US Open Stringing Room 2012 Day 1

US Open Fri –Sat 17-18 Aug 2012

Things I learned in New York Today

1.  Baggage handlers at JFK airport are the worst. If there was a baggage handling Olympics these guys would not be getting the gold. It took 55 minutes for my bag to be unloaded from the plane. Seriously. 55 minutes. Missed my shuttle and had to wait another hour for the next one. New York we are not off to a good start.
2. People in New York like to sit on the stairs outside their houses. It seems that very few people watch TV. Stair sitting is a big thing here. If two or more friends are visiting the party is relocated from the stairs to the 2 metre x 2 metre area at the base of the stairs which passes for a front yard. Living the dream.
3. There are crazy people wandering the streets of New York. And I mean crazy. One of the crazies I encountered was eating a tube of toothpaste as he went. I suspect this was to distract us from the fact that he was ranting endlessly. I did not stop to ask him what flavour toothpaste it was.
4. Razor blades are expensive here. More expensive than in Brisbane. Go figure. The razors I use are twice the price. I am probably growing a beard over the next couple of weeks.
5. Mobile phone plans here are pretty good. $60 for unlimited calls texts and internet and unlimited calls to Australian landlines. No this does not mean that I will be calling work each day.
6. Sushi here is not as good as the sushi in Brisbane. Maybe I need to find a better restaurant.

The flight over went pretty quickly. No sleep but I saw some good movies. My flight got into New York at 5pm and after the baggage delay I walked into the hotel lobby at around 7.45pm and ran into 8 of the other stringers who were just heading out to dinner.  5 minutes to get ready and then I was off to all you can eat sushi. Quantity is rarely a suitable substitute for quality.

I have the next day off so get to bed around 11pm.

I sleep in and manage to get out of the hotel just after 11. I spend most of the day shopping and sorting out internet and phone credit. New Yorkers really struggle with the Australian accent. I am asked by the T mobile guy to spell my name, “S-H-A-N-E.”   He repeats “S-H-I-E-N-E. How do you say that?” I say “Shane”. He says so that’s “Shayyyyyyyne?”

He continues to refer to me as Shayyyyne. Eggplant.

Dinner Sat night is sushi again but this time at a different restaurant. It is ok but not great.

I start stringing tomorrow so try to get to bed early. Sleep is going to be important over the next couple of weeks.

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Shane Mikic is the pro-shop manager for the Tennis Gear stores and their online store www.tennisgear.com.au in Brisbane.  He has over 17 years racquet stringing experience and is currently part of the Wilson Global Stringing Team at the 2012 US Open.  The following blog shares his experiences during his time in the Wilson Stringing room.

US Open Stringing Room 2012 - Day 3

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US Open Mon 20 Aug 2012

I am sore. My left quad is sore. My calves are sore. I think it is my broken toe. I am walking funny because of it. I need a massage.

We go flat out all day and finally finish up just after 9.30. We do 330 racquets for the day. That’s 40 more than we did the same day last year.

Jeff does 40 racquets for the day and wins the competition. Jim and Vasilly are close behind with only a couple of racquets separating them. I lag behind in 4^th or 5^th place. It doesn’t matter which it is. I might go into a deep depression after this.

The new 4G string is very similar to Alu Power but holds tension much better. I am keen to try it out. Quite a few of the players are changing to it.

Tadashi shows me a new Kimony starting clamp. Kimony is a Japanese company which makes some fantastic stringing tools and accessories. The clamp looks fantastic but it costs $300!! I think I will be sticking with my clamps.

We have our stringers meeting late in the afternoon. Ron Rocchi (who runs the team) has organised for each of us to receive a personalised 2013 model BLX Blade 98. These racquets are not available anywhere in the world until January. Each racquet has the stringer’s name stencilled on just above the grip. This is a really cool gift.

The last bus leaves at 6pm so we all have to take the train home. We get stared at a lot on the train. We all have matching uniforms, bags and racquets.

I get to bed around 11.30pm. My fingers are going to be sore tomorrow.

Shane Mikic is the pro-shop manager for the Tennis Gear stores and their online store www.tennisgear.com.au in Brisbane.  He has over 17 years racquet stringing experience and is currently part of the Wilson Global Stringing Team at the 2012 US Open.  The following blog shares his experiences during his time in the Wilson Stringing room.

US Open Stringing Room 2012 - Day 2

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US Open Sun 19 Aug 2012

I am not jetlagged. I am not jetlagged. I am not jetlagged. If I keep saying it then it must be true. But really I am not jetlagged. I wake up at 5.45am. I know I should be sleeping but my body tells me it’s time to wake up. I try to be quiet. Jim my roommate had a big night at Snafu so he probably needs sleep. I get dressed and head off to the hotel gym. This will probably be the only time I get to the gym while I am here. I have an omelette for breakfast and head to the shops for Red Bull – 2 should be sufficient. On the way back to the hotel I pass another crazy guy. They really are everywhere. The tournament bus leaves from our hotel at 8am each morning and takes about 20 minutes to get to the tennis centre. The stringing room is located in Arthur Ashe Stadium next to the player check-in desk.

