2 posts categorized "February 2010"
TENNIS.com gear editor Bill Gray and his technical advisors will answer your equipment questions every Friday. Click here to send one of your own.
 Hey Bill, in my racquet research, I've learned that a smaller head and tighter stringing tensions offer more control. But would a more tightly strung oversize racquet compare more favorably to a mid- or mid-plus size? Could you get the same control, but with the advantage of the oversize’s larger sweet spot?
—Brian Highland
Tight stringing will make that big sweet spot on the oversize go sour at first hit. There would be nothing “sweet” about it; in fact, it would be almost as dead as playing with a wooden paddle, says TENNIS.com racquet advisor Bruce Levine. More bad news: balls hit off center would cause the handle to twist like a top, especially if you’re using a smaller grip. Oversize frames should be strung at a low- or mid-range tension level.
Should I choose a racquet that complements my strong point, a decent forehand, or one that elevates my less refined area of putting too much topsin on the ball than I would like on my backhand and hitting short?
—Felix Vereker
Racquet guru Levine says it’s best to go with the kind of frame that accentuates your strengths. Assuming you play with a racquet with an open-string pattern that helps provide you the spin, you should stay with it and work on the stroke mechanics of your backhand by lessening your arm rotation. Hitting a slightly flatter ball should drive it deeper into the court.
After being transfixed by Justine Henin’s topspin backhand during the Aussie Open, I can’t imagine this diminutive Belgian weights up her racquet for power like the big two-handers on the tour. True?
—Jodie, Boulder, Colo.
Justine’s Wilson Tour racquet is, in fact, only a speck heavier than the off-the-shelf, store-bought version—11 ounces versus 10.8 ounces—says Ron Rocchi, who is Wilson’s global tour equipment manager and works on her racquets. But it doesn’t take two hands or Serena’s biceps to unleash the power of Justine’s frame because of its head-heavy balance and half-inch of extra length.
I switch from playing on clay to hardcourts on a pretty regular basis, often in the same week. Should I designate a racquet for each surface and string them up a little differently? Like, looser for more power on hardcourt, because the faster court means less time for a full-length swing?
—Tom Boyd
It isn’t worth the trouble, and you won’t notice the difference, says Nate Ferguson, who strings and customizes racquets for a lot of Tour players. His clients are so picky they’ll change strings and adjust tensions if the weather changes slightly and even everytime a fresh set of balls is put into play during a match. But they don’t even string differently for clay and hardcourts, he says. The only exception he can recall is Steffi Graf. “If pros don’t adjust their strings to a specific surface, I don’t see much benefit for the recreational player,” he says.
I live in the Northeast where winter indoor court time is ridiculously expensive. So my tennis buddies and I found a nearby high school court where they keep the nets up in winter. We figure as long as the court’s dry and it’s a little above freezing, why not put on some gloves and hit? We can take it, but can our racquets and the strings?
—Joe P.
We feel your pain, Joe, because here in New York City an hour of court time can cost $100. Unfortunately, the money you’d be saving on the high school courts would be washed away by equipment repairs. At below-freezing temperatures, both racquets and strings turn brittle, and the ball becomes rock-like in the cold. But, if you must, at least use an old racquet from the back of the closest and string it up with a low-end thick 15-gauge nylon at the at the bottom of the tension range.
I'm starting to play tennis again on a regular basis. In the past, I've played with an old 1986 Wilson Pro Staff 85. Unfortunately, I don't know how to compare it against the new racquets. Would you recommend any of the newer racquets that might be similar to the Pro Staff? Although I've played with Wilson, I heard that that the Babolat Pure Drive might be a good choice.
