What does stencils mean?

Question

I hear tennis players talk about how they need to carry their "stencils" around with them? What are stencils used for?

Answer 1

Stencils are used to painting logos on racquets, or more acurately strings. Its basically a cutout imprint of a picture or words. You use ink to paint the image

Answer 2

Stencils are basically a template that you use to paint a design on your strings (usually a logo or some sort of brand). This can be a purely aesthetic choice but if you are sponsored by a particular company, let's say Prince or Wilson,  they require that you put their logo on your strings for advertisement purposes.