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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.
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