—Eric Lee
There are a lot of Pro Staff purists out there who regularly scour eBay for the old 85, believing that they just don’t make ’em like they used to. The fact is they make them better, with slightly larger and more forgiving head sizes, and using new technologies that expand prime hitting areas and add comfort without sacrificing feel and touch. Because you’re a Pro Staff fan, we suggest you playtest all the racquets in the new Wilson Six.One BLX line, from Roger Federer’s 90-square-inch Six.One to more forgiving frames like the Six.One 95 BLX, the Six.One Team BLX and the Six-One Light BLX. Try the Pure Drive, but you’ll probably find it to be a totally different hitting experience and harder for you to control with your Pro Staff background. The Drive has larger 100-square-inch head size and a thicker power-oriented beam.
If you’re over 30, you probably remember the shampoo commercial with the tag line, “Don't hate me because I'm beautiful.” That slogan started repeating itself in my head after the news the news that Adidas had bestowed a lifelong endorsement extension contract with Ana Ivanovic, the day after yet another bad weekend at the office. She had just gone 0-3 in Fed Cup play as Serbia lost to Russia, 3-2, her latest misfire in a year-long slump. An email response from Adidas explained the extension was based on her “persona, the combination of her on and off-court appearance. It shows that she can relate to consumers in the tennis, fitness and lifestyle arenas.”
 Off-court “persona” is a corporate euphemism for “sex appeal,” and the ability to “relate to consumers” means they want to buy the dresses she wears.
A few weeks prior, around the time Maria Sharapova was being bounced in the first round of the Australian Open, Nike ponied up an eight-year $70 million contract extension to make her the highest-paid female athlete endorser ever. She also made the 80th spot on BusinessWeek’s “Power 100” list of athletes. The magazine explained that she may be two years from her last Grand Slam title, “but her physical beauty has landed her more corporate sponsors than any other athlete.” Meanwhile, Forbes followed suit, labeling Maria the seventh most valuable “brand athlete” in sports. Roger Federer was the only other tennis player on the list at No. 3.
Tennis isn’t alone in the beauty-first contemporary world of marketing and advertising. Misty May-Treanor, a 2004 and 2008 Olympic beach volleyball gold medalist, made BusinessWeek’s list, too. Her uniform – a bikini – “has proved top be a good recipe for catching the attention of sports fans and advertising executives alike,” the magazine said. Danica Patrick is the only female driver to ever win an Indy car-racing event – in 2008 in Japan – but she has become better known as the “Go Daddy girl” in the racy ads for the domain brand.
All this focus on skin-deep marketing is probably what caused Marion Bartoli, ranked ahead of Ivanovic and Sharapova on the WTA Tour, to wonder out loud recently if the 5-foot-6 and 139-pound Frenchwoman (pictured) was sponsorless because she wasn’t “blonde enough, not thin enough, not tall enough.”
But one thing Bartoli didn’t mention is she’s also never won a Grand Slam. “The fact that Ivanovic and Sharapova have won Slams gives them a measure of performance credibility that puts them above and beyond Bartoli and even Anna Kournikova,” says sports marketing analyst Bob Dorfman, author of The Sports Marketers’ Guide. “If female athletes are good looking enough, they don’t have to be consistent winners – if they’ve succeeded in the big events once upon a time, there’s more forgiveness by advertisers on the performance side.”
And there’s no question Ivanovic and Sharapova sell the products they endorse -- not just dresses and watches, but even the racquets they use – albeit with limited success lately.
Sharapova has played with three different Prince racquets in the past five years, most recently switching to the EX03 Black 100 at the Australian Open. The first two models – the 03 White and the 03 Speedport Black — were two of the industry’s best selling frames, according to the company. Further, the company says she has a “halo effect” on Prince products she doesn’t endorse, such as string, grip, footwear and apparel. “Her influence is undeniable,” a spokesman says. “She is a player that not only influences [buyers], but transcends the sport.”
It’s the same at Yonex, Ivanovic’s racquet brand. Her RQiS 1 Tour XL model is one of the company’s two best sellers and consumers don’t ask for it by its model name, they call it “Ana’s racquet.”
So don’t hate them because they’re beautiful. They’re doing the job for their sponsors, which makes them worth every nickel.
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