A Special Customization

  

Specially requested customization for an ardent fan of a very popular kpop girls group - Black Pink.

Cutting Down Racket Length

 

With Covid-19 still raging, especially the Delta variant, many are staying home voluntarily despite full vaccinations. 

Work-from-home remains the default in Singapore. 

Probably because of this, a lot of my old friends picked up tennis. A former colleague, now in his 70s and retired, pursued tennis rigorously. Taking lessons twice a week and playing another two more days with his wife. 

We caught up and played. He used an oversized head-heavy racket recommended by his coach. 

And I noticed the strain on his face as he struggled with his timing on every forehand shot. He thought that was normal and how tennis ought to be played. His coach commended his strokes. 

When I took his racket back for measurements and restring, I was shocked! 

His second hand racket had been modified previously. At 28 inches long, it weighed 297 grams with a balance of 36.5cm and a swingweight of 381 kg/cm2! 

Despite removing all the lead tape I could find, it remained too head-heavy. I suggested to cut down by half-inch for a start and he agreed. 

Some weight was added in the handle end to rebalance. The old kevlar/synthetic gut was cut and restrung with full poly at about 40 lbs using proportional stringing. 

He loved it from the first hit! 

"So easy!" he exclaimed! 

Longer is not always better. The specs has to be within his strength ability. He immediately sent in his wife's racket to be re-worked too. 

 

 

 

Warped Hoop - Head Gravity

The recently launched Head Gravity series of tennis rackets are really soft and arm friendly. 

This rare flex got many players on board, especially previous users of the Babolat Pure Drives and Aero Pros.

However, their feedback has been mixed. Some loved the Gravity while many others hated its inconsistency and lack of accuracy.

In stock form, I find the power and stability lacking.

However, it is the incredibly soft hoop that poses the biggest problems. It is almost as soft as the old but very popular Head Prestige.

Maintaining hoop shape while stringing this Gravity is challenging. I received so many badly warped hoops that rendered the racket unplayable.

Take a look yourself at the three videos below...

The stringjob in this first video was done by another stringer. You can see the Head logo stenciled. The hoop was approximately 24.8cm wide.

In the second video below, the hoop width was approximately 25.3cm after the strings were cut and removed.

 

 
The third video showed the width to be almost exactly 25.3cm after I restrung it. No stencil. Almost zero distortion.

Naturally, the player loved the distortion free stringjob.

If you have a Head Gravity playing inconsistently, it could be the stringing. Try measuring the hoop width without and with strings.

PS: Sorry about the lousy video quality...somehow it deteriorated after uploading
 



   

Warped Hoop - Wilson Blade 104 (2013)

Almost all soft hoops rackets sent in to me were strung warped by their stringers.

This Blade 104 has a very soft flex of RA59.

The one with red strings was strung by me about a week ago. The one with black strings was strung by something else. 

The one with black strings has its hoop widened by 5mm. That is a lot!

Both rackets inside hoop width were 26.1cm when strings were cut.

Videos below...