After calibrating and cleaning my machine it is all systems go. I string non-stop until 2pm and take 15 minutes for lunch. Welcome to the US Open. It really is a manic day. It was not this busy at the same time last year. There are extra players in the qualifying draw so that would explain the extra racquets. After lunch I go non-stop until 8.15pm. A solid 12 hour day is a good way to start.

We have the official team dinner at the same Mexican restaurant we went to last year. They do the best nachos on the planet. That is not an exaggeration. I find out some information about the new Wilson racquets being released in January. There are new Steam and Blade models. Two of the new Steam racquets will be designed specifically for spin and have a special string designed to be used in them.  They sound really good. There will also be a new version of the Blade 98.

Tomorrow is the day before qualifying starts so it will be the second biggest day of the tournament. We start talking about a competition so it is decided that the person who strings the most racquets will receive a spool of the new Luxilon 4G string. To an extent this is out of the stringer’s hands. You need to work fast but how many you do is dependent on how many of your players drop frames in and how the front desk allocates new players.

Shane Mikic is the pro-shop manager for the Tennis Gear stores and their online store www.tennisgear.com.au in Brisbane.  He has over 17 years racquet stringing experience and is currently part of the Wilson Global Stringing Team at the 2012 US Open.  The following blog shares his experiences during his time in the Wilson Stringing room.

Australian Open Stringing Room Day 17

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Australian Open 2012 - 24 Jan Tue

Day 17 – The Break-In

 

I wake up early and head over to the stringing room at 7.30 with Todd. When we get there the room is locked. Joel is not there to open up yet and we don’t have a key. I have 3 racquets due at 9 and I want to get started on them. At 7.50am I decide to break in. One of our windows has a dodgy latch so I climb up onto the ledge and push it open. I climb through the window without injuring myself.

A woman who is walking past comes over and asks me if I am a stringer. When I reply in the affirmative she to me “Well it’s not a good look”. I resist the urge to say something smart. Surprisingly she doesn’t call security. Joel turns up to unlock the doors soon after I break in.

I get through my morning racquets quickly. Todd has been speaking to the stringer who was doing Tsonga’s racquets. He was spraying the ball in his match with Nishikori. Apparently he changed strings for this tournament. He was using a full poly setup prior to this and changed to gut mains to soften the stringbed up. It looks like he has sacrificed a bit of control by doing this.

Radek Stepanek drops in a Donnay racquet for us to string. He has been playing with a Bosworth racquet for years but might be looking to change.

I find out some interesting information from the Wilson guys about Del Potro. He is still using an old Wilson K Factor racquet. He only has a few of them left. When a racquet has had a lot of use and a lot of restrings the graphite starts to break down and take on a different character. I am told that they have tried to make new frames for him with the same specs as his current frames but because the graphite is not worn he does not like the feel. James Blake had similar problems with his racquets as well I am told.

We have a camera crews through the room looking for action a number of times. Each time they turn up there are no racquets being strung. Bad timing.

I do an on-court racquet for Sania Mirza.

There is a mix up with an on-court racquet for Rafa during his match with Berdych. We see him hand off a racquet for an on-court and we get the call from the tournament desk. 20 minutes later we still have not received the racquet. The racquet had been left on Rafa’s chair behind his bag. We finally receive the racquet and it is back in the runner’s hand in 12 minutes.

I head to Cookie after I finish to have some drinks with Jim. He is leaving the next day. Alcoholic Japanese bubble drinks again. They are far too easy to drink. I am in no hurry to get home. I have the next day off. It is my first day off for 2 and a half weeks. We work around 90 hours a week so I am really looking forward to it.

Shane Mikic is the pro-shop manager for the Tennis Gear stores and their online store www.tennisgear.com.au in Brisbane.  He has over 17 years racquet stringing experience and is currently part of the Wilson Global Stringing Team at the 2012 US Open.  The following blog shares his experiences during his time in the Wilson Stringing room.

Australian Open Stringing Room Day 16

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Australian Open 2012 - 23 Jan Mon

Day 16

After a few racquets early in the morning we are quiet for most of the day. With most of the main draw players now out of the tournament we are really slowing down. The juniors and wheel chair players are the only ones dropping in racquets.

I am doing one racquet every 2 hours or so. There is no need for Red Bull. I did not buy it this morning. There are still a few cans in the fridge and I am sure that they will get me through the remainder of the tournament. I may need to stock up again if I start getting withdrawal headaches but that is unlikely.

