2 posts categorized "November 2009"
The only sure things in the life of your tennis racquet are death and the taxes you paid when you bought it. All of today’s premium racquets are built to stay as tough as an F-150 pick-up, but the graphite, titanium and/or carbon fibers in the frame weaken after thousands of whacks. How do you know when it’s time to bury Ol’ Faithful? We asked Bruce Levine, chief racquet advisor for TENNIS.com and TENNIS magazine, for some tips to stave off the Grim Racquet Reaper:
 Q. When will I know that my racquet is dead?
Bruce: The big uh-oh moment comes when you hit right after a new string job and you can’t tell the difference. It plays soft or mushy like a wet noodle, and you’re not getting any sense of where the balls are landing on the stringbed.
Q. When can I expect it to go belly-up?
Bruce: Depends on how often you play, how hard you hit and the climate where you play. It could be as little as two years for an aggressive five-times-a-week player who strings at the top of the tension range and refuses to come in from the 35-degree cold of winter; to six years if you only play once a week, hit soft bullets, string loose, and live in cold-and-humidity-free Tucson, Arizona. Of course, the quickest way to kill a racquet is the Dr. Kevorkian assisted-suicide method of smashing it on the net post after you blow an easy overhead.
Q. Are there other factors?
Bruce: Restringing takes a toll on the frame, particularly on the grommets, so if you have it done often that will also shorten the racquet’s life expectancy. The string machine stretches the hoop and the materials in the frame stretch with it. Insist that your stringer pre-stretch the string by hand before putting it on the machine. Also make sure your stringer uses a “six point” machine, which holds the frame securely in place and minimizes distortion of the head of the racquet.
Q. Are you saying it’s better to restring only when the string breaks?
Bruce: No, you should restring often because the synthetic or polyester—and especially gut—will go dead long before the racquet’s demise.
Q. Is there anything I can do to extend the racquet’s lifespan?
Bruce: Have the grommet strip replaced when you restring—not just the top edge that a lot of people call the bumper guard, but the whole strip. It should only cost you between $5 and $8 extra. You should also keep your frame in a racquet bag with a thermal lining to protect it from heat, humidity and the cold. Never, never keep it in the trunk or the garage. And if you have to be like Marat Safin, then beat the racquet against the soft back curtain of the court, if it has one, instead of the ground. Or, even better, learn to curse in French.
Q. What about taking it with me on a plane?
Bruce: It’s always better to carry on your racquet, but some airlines have deemed them potential weapons. They can be safe from the baggage (mis)handlers in a well padded suitcase.
Andre Agassi’s tell-all autobiography, Open, goes on sale today, which means it has about a seven-day head start in the race to the top of the best-seller charts against Sarah Palin’s memoir, Going Rogue, due out next week.
But because a manuscript about playing tennis has about as much chance of grabbing the masses as a Siberia guidebook, Open’s pre-publication promotional machinery has been peppering us these past few weeks with a series of spicy revelations: that Agassi dabbled in recreational drugs and wiglet rugs; and that his self-esteem was so low during the mullet period that he was dumbfounded that kids would want to emulate him. “Even I didn’t want to be Andre Agassi,” he writes.
But for those of us who would much rather play tennis than read about the personal trials and tribulations of the pros, and those of us who don’t know crystal meth from “Crystal Blue Persuasion,” the significant passages in Open are Agassi’s thoughtful insights into the art of playing tennis at the highest level.
Competitive tennis “is non-contact pugilism,” Agassi writes, differentiating his game from that played by mere mortals. “Tennis beatings are just deeper below the skin [like] the old Vegas loan shark trick of beating someone with a bag of oranges, because it leaves no outer bruises.”
Some eye-Open-ers that might be applicable to the recreational player’s game:
The greatest game-changer. Agassi contends that the advent of polyester tennis string, which he personally discovered at Wimbledon in 2000, has made a bigger difference in the pro game than fitness or other racquet technology because of the vicious topspin it creates. He writes that polyester “has turned average players into greats, and greats into legends.”
Grips are as personal as a thumbprint. Most of us use whatever comes from the factory or maybe wrap our sticks with a soft, tacky or sticky overgrip. Agassi’s grip is based on a precise mold of his hand, right down to the size of his calluses and the force of his squeeze. “A millimeter difference, near the end of a four-hour match, can feel as irritating and distracting as a pebble in my shoe,” he writes.
The balanced hitting diet. Tennis is all about degrees of aggression—you have to play aggressively enough to control a point, but not so aggressively that control is sacrificed. Agassi’s former coach, Brad Gilbert, had this to say about the value of letting an opponent lose: “Every shot doesn’t have to be a killer. Sometimes the best shot is a holding shot, an OK shot that gives the other guy a chance to miss.”
Find your money shot. For Agassi, it was the down-the-line backhand. “You can pay a lot of bills with that shot,” is the way Gilbert explained it.
The best mental preparation. Agassi put it this way: “The perfect blend of caring and not caring.”
Look to steal your opponent’s signs. Body language speaks loudly. Boris Becker telegraphed where his serve was going. He had a habit of sticking out his tongue “like a tiny red arrow” in the direction he was about to place the ball in his pre-serve ritual. Todd Martin’s eyes would look in the direction of the opposite side of the court where he was about to serve.
The key to a long tennis life. Keep the ball in front of you and take it on the rise. It reduces unnecessary stress and torque on the body.
Yes, playing down is bad for your game. “I’m at my worst against lesser opponents,” Agassi writes. “I play down to their level. … Against bad players, I press, [which is] one of the deadliest things you can do in tennis.”
Some pretty thoughtful advice from somebody who contends in Open that he’s always hated the game we love.
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