There are only two kinds of people in this world: those who bring a can of balls with them when they play, and cheap #!#?!@#!@?s. In the latter group’s defense, while you can’t play if you don’t have balls (no jokes, please), it’s usually the last thing you remember on your way to the courts. Which is odd because nothing spoils a game like having a set of dead or bald tennis balls. (By the way, this is the most gratuitous, but funniest use of the word “balls”) It’s clearly equipment we take for granted. Especially since it really hasn’t significantly changed in price for years. I feel like you’ve always been able to get a can of tennis for around $2. How can that be? When you think about how other precious resources have increased in cost (gas, milk, beer), it’s amazing that tennis balls have basically flatlined.

But that doesn’t prevent manufacturers from trying to improve on a good thing. Penn is launching its new Pro Penn+ tennis ball in July. It features LongPlay felt, which according to the company, has 25% longer wear and 19% greater visibility when compared to the original Pro Penn. It also has a stain-resistant property that is suppose to keep the ball cleaner longer. Hard to argue with any of those benefits.

I’m not much a ball snob. If it’s round, yellow, and somewhat lively, I’m game. My only indulgence is, no matter long I played with them, I generally don’t use a can of balls more than once. It’s like putting toothpaste back in the tube. But there are players who are quite particular about the balls they use. Whether deserved or not, they perceive certain brands to have different playing characteristics than others. For instance, I know guys who think a popular company’s balls play “heavier” than its competitors. After a handful of games, especially on clay, the balls get weighed down and the match turns into a rock fight. Since the difference in weight between balls can be no more than a few grams, it’s difficult to believe that they can honestly judge one to feel heavier at contact than others. But they’re convinced that it’s true. For them, perception is (without a doubt) reality.

So I ask: Can you really tell the difference between kinds of tennis balls? Golfers are famously loyal to their favorite brand of balls, even though studies have shown very little separating them in terms of performance. True, there are more subtle nuances to a golf ball that can affect characteristics like trajectory and spin. The same can’t be said for tennis balls, but are there makes that favor a particular playing style?

I tend to strongly doubt it. I’ve never left a match wondering if the choice of balls played a role in the outcome. When I purchase a can, price and availability are usually the determining factors. For a while I preferred a particular brand just because their cans had an extra ball in it and I was playing a lot of doubles at the time. Four balls for four players – logic overruled any functionality concerns. It’s an option I wish more companies would offer. But of course even with the extra ball, the can should still only cost around $2.

Recently, a well-respected former player and current coach wanted to know what I believe to be the biggest advancement in tennis over the past 10 years. I offered up modern racquets, quick dry shirts, and Peter Bodo’s TennisWorld as possibilities, but he had another idea. For him, it’s Luxilon strings. He claims the strings have allowed players to swing as hard as they want without fear that their shots will go long. All that racquet head speed means tremendous spin and the extreme stiffness of the string results in enhanced control. Throw it all together and it’s why pro players return power with even greater power, and why the game has become a baseline slugfest.

The thing is, the coach is not alone in this sentiment. Practically everyone associated with professional tennis sings the praises of Luxilon. By the way he’s constantly crowing about the string during broadcasts, you would think John McEnroe gets a cut of every reel sold. And just like most things in tennis it’s monkey see, monkey do. If it works for the pros, it will eventually filter down to the rec player who is sure to follow. And why not? Limitless power and spin with pinpoint control is a tantalizing offer. Sounds like one of those too-good-to-be-true pharmaceutical commercials pushing a drug that will alleviate your allergies, lower your cholesterol, and raise your I.Q. Just as with those cure-alls, though, Luxilon does come with possible side-effects which can include: a board-like string bed, shoulder or elbow pain, and dry mouth (which may or may not be caused by all the running one does while playing).

I’ve been around the block a time or two with Luxilon. The first time I hit with the strings I was convinced it was nothing more than pliable steel. The stiffness was jaw-dropping. But once I got accustomed to it, I did grow to appreciate its finer points. I take fairly big cuts on the ball and enjoyed the spin potential and control the strings seemed to give me. Most of all I really liked the indestructibility – I just couldn’t break it, which was rare for me. Still, that blessing became something of a curse as I was never sure when it was time to restring. And now that my shoulder has seen better days, I’ve lately been appreciating the kinder response of a softer multifilament. As is my stringer and his kid’s college fund.

