how much of the bed each one actually is. Treat them as a guide to which way a pairing moves, never as lab data.

Super Fine Play 16 mains / Explosive Synthetic 16 crosses

Stiffness54th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss23rd pct · 1 measured
Energy return91st pct · 1 measured
Spin potential24th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite17th pct · 1 measured
String friction70th pct · 1 measured

Explosive Synthetic 16 mains / Super Fine Play 16 crosses

Stiffness51st pct · 1 measured
Tension loss21st pct · 1 measured
Energy return90th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential22nd pct · 1 measured
Ball bite47th pct · 1 measured
String friction81st pct · 1 measured

Open this in the hybrid builder

Which goes dead first?

Estimated from tension loss, which is the only thing the database measures about ageing. This is when the bed stops playing the way you strung it, not when the string breaks.

Super Fine Play 16

~33 hours of play

Explosive Synthetic 16

~34 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Babolat Super Fine Play 16 Nylon16find19222943.80.3780.100
Dunlop Explosive Synthetic 16 Nylon16find18021933.60.4440.122

Add a third string Super Fine Play 16 in full Explosive Synthetic 16 in full