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...

    

Wilson Clash Customization

The latest Wilson Clash seemed interesting. 

Marketing generated so much hype that even during pre-launch in late 2018, I received many questions from players about its potential to up their game.

It did not take long before both versions were sent in to me for stringing and modifications.

I had a few hits with some that were sent to me strung. Surprisingly, many were strung with poly/multi or full multi. Few were with full poly. 

Dampener or not, the feel was very muted yet included a lot of buzz and trembling. This felt exactly like "hoop wobble" (link). Immediately, this hinted a potentially very soft hoop. Extra care needed when stringing. 

When lacing up the centre main, what struck me was how big the modern grommet holes were. Every hole was large enough to be a tie-off hole. That made threading strings very easy.

My earlier suspicions were confirmed when tensioning the mains. Previous soft hoops I worked on warped more when outer mains like 6, 7 or 8 were tensioned. The Clash started warping significantly from inner mains like 3, 4 and 5. That is a very significant change and carries huge implications.

Crosses start very high and have smaller gaps near 12 o'clock. These gaps almost double near the last few bottom crosses. Another hint of potential erratic stringbed response especially nearer the top quarter or top third which most professional players like to contact the ball at.

When weaving the crosses, the gaps kept reminding me of the earlier Burn series. It was so wide it created control issues for many. And those that could somehow control the ball snapped strings too quickly. Would this happen with the Clash open gaps? (I was later updated by several their strings notched extra fast in the Clash compared to their own 16x19 stringbeds)

As I examined the throat area, I noticed a notched recessed area inside the throat. (Somewhere beside the "o" and "n" of the red "Wilson" wordings) This must be where the racket is flexing on impact. Interesting. Few rackets I can think of, other than wood, flex at such a low and faraway point away from impact point.

Not long after, another Clash came in. Brand new unstrung. For very heavy customizations for a touring professional.

Armed with the feedback from the earlier few Clashes, I took up the challenge. 

It was a challenge because the Clash was marketed as a very powerful frame. Many complained of timing issues and erratic hot spots on the stringbed. And it had very open strings coupled with a very soft flex of about 55. All these pointed to control issues.

To add power or weight meant doubling up on these control problems.

Nevertheless, I did the calculations and it all added up nicely. So I proceeded.

First step, strip the grommets.

Now that you see how much lead tape I am adding, can you understand why I said it was a challenge to add control and keep the ball in? For a professional full time tennis player!

(I scribbled on the lead tape too!)

Grommet installation was very very easy. Took me about 4 seconds. Fastest I have ever reinstalled top grommets after adding lead tape.

For this ease of reinstallation, I have to thank Wilson for this modern grommet design. The centre pieces always cause the biggest obstructions. So they cleverly separated the centre 10 grommets from the bumper guard. And the drilling featured extra large holes for easy grommet installation. Well done Wilson!! And thank you!!

Typical of a new unstrung before racket, the grommets need to be seated properly to ensure a playable string job. Look at the red circles area below, compare the properly seated grommet with the "unseated" one.

Do not assume this happens automatically when you pull tension. I have several strung frames sent in to me with the grommets still "unseated".
 

Until now I do not understand why so many are enamored and mesmerized by silicone in the butt. Everyone I customize for asked for it!

Final checks before handing the frame over to the player. So far the hoop size QC seems very consistent. All Clash and Clash Tour I worked on measured 326mm length and 251mm width for the inside hoop from base of grommet to base of grommet. Zero hoop distortion achieved.

PS: No details of racket weights, specs nor string tensions would be revealed as these players are still actively competing. So please do not ask.