4 posts categorized "August 2010"
 Leonard Margolis needed a hitting partner who could prepare for him the New York City Parks Foundation’s 14-and-under tournament this weekend. So the eighth grader from Brooklyn went straight to the top. As the winner of Babolat’s “Put Yourself in Roddick’s Shoes” sweepstakes, he won a 30-minute hitting session, including a 12-point tiebreaker, with Andy Roddick.
The odds of a shot at going toe-to-toe with Roddick were 1 in 1,882, the number of contest entries from all over the country. Some probably entered for the chance to fly across the country and meet a former Saturday Night Live host and husband of a supermodel. But it was a match made in tennis heaven for this 13-year-old. Margolis is a member of the USTA’s elite training program and is serious about tennis. Also, he lives just a half hour from the CityView Racquet Club, where the match took place.
Still, you would expect Margolis to be a little nervous, if not completely freaked out by the moment. But he confidently strode onto the court before a barrage of cellphone cameras and a Tennis Channel TV crew, with a brand new Pure Drive racquet in his steady hand.
It left his mom, Gelena, almost lost for words. “I can’t believe he looks so…confident,” she said, a little nervous herself, as her son answered Roddick’s topspins with his own, stroke for stroke in a succession of rallies that lasted for 20 to 30 shots.
Margolis began the tiebreaker by double faulting, showing maybe a little crack in his stoic demeanor. “I’m not used to the racquet. I play with the [Wilson] K-Blade,” he said later, before adding diplomatically, “but this is a great racquet, too.”
The match started on a series of long rallies, corner to corner and side to side, with Roddick masterfully disguising his half-speed play. At one point, Roddick let loose a genuine blasting service winner that Margolis at least managed to get his racquet on, popping the ball in the air and out.
It went down to the wire. At 6-5 on match point for Roddick, he formed a chain from his left hand by holding hands with two boys from the audience, pulling them along as he hobbled to get to the ball. Margolis seized the opportunity with a pair of clean cross-court winners into the open court. On match point for Margolis, Roddick dumped the ball into the net.
Margolis said afterward that he wouldn’t be bragging to his friends about how he beat Roddick. “He wasn’t playing his best,” said Margolis, who said he had expected to lose 1-7.
So what were his impressions of the American No. 1? “He’s great,” Margolis said. He still wasn’t star struck, however, adding that he’d like to be “like him, and maybe even better.”
Meanwhile, his opponent assessed the match. “It was good tennis,” said Roddick, who regularly hits with kids at special events, often to raise money for his foundation. “You never know what you’re getting into when you do one of these—it’s a mixed bag—but he was able to play and it was fun.”
Did Margolis tax him? “I think I’ll be able to get through next week,” he laughed.
 TENNIS.com gear editor Bill Gray and his technical advisers will answer your equipment questions every Friday. Click here to send one of your own.
Do you recommend wearing a watch while playing tennis? I see a lot of the pros doing so. In my case, I wear a heart-rate monitor watch.—Patrick
Wearing a watch on the court is strictly a matter of personal preference. Mine is not to wear one—I think it hinders my two-handed backhand. I wouldn’t go by what the pros do: If they’re wearing watches, it’s usually because they’re being paid to do so by a sponsor, like Rafael Nadal with his $525,000 Richard Mille number. It hasn’t seemed to help him keep track of time between points.
I have been looking for the right racquet for the past three years and I can’t decide between heavy and light. I’m particularly stuck between the 12.3-ounce Head YouTek Prestige Pro and the 11-ounce Head YouTek Radical MP. I’m a college tennis player who lacks some power on my ground strokes. I play number No. 1 doubles, so I’m looking for a racquet that I also feel comfortable with at net.—Kevin J.
The more mass in a racquet, the more it can punish the ball, but that’s only if you have enough strength to get it around quickly. Otherwise, the mass will work against you, causing you to hit late. Most, even at the college level, will get more power from a slightly lighter frame because you can get greater racquet-head speed. We’d say the Radical MP is your best bet for that reason, plus it has power bonuses of a slightly thicker beam and a closed string pattern. It’s also slightly more maneuverable, which will come in handy at the net. But the best indicator would be to hit with both and measure the depth of your shots, using your normal swing. The racquet that sends the ball deepest into the court is the power winner of the two.