In the 2007 United States Racquet Stringers Association member string survey Luxilon scored extremely high in regards to durability, but rather poorly in terms of comfort and playability. No doubt, it is demanding. You certainly need to possess serious racquet head speed and a strong familiarity with your frame’s sweet spot to make it work for you. Top juniors and college players definitely qualify.
But what of weekend warriors? Does it really benefit them? While a resilient string is certainly a valued commodity, one that is more user-friendly has its advantages. And pros don’t use Luxilon for the durability because they generally get their racquets restrung long before their strings break. So it’s the performance of the string that’s extremely appealing to them. Are recreational players using Luxilon because it truly helps their games?

Or are they just monkeying around?

Communication is the cornerstone of any relationship. With that in mind, here is the first of what I hope to be a regular segment at The Pro Shop: the mailbag. If you’re interested in sending questions, comments, or flattering compliments hit the contact link at the top of the page and send me your mail. I won’t be able to respond to everyone, but your feedback is greatly appreciated.

On to the mailbag…

Buying a new racquet has gotten as confusing as shopping for toothpaste. It used to be you would just choose between Crest and Colgate. Anyway, I still buy regular, good old Crest, but it's harder to find on the shelves now because of all the other choices. Suppose I'm an intermediate player (an intermediate, intermediate player) and I want to buy the tennis racquet equivalent of regular Crest. What would I buy?

Paul Reiners
Rochester, MN

What? Not interested in having your pearly whites glisten? This is without a doubt the question I get asked most frequently, minus the Crest analogy. And it’s the one for which I have the fewest answers. To me, suggesting a racquet to someone is comparable to setting up a friend on a blind date. You may have some idea as to what he’s looking for (hair color, height, grip size), but there’s no accounting for compatibility. A racquet that is a magic wand in my hands, may feel more like a shovel to you. Saying you’re the definition of an intermediate player still leaves too much open to interpretation, even if you’re just after a meat-and-potatoes type racquet.
Besides, don’t be so quick to discard some of the newer models. Yes, there’s a lot of marketing jargon to sift through, but there are some quality sticks available. I suggest finding a shop with a wide selection of demos, start with some frames at the approximate weight and head size you prefer and work from there. I have yet to find a better method for finding a new racquet than good old trial-and-error.
Speaking of Crest, remember this? Certainly motivated my dental care.

A friend of mine says he has not restrung his racquet in two years. He plays year-round at least two days a week for several hours each day. His favorite shot is a vicious forehand slice. He insists there is no need to replace his strings until they break. Is it time for him to restring?

Jeff
Hastings-on-Hudson, NY

TENNIS’ learned scribe Pete Bodo is of a similar mind. He doesn’t think the average player can honestly tell the difference if a racquet loses a few pounds of tension. He also believes you can string a racquet with a couple of heavy rocks, pliers, fishing wire and gardening gloves. So take his input with a boulder of salt.
If your friend plays that often and hasn’t broken a string in over two years, I’m going to question the viciousness of that slice forehand. Still, the short answer is yes, it’s time for a restringing. Can he still play effectively with his old string job? Sure. But the reason players get their strings replaced before they break isn’t to emulate the pros, or to be extravagant. It’s to maintain a level of consistency. If you’re use to playing with your strings at a certain tension, you may have to adjust your strokes as that tension drops over time. Then, if you do finally break a string, or get the racquet restrung, the increased tension causes more stroke turmoil. That’s why the pros who can afford it have their racquets freshly strung for each match and practice. Although that is the definition of extravagant.

I have 3 boys, ages 5, 7 and 9. They are mad keen on tennis. I want to protect their growth as they play exclusively on hard courts. What shoes are best for them, in terms of protection? Should they wear supports to protect against injuries in the future?

