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On to the Open (Gear) Season
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08/31/2009 - 1:31 PM
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Hey, blog-gears. Thanks for your response to last week’s introductory post on gear game-changers that clearly showed I’m not alone with fond memories of my first racquet fling. Special kudos to SouthPaw for writing the line I wish had been mine -- “Love at First Strike” -- that in four best-chosen words describes Paw’s first date with the Prince Graphite 110.
 I also sent your first batch of gear questions to Bruce “Mad Dog” Levine, TENNIS.com’s chief racquet guru. He’ll get back to you with his picks of three or four racquets he thinks you should playtest based on the personal playing bios you sent -- your level and style, and the racquet you now use and what you need most that you’re not currently getting from it.
But be a little patient with us because the Dog is always in high demand at U.S. Open time. But we’ll have his responses for you sometime after tonight when the Dog woofs on the latest equipment trends for WNBC-TV here in New York (tune in at 7 p.m. if you’re in town), and before next Sunday when he receives his national award from the USTA for running one of the 12 best tennis facilities in the country – the Courtside Racquet Club in Lebanon, N.J.
Meanwhile, I’m off to the Big Show at the BJK National Tennis Center where I’m meeting up with another of TENNIS.com’s top-of-the-crop gear advisors, Roman Prokes, a.k.a. the king of strings, to get the skinny on the pros’ picks and the stories behind them.
Roman and his team of 14 stringers are the hardest working and most skilled artists and craftspeople at the Slam this side of Venus and Serena. The team is spending from 7 a.m. until the wee hours each of the 14 days, restringing and refitting some 3,500 racquets from their shop inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Roman is the stringer, racquet customizer and technical go-to guy for some of the biggest names in tennis where he modifies their frames’ lengths, weights, and balances, and then matches it all with tailor-made string. Think of Roman as the tennis equipment equivalent to Billy Joel’s piano tuner and Dale Earnhardt, Jr.’s chief mechanic.
His A-list clients range from Rafa to Roddick, and often they call on him for more than just his string expertise. He helped Maria Sharapova, for one, find a new racquet a few years ago when she wanted to control the extra power she’d been carrying around a few years ago and helped guide her to her current stick, the Prince 03 Speedport. I’ll ask Roman this week if Maria has altered her racquet characteristics or string tension to accommodate her recovering shoulder and her new compensating shortened serve.
Got a question about your favorite player’s string combination, tension, or racquet weights and balances? Email me by using the "Contact" tab at the top of this blog and we’ll take it to the highest court.
Talk to you from Flushing.
11 Comments
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Posted by Josh |
08/31/2009 at 10:18 PM |
HI, yes - could you please find out Roger Federer's strung weight, balance and swingweight at this Open please? Thanks. |
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Posted by John |
09/01/2009 at 05:33 PM |
Could you tell me what gauge string Murray uses and at what strung weight it is at |
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Posted by John |
09/01/2009 at 05:33 PM |
Could you tell me what gauge string Murray uses and at what strung weight it is at |
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Posted by John |
09/01/2009 at 05:33 PM |
Could you tell me what gauge string Murray uses and at what strung weight it is at |
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Posted by Gtechy |
09/01/2009 at 08:27 PM |
I read in the past that almost 50% of the pros use poly strings like Luxilon Alu Power. But yet they string it a low tensions, very low 50's lbs sometimes even high 40's lbs. Why do they stick with stiff poly when they could easily use gut at a higher tension? Wouldn't gut give them also plenty of power, but with much better control and also safer for the arm? |
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Posted by patrick |
09/01/2009 at 09:19 PM |
if you could, please let me know the weight, balance, nd framewidth on tsonga' k kobra tour racket. i don't think it's the clunky 80's widebody that is for sale to the public. it's ve impossible to slice with that frame. |
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Posted by patrick |
09/01/2009 at 09:20 PM |
sorry to bother you again, also if you know the weight of almagro' dunlop as well. thanks again |
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Posted by WhatWouldMcEnroeDo? |
09/01/2009 at 09:30 PM |
I always suspected Agassi used the same original Head Radical OS with different paint jobs through time. True? |
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Posted by brknstrng |
09/11/2009 at 01:11 PM |
I can't help with much, but I can at least let John know that a year ago, for the hardcourt season, Andy Murray was stringing the mains at 57 lbs with Babolat VS Team natural gut, and the crosses at 55 lbs with Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power. I don't know the final weight or balance of the strung frame, and he may have changed the configuration in the past year. Note, too, that the string tensions are sort of a baseline: most pros will string up or down a bit depending upon tournament conditions.
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Posted by Invicta Pro Diver |
11/03/2009 at 05:35 PM |
"I read in the past that almost 50% of the pros use poly strings like Luxilon Alu Power. But yet they string it a low tensions, very low 50's lbs sometimes even high 40's lbs."
Yeah, I've read this as well. I'd also like an answer, I don't really get why so many pros are set up like this. |
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Posted by Jeffrey |
11/25/2009 at 08:47 PM |
My 5 year old daughter just took her third tennis class. :) It's cute watching them start so young. She can't quite hold the racket too well, but she loves hitting the ball over the net! It's a great start for her in a sport she already loves. |
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