I'm a 31-year-old 4.0–4.5 singles player with a solid counter-punching game that evolved from a much less consistent power-baseline game in my younger days. Until I switched to the Wilson KBlade 98 two years ago, I played with the Original Pro Staff for about 10 years. I love the KBlade, but feel like I'm running out of room to further develop my game as I'm lacking a little depth and power on my ground strokes. I can easily hit with power and depth during warm-up, but I pull back during matches. I'm wondering if I could use a racquet with a little more power that I can still control, and am trying out the Tecnifibre T-Flash Speedflex 300, Dunlop Aerolgel 500 Tour and the Head YouTek Extreme MP. Any other suggestions? Thanks.—Vince
All three are excellent hybrids that will give you a power boost and help you maintain a lot of the control you’ve had with your prior racquets. Since you’ve grown up with Wilson, you should also playtest the Wilson Pro Open, another great choice in the hybrid family. A racquet may not fix your tendency to tighten up during matches, however. Swinging as freely in competition as in practice is something even pros struggle with.
I am a committed Yonex user, and I have used the RD-7 model for years. At this point, I’m considering trying out some new Yonex models. Out of the ones that are currently available, what one would be the most comparable with the RD-7?—Eric D. Lamore
If you’ve got solid technique—and we assume you do based on your choice of the advanced RD-7—try Lleyton Hewitt’s racquet, the RDis 100 Mid. We’re also keen on the RDiS 200 HG. It’s a little more flexible than the 100 Mid, which helps with directional control.
TENNIS.com gear editor Bill Gray and his technical advisers will answer your equipment questions every Friday. Click here to send one of your own.
 Is the lead tape used to customize racquets safe?—Kevin
The consensus of the medical experts and professional stringers we spoke to is that the chances of getting lead poisoning from lead tape are slim to none. But that doesn’t mean you don’t need to be careful when working with it. There is a slight risk that a few lead particles could be released when you’re applying or stripping the tape. “We generally assume that inorganic lead does not go through the skin well, but inhalation and ingestion are much more potent exposure routes,” says Dr. Andrew C. Todd, a leading lead-poisoning expert at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital School of Medicine (who earlier this summer tested a portion of Ludwig von Beethoven’s skull and debunked an earlier study that claimed the composer could have died from acute exposure to lead).
Todd advises you pull off the tape with the racquet positioned in your lap or at your feet, not at the level of your face. Some pro stringers take the extra precaution of wearing latex gloves. You should also put the used tape in a plastic bag—not in your racquet bag where it could be exposed to your towel—to discard it. And make sure that lead-taped racquets are always out of the reach of small children, who are the most susceptible to lead poisoning.
In play, the outer edge of the frame serves as a protective buffer for the tape on the inside of the hoop in case the racquet is scraped on the court surface. But even if lead particles were released they would likely be dispersed into the atmosphere and just fall to the ground. “I would expect the exposure to the player to be minimal or none because he’s already left the area to handle the next shot,” Todd says. “Still, lead is not good for one, and ideally, it would be a sound idea for a different dense element to be found.”But there aren’t any other viable options to lead, says Ron Carr of Gamma Sports, one of the largest manufacturers of lead tape. Tin, aluminum and copper are too light and would have to be applied too thickly. Tungsten lacks the needed flexibility, and silver and gold are cost-prohibitive. So we won’t be getting the lead out, at least not soon. I recently purchased three racquets that are all the same model, but they vary in weight from 11.2 ounces to 11.5 ounces to 11.7 ounces. I have only played with the 11.5-ounce racquet, which I like a lot. I’m a little concerned about the other two, and whether weight differences of this magnitude will be detrimental for a player of my 4.0-4.5 level.—Jeff
You’re probably not going to notice a difference between the 11.5-ouncer and the 11.7-ouncer at your level, Jeff. Racquet models, like most mass-produced products, often come off assembly lines with slightly different weights, usually within 7 grams (about a fifth of an ounce). But the weight variation between the 11.2 and the 11.7 is significant. There is probably quite a difference in their swingweights, which could impact your game—unless the heavier frame had a more head-light balance (which is highly unlikely). Our advice for players looking for a back-up racquet is to have it weighed before you buy. If the shop doesn’t have a scale, try a postal scale.