David Simons
Thailand

Hard to pass up a question with the phrase “mad keen” in it. It’s pretty early in their tennis careers to be worrying about the health of your boys knees and ankles. They’re still very light in weight and made primarily of rubber, so unless you’re Mike Agassi and they’re putting in several hours a day it’s unlikely they’re ripe for ligament or tendon damage. But if they take a real shine to the game, and are going to be doing all of their playing on hard courts, it’s not a bad idea to wear shoes with a high level of cushioning (protects knees from the pounding) and lateral support (keeps the ankles from twisting).
I’m not a big believer is using braces or supports as a preventive measure. If anything it may serve to weaken the area. As your boys develop physically, I think they’re better off strengthening the parts of their bodies they use in tennis through weight training and other exercises. It’s also never too early to ingrain good habits such as stretching before and after playing. Keeping loose and limber is always wise in the fight against injury.

Will the brands like Prince, Wilson and Babolat ever start selling racquets directly to consumers from their own site? Is this a conflict of interest with TW (Tennis Warehouse) or retail partners? Just curious because I would think that if you bought directly from Prince for example, you would know you were getting an authentic Prince frame. Other brands in other industries do it...Will tennis companies?

West Coast Backhander

This was a comment/question that was posted in response to my last blog entry about the racquet counterfeit story and purchasing frames over the internet. I thought it raised an interesting point, so I posed it to a marketing executive at Wilson. His response: at the moment they’re content with relying on the 3500 or so authorized dealers around the U.S. to get their products into consumers’ hands. Direct buying is not something they’re currently working on.
Still, you’ve got to believe this is a concept tennis manufacturers will eventually entertain. Most, if not all, already have websites in place. All that’s needed is the capability of taking orders and a small customer service staff (preferably someplace domestic). As the reader mentions, brands in other industries have no problem with this. You can buy a pair of Shox directly from Niketown.com or search for it at a retail outlet. The difference is when you buy direct from the company, you generally pay a premium. And that’s how the racquet companies would smooth things over with their dealers. You can go straight to the source and pay full-price, or you can search around to find it at a discount.

What was the racquet/string combination that Davydenko was using at the Miami Sony Ericsson tournament?

Vince Piperni
Montreal, Canada

According to Prince, Nikolay was swinging the Prince Ozone Pro Tour with PolyStar Energy 17 gauge strings. In his post-match press conference after beating Andy Roddick for the first time in his career (now 1-5), Davydenko credited his surge in play after Indian Wells to switching from the standard Ozone Tour to the Pro model (Here’s our review). The big differences between the two are the Pro has more weight and a dense string pattern (18x20). It’s unclear whether Davydenko experimented with the weight of his frame, but he admitted that he moved from the open pattern (16x18) of his previous racquet to a dense string job. Many players, including Davydenko, find increased control by playing with additional strings.
As for the PolyStar strings, I can’t say I’ve had the pleasure. All I know is it’s a Germany company and as the name indicates it’s in the polyester family. The buzz is it’s designed to be softer and more powerful than competitors in that string category.
It’s pretty unusual for a professional to make such an important equipment switch in the middle of the season. Guess in Davydenko’s case, the “gamble” paid off.

Thank you, thank you…

In the April issue of TENNIS, sandwiched between racquet reviews, the magazine ran a piece about counterfeit frames. Aptly titled, Phony Frames, the story warns readers that buying a racquet at an auction site on the Internet, such as eBay, can be a risky proposition. Forgers, primarily located in Southeast Asia, are producing knockoffs of popular models and selling them on the web at heavily discounted prices to unsuspecting bargain hunters. It’s not an epidemic, but it does happen.

To illustrate the article, we ran pictures of a real and a fake Wilson n6. The impetus for the story came out of a meeting some of us at the magazine had with Wilson at their headquarters in Chicago last summer. Jon Muir, the general manager of racquet sports, told us about the problem and how the company had hired an agency to patrol the web looking for racquet cheats. We thought it an appropriate subject to address in the Spring Gear Guide, and when the time came Wilson was generous enough to loan us a counterfeit they had confiscated, along with its authentic counterpart, to photograph and compare for the piece. Hence the dueling n6’s.

Now for the confused.

A few readers studied those pictures and assumed the discrepancies that made that racquet bogus applied to all Wilson frames. Not so. It was just a comparison between one model and an obvious forgery of it. So even if your new [K] Factor stick has a word spelling that matches the counterfeit in the article, it does NOT mean you’re holding an imitation. As stated in the article, if you bought your Wilson from authorized reseller – Internet or otherwise – then you have nothing to fear. Your racquet is legit. Use it in good health.

