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By Blair Henley / Thursday, January 16, 2014
Who strings Federer’s racquets? How much does stringing
cost? How many racquets are strung during the Australian
Open? Take a fascinating look inside the Wilson stringing
room.
Photo Credit: Mark Peterson / Corleve
MELBOURNE, Australia — Take one step into the Wilson stringing room at the Australian Open and
you can sense the buzz. This little room, lined wall to wall
with stringing machine hardware, is a hub of activity during
the first major of the year. Coaches and racquet runners visit
the front desk by the minute, hauling two, three, sometimes
four frames for stringing.
The average tennis player restrings a racquet when his or her
strings break. Depending on one’s level of play, that may only
be a few times per year. But professionals are a different
story. Rarely, if ever, do they wait for a string to break on
its own. Instead, most players on tour restring before every
match. Joel Disbro oversees all of the action
in the Wilson stringing room and knows firsthand just how crazy
things can get.
“Monday was our busiest day, and [we strung] 416,” he said.
“But as players go home, there are obviously less and less
racquets.”
Each of the 13 stringers Wilson has employed for the Australian
Open has been through a rigorous multi-day tryout process where
they are evaluated on things like speed and accuracy.
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Ivanovic
“It’s very rigorous,” Disbro explained. “A lot of them don’t
make it.”
Todd Mobley passed Wilson’s test and has been
stringing on the pro tour for 25 years.
“I’ve strung for pretty much everybody but Roger
Federer,” Mobley said wistfully. “One time I was
assigned to him early at the US Open, but he never brought up a
racquet.”
Of course, that doesn’t mean Federer failed to restring his
racquets during the tournament. On the contrary, he has is own
personal stringer who had not yet arrived on site. Mobley’s
tiny window of opportunity closed quickly.
Players not fortunate enough (read: wealthy enough) to hire a
full-time stringer of their own often cultivate relationships
with the stringers at a given tournament site. Wilson employs
people from all over the world – an advantage when the athletes
want to talk tension and other racquet specifics in their
native language.
Even without paying up for a personal stringer, players can
still rack up a staggering stringing bill. At $32 per racquet
($28.61 USD) – not including string – the best competitors
might shell out a cool $2,000 by the end of a Grand Slam. So
what does that mean for lower-ranked players who aren’t raking
in the big bucks?
“Yeah, they tend not to restring as often,” Disbro said
matter-of-factly.
Tour players primarily use polyester string – a thick, durable
variety that has helped them increase spin production as it has
evolved. For stringers, the overwhelming shift to polyester has
left some sore fingers in its wake; it is stiff and difficult
to work with. When asked which string he prefers, Mobley
smiled. “The softest string I can find. Natural gut is
good.”
WORDPLAY: Best Quotes from Days One and
Two
Natural gut, made from cow intestines and known for its
unsurpassed feel, is the Rolls Royce of the string world,
running the average consumer around $50 per set. It was the
string of choice for many pros before polyester came along, but
with current players more concerned with spin and power than
touch and control, gut has become less appealing. Today it is
most commonly used in hybrid combinations where one variety is
used in the main (vertical) strings and another is used in the
cross (horizontal) strings.
Each day Mobley and his colleagues will string anywhere between
22 and 32 racquets, but often frames arrive with a “rush”
request attached. It’s not uncommon for players to restring in
the middle of a match, meaning stringers have about 15 minutes
to get the job done. Sometimes players want a fresh set – the
extreme Australian heat means strings lose tension more
quickly. Or, they may want to change things up completely.
“This year, we’ve had a couple of guys experiment with
different strings while they are on the court playing a match,
something totally different,” Mobley said. “I’ve never ever
seen that happen. When you go on the court, you want to know
what you’re playing with. I’m like, ‘Are you sure?’”
By the time gates close on the 2014 Australian Open, the Wilson
stringing room will have worked through approximately 4,000
racquets. Not bad for two weeks’ work. Players will round up
their personal racquet piles, the Wilson crew will pack up its
stringing machines, and they will head off to their next
destination to do it all again.
Mobley hard at work in the Wilson stringing room at
the Australian Open.
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