I use and love my old Wilson Hammer 4.0 110, but the frame is starting to go and I need an updated replacement. I'm a 3.5-4.0 player who hits with lots of topspin, and I love the power and control the Hammer helps me produce. I'm at a loss as to what to replace it with. Can you suggest anything in the same weight category or lighter with as large a sweet spot. Thanks.—Dennis Sanford
Racquets in the sub-9-ounce weight class like your Hammer 4.0 were all the rage 10 years ago. But they're almost extinct now, as the brands have been beefing up their game-improvement frames. Tennis Warehouse still carries the old Wilson Hyper Hammer 5.3 Stretch OS, which is similar to your Hammer 4.0 in weight (9 ounces) and head size, and has an open-string pattern for more spin. There are also a couple of newer flyweight frames that have similar characteristics: the 8.9-ounce Head YouTek Three Star and the 8.6-ounce Pacific Nexus. Playtest all three and let us know how you make out.
TENNIS.com gear editor Bill Gray and his technical advisers will answer your equipment questions every Friday. Click here to send one of your own.
 I was very interested to read on your site that Donnay is bringing back the ultra-thin 15-millimeter beam that Wilson released briefly in the 1990s. Why didn’t the skinny beam catch on the first time?—Gregg
The Wilson 5.5si thin-body came—and quickly disappeared—in 1996, largely a victim of the misperception that this thinnest-ever frame (the size of some badminton racquets) just couldn’t withstand ball impact. In fact, our playtests showed it could hold its own, but players back then were still infatuated with the power-mongering wide-bodies like the Wilson Profile and thick-beam versions of Wilson’s Hammer and Sledgehammer that were bestsellers throughout most of the 1990s.
The 5.5si did have a comparatively low power quotient because of its thin beam, but it was only intended for advanced players with fast swings who generated their own power. The advantage of the thin beam was more maneuverability and racquet-head speed because there was less aerodynamic drag during the swing than with clunkier frames. “The aerodynamic principles of the 5.5si are sound, and the playtests we documented showed most everyone felt their spin potential increased when they used the racquet,” recalls Wilson’s Bill Severa, who designed it. We’re currently putting the Donnay version of the 15-millimeter frame through its paces (the X-Orange is pictured at right) and will give you a full report soon on TENNIS.com.
I’m a 3.5–4.0 player and am turning 16 soon. I use a Wilson K-Six One 95. My coach has advised me this is not the ideal racquet for me as it is very heavy, especially when I try to snap my wrist on the forehand. He thinks I should get a lighter racquet. What do you recommend?—Mahesh
We agree with your coach that a 12.3-ounce heavyweight like the K-Six is a bit too much racquet for a player at your level and age. We suggest you take the Wilson Pro Open BLX out for a spin. It’s more than an ounce lighter, and produces such a comfortable feel without compromising on the feedback and control you’re used to with the K-Six.
I still play with my high school racquet from 1992, a Head Atlantis 660. It's a great racquet, but it's time to get into the 21st century. I'm a 4.0 all-court player who likes to hit topspin. Any suggestions?—Jim
TENNIS.com racquet adviser Bruce Levine suggests you try one of the newer hybrids that combine a lot of the attributes of game-improvement and player sticks. Since you’re already in the Head family, check out the YouTek Extreme MP, along with the Babolat Roddick Pure Drive, the Babolat Aero Pro, and the Dunlop Aerogel 4D 500 Tour. And welcome to the second decade of the new millennium.
I was at a major sporting goods store in Manhattan where I get my racquets strung. An employee in the tennis department told me to try a 16-gauge string for more spin, saying it was thinner. I thought the opposite was true, that the 18-gauge is thinner. Even after I showed him the thicknesses stated on the packaging, he wouldn’t back down, and said that the 16 gauge would actually be thinner than the 18 gauge when both were pre-stretched. Is this true? These are people I normally turn to for informed advice on equipment, but now I'm wary.—Ernie
That advice is more than enough to make you wary—it’s downright scary. It should be good motivation to solicit expertise from a pro shop, tennis specialty store, or this Mailbag. Two good shops in your area are Mason’s Tennis Mart and Grand Central Racquet. At some retail outlets, clerks are transferred frequently from department to department. My guess is yours was probably selling baseball bats the week before.
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