That said, the whole episode does beg an interesting question: has the Internet supplanted the pro shop? Not this blog, but the good ol’ retail shop that avid players call on to satisfy all their equipment needs. For the most part, the anxious readers who thought they had been swindled had bought their racquets over the web. Not an auction site, either, but a certified dealer. If a name and a face rather than a computer screen had sold them the racquets, would they have been as panicky about their authenticity?

Not likely. Yet a recent report released by the Tennis Industry Association called, “Tennis Participation Trends & Studies”, revealed that consumer buying over the Internet has increased in all categories except for tennis balls. So greater numbers of players are doing their shopping from their laptops. Economics is a foreign language to me, but the three prevailing reasons for this have to be pretty much the same for most Internet consumption:

Convenience – who doesn’t like buying stuff wearing nothing but boxers?
Massive selection – there’s not a mall on the planet that can match it.
Lower costs – lots of competition and limited overhead result in friendlier price tags.

Admittedly, when I do buy tennis equipment it tends to be with a mouse click. In fact, the only times I find myself in a pro shop of any kind is because I’m too lazy (and painfully slow) to re-string my own racquets. Besides the three reasons above, the feature that drives me to the web most often is information. Not just product reviews, which are helpful, but the most critical of all eyes - customer feedback. You know, the opinions and recommendations you get from peers in forums and message boards. Take my last blog entry. I mentioned that I grew up playing with a wood frame, and several readers left comments about how they still play with one and which current strings work best with that type of racquet. Where else can you find that kind of knowledge?

It’s not that you can’t get wise counsel from John Q. Storeowner. If you frequent a shop or sporting goods store with an astute tennis equipment expert, you’re ahead of the curve. But short of that, I find avid players using the products to be the best judges of their merits. For one thing they don’t have to straddle the murky line of honesty and salesmanship. Is this guy telling me what I want to hear or does he truly believe this is most absorbent overgrip I will ever use? And most importantly, they can be candid about whether the performance matches the promise because their opinions come from having first-hand experience with the equipment.

Unless, of course, they bought a fake.

“It’s not the tool, it’s the carpenter.”
- Noted philosopher, Dr. Mark Levey, circa 1985

When I was about 12, I asked my father why I was still playing with an old-school wood racquet while all my friends at summer camp had upgraded to the seemingly superior graphite models. He claimed that if a match was lost, it wasn’t the equipment (Jack Kramer Autograph), but the player (me) swinging it that determined the outcome. Perhaps he was right. Perhaps my Wilson was a helluva stick. It did the trick for Johnny Mac. Still, it looked terribly impotent next to a mighty Prince Graphite and even the most skilled carpenter will doubt his abilities if he thinks his hammer can’t crack an egg.

For whatever reason, most likely because he wanted one himself, my father eventually softened his stance. We went to Herman’s Sporting Goods and he bought me my first non-wooden racquet: the Pro Kennex Bronze Ace ($50 strung). And while I can’t say for certain that my performance improved, I am positive about one thing – I loved that tinny sounding piece of junk. You always remember your first, right?

Many have followed since. I’ve always been a bit of a flirt when it comes to my racquets. And now, as gear editor for TENNIS, I’ve become completely promiscuous. With dozens of new models passing through my office each year, I can’t help but become infatuated with the latest trends. So much so I’ve been guilty of starting and finishing the same match with two entirely different racquets. I’m not much better when it comes to my strings or shoes, either. It’s hell on your game, but a lot of fun.
Maybe you’re like me. Maybe you enjoy tinkering and experimenting with your equipment in search of the perfect complements to your game. Or perhaps you’re somebody with staunch loyalty to what’s currently in your bag but wants to know more about what’s in your opponent’s. Either way, this blog is aimed directly at you – the gear junkie.

If it has to do with tennis equipment, and it matters to you, we want to be talking about it. I’ll be posting items at least once a week discussing what’s new and noteworthy, and what’s not for consumption. There will also be guest bloggers, interviews with people in the industry, mailbags, and other forums to help spread the gospel. I may be driving this bus, but I don’t mind sharing the wheel. Most of all, it should be fun. We all share a common love of the sport and a belief in a fundamental principle:

The tool matters.