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Head to head

Babolat VS Natural ThermoGut 16 Touch vs Tecnifibre E-Matrix 16

VS Natural ThermoGut 16 Touch leads on 4 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is ball bite, where E-Matrix 16 is 13 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Babolat

VS Natural ThermoGut 16 Touch

Gut · 16 ga

Tecnifibre

E-Matrix 16

Nylon/Polyurethane · 16 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
961st pct
1437th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
1913th pct
2019th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
9698th pct
9493rd pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
2.76th pct
2.76th pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.3402nd pct
0.38415th pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.12485th pct
0.14291st pct

Bars are percentile against all 788 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 VS Natural ThermoGut 16 Touch at 52 lb

String E-Matrix 16 at 30.0 lb 13.6 kg

Clamped. The proportional answer was 25.7 lb, outside what most frames are rated for. These two are too far apart in stiffness to match by tension alone.

Coming from E-Matrix 16 at 52 lb

String VS Natural ThermoGut 16 Touch at 70.0 lb 31.8 kg

Clamped. The proportional answer was 150.6 lb, outside what most frames are rated for.

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.

VS Natural ThermoGut 16 Touch mains / E-Matrix 16 crosses

Stiffness3rd pct · 1 measured
Tension loss15th pct · 1 measured
Energy return97th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential6th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite2nd pct · 1 measured
String friction87th pct · 1 measured

E-Matrix 16 mains / VS Natural ThermoGut 16 Touch crosses

Stiffness3rd pct · 1 measured
Tension loss17th pct · 1 measured
Energy return96th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential6th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite11th pct · 1 measured
String friction90th 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.

VS Natural ThermoGut 16 Touch

~36 hours of play

E-Matrix 16

~34 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Babolat VS Natural ThermoGut 16 Touch Gut16find9619962.70.3400.124
Tecnifibre E-Matrix 16 Nylon/Polyurethane16find14320942.70.3840.142

Add a third string VS Natural ThermoGut 16 Touch in full E-Matrix 16 in full