I have my last racquet on the machine and am set for a 7.30 finish when we have a bunch of junior racquets dropped in. I am the only available stringer so the early night I had planned goes out the window. I leave at 9.45 and I have left 3 racquets for the morning. They were only dropped in at 8.30pm to be ready for 9am the next day. At Wimbledon they close the stringing room so any racquets not dropped in by a certain time are not accepted and the player must come back the next day to drop them off. We are a bit more flexible.

I get an early night.  I’m not feeling as tired as I was last week.

Shane Mikic is the pro-shop manager for the Tennis Gear stores and their online store www.tennisgear.com.au in Brisbane.  He has over 17 years racquet stringing experience and is currently part of the Wilson Global Stringing Team at the 2012 US Open.  The following blog shares his experiences during his time in the Wilson Stringing room.

Australian Open Stringing Room Day 14

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Australian Open 2012 - 21 Jan

Day 14 – Juniors and Kukushkin

We are kept busy this morning. In addition to the morning batch of racquets from Kukushkin we have a lot of junior players dropping off racquets for the start of the junior tournament tomorrow. The junior racquets are fun to string. There are a lot of Babolats with open patterns and hybrid string. They are a breeze to string. I could string these all day.

Medina Garrigues cannot find the racquet we sent out to her during the match last night. The issue takes hours to resolve and involves multiple calls from player reps and the tournament desk. We are being told that we have lost the racquet. Eventually they contact the runner who collected the racquet from us to take onto court. She had left the racquet in the player’s bag while she was being treated for the injury. A quick count of the racquets in her bag confirms that this is the case.

There are people everywhere. It is so busy outside. Apparently the ground passes have sold out. There is massive queue for beers at the bar opposite us for much of the afternoon.  Many people are unable to get into the showcourts and they resort to watching the bigscreen instead.

I receive a round of applause from a guy who watches me string a racquet from start to finish. I didn’t know I was that good. Perhaps I should be selling tickets.

Kukushkin plays a marathon match against Monfils. He sends in two on-courts. One in the fourth set and one at the start of the fifth. I get both of them done in 15 minutes. The pattern we use produces a very hard weave on his particular racquets. I injure my hand while doing his second racquet. The ligament controlling the middle finger on my left hand is very sore. I am having trouble closing my hand and gripping string. I might have to call the trainer.

After the Kukushkin match I only have two racquets for Lisa Raymond to do. Then I am free to eat pizza and have a couple of drinks while watching the Hewitt match.

Shane Mikic is the pro-shop manager for the Tennis Gear stores and their online store www.tennisgear.com.au in Brisbane.  He has over 17 years racquet stringing experience and is currently part of the Wilson Global Stringing Team at the 2012 US Open.  The following blog shares his experiences during his time in the Wilson Stringing room.

Australian Open Stringing Room Day 13

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Australian Open 2012 - 20 Jan

Day 13 – Cameras and On-courts

It starts out as a busy morning. I have racquets to string for Li Na and Kukushkin first thing but after that the room slows down. Everyone is quiet. We have quite a few camera crews and photographers coming through the room today. One camera crew decides that they are going to do a live cross from the stringing room during the Federer match. But they set the camera up looking across the room so it looks like there are only about 3 machines and at the time they come in nobody has any racquets to do. So they start setting the room up and asking us to look busy. They get three guys on machines pretending to string.  They put me in the background on a computer pretending to do work. So lame. We wait about 10 minutes until they do the cross and it lasts for 30 seconds. Worthwhile.

I have a photographer taking photos of my badly manicured hands while I string a racquet. I have some strapping on a couple of fingers which is half falling off. Great look. Later on in the day channel 7 attach a camera to the handle of a racquet and get me to string and stencil it. It will be on TV in the next couple of days I am told.

It gets busier heading in to the afternoon. I will be staying late tonight as Li Na is the last match on.

Dologopolov sends in two racquets during his match with Tomic. Jarrad and I do them at the same time. Jarrad flies through it and has the racquet heading back  to the court in 12 minutes. That is the fastest time of the tournament so far.

There are no more racquets from Dolgopolov that night. As the womens match between Li Na and Medina Garrigues begins I am just about ready for bed. I am the last stringer left and am just waiting for the  match to finish before I go back to the hotel. Then Garrigues send in an on-court racquet after the warmup. Time to wake up. Just as I am tensioning the last string she goes over on her ankle. I bag the racquet and send it out anyway. She retires soon after and I get an early night. In bed by 12.30.

Shane Mikic is the pro-shop manager for the Tennis Gear stores and their online store www.tennisgear.com.au in Brisbane.  He has over 17 years racquet stringing experience and is currently part of the Wilson Global Stringing Team at the 2012 US Open.  The following blog shares his experiences during his time in the Wilson Stringing room.