* HOW DIFFERENT IS STRINGING FOR THE PROS {2004}

By Vince Chiarelli, PTR, MRT and Owner of String Along With Vince in Largo

NOTES FROM THE NASDAQ-100 OPEN

I thought some of our readers would be interested in the "nuts and bolts" of stringing at a professional tournament. The following are a few of the things that I find unusual compared to stringing for my customers at home:

Pros usually will play with strings for only one match. Many change racquets several times during a match because of string breakage, wanting a tighter or looser feeling string bed, broken frame, etc. Many pros require their frames be strung the morning of the match; wanting the strings to be as fresh as possible for play.

Pros pay for every stringing. The cost per string job is about twice as much as at your local tennis shop.

Some pros will have frames strung during a match, if they are unhappy with the strings during play. For this reason, we had to be on duty until the last point of the day was over.
I personally had to string a frame for Vince Spadea and get it back on the court within 3 games. Another member of the team did the same for Nadal during his match with Federer. Both Spadea and Nadal won their matches. Whether the stringing contributed is conjecture, but it may have been a factor.

Pros don't play with worn grips or overgrips. In fact, most racquets came in with new grip material for each stringing. It's interesting to note that when the junior tournament started, we started getting the familiar worn, torn, and grungy grips that seem to be the norm with amateur players. The pros don't want to take a chance of losing points because they can't hold onto their racquets properly. Amateurs should take a page out of the pro handbook and never play with worn grips or overgrips. The cost of replacement is minimal, and the benefits can be considerable.

A majority of pros have their racquets strung 1 kilogram (about 2.2 lbs) looser on the cross strings than the main strings. There is a school of thought that this makes the sweet spot larger.

Although many players have frames that are specially made for them, a surprising number are playing with off-the-shelf racquets. Also, a large number of pros are playing with older racquets painted to look like the current consumer model.

While stringing at the NASDAQ-100 Open, I strung about 70% of the time with "poly" strings, less than 5% other synthetic strings and the rest (over 25%) with natural gut. During the qualification rounds, the team strung with poly almost exclusively, and as the tournament got to higher levels, the amount of natural gut increased.

Copyright 2004 (Previously published in FLORIDA TENNIS - Aug., 2004)
By Vince Chiarelli, PTR, MRT, Owner, String Along With Vince, Largo, FL