US Open Stringing Room 2011 - Day 15

US Open Fri 2^nd September

This is my last day stringing. I am looking forward to having a couple of days off afterwards. There is lots of shopping to be done.

The morning is fairly busy. We have a steady stream of racquets leading up to the 11am start time. Zvonareva has decided to go back to the Gamma string she was using previously. This spells trouble. Once her match starts we are hit with a stream of on-court racquets from her. She sends in 4 for the match. All have broken at the grommets inside the tubing. There is nothing we can do about this.

The day slows down after lunch. There are still racquets for me to string but the urgency of the last few days is not there. I don’t have to string 4 racquets an hour. We are losing another 2 stringers today. It is Vasiliy’s last day as well.

Ron has started organising the team for the Australian Open. Everyone on the team here has been invited back for Australia. One or 2 of the Americans are undecided but the team will be essentially the same.

We saw the new Wilson range today. The new BLX’s have all undergone a cosmetic change. There are a couple of new models. The Wilson has also introduced a new handle system to the range to increase feel.

Before today the team had strung 2666 racquets for the tournament. I had strung just under 200 racquets. My fingers feel fine. The new taping has worked wonders. After the Australian Open in January my fingers were shedding skin for a month. Looking at my hands now it is like I have been on holidays for the last couple of weeks. They show no adverse signs.

I finish my last racquet just after 9pm and jump on the 9.30 shuttle with a few of the guys. We are off to get noodles. The restaurant closes at 10pm and we get there right on closing time. Tadashi manages to talk our way in. The noodles are great. One of the best meals I have had in New York.

I have 2 days to shop now. It hardly seems like enough time but I only have 8kg of baggage allowance to play with so it’s probably a good thing. I am looking forward to coming home.

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 16 years racquet stringing experience and is currently part of the Wilson Global Stringing Team at the 2011 US Open.  The following blog shares his experiences during his time in the Wilson Stringing room.

US Open Stringing Room 2011 - Day 14

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US Open Thursday 1^st September 2011

It started out as a busy morning today. Even though we are into the second round and the number of players has halved all stringers were working flat out leading up to the 11am matches. Players have a habit of dropping in racquets at very short notice. It’s not a problem to string a racquet quickly but scheduling the stringers can become tricky. If one of my players drops in a racquet and needs it back in 30 minutes but I am already stringing for another of my players my day gets really interesting. I have to work as quickly as I can on the current racquet so that I can get to the next one in time. During the morning session you really have to work as fast as possible even if you don’t have any racquets to follow because you never know when one of your players is going to walk through the door with a racquet for you. The quicker you have your machine clear the better.

I have had a few strings pop on me this week. This morning a set of 17 gauge gut broke as I was pulling tension. I have done a lot of Babolat and Wilson gut over the last 2 weeks with no problems. The gut this morning was Prince gut. It was perfectly clean and just snapped under tension about 2 mm in from the grommet. At the Australian open this year I had no issues with breakage at all. But this week it has been carnage. There were the Zvonoreva racquets yesterday. The day before that I had a set of unmarked poly break on the long side turnaround as I was halfway through the crosses. Some of the cheaper strings cannot handle the pattern we use. We never have breakage issues with Luxilon strings. They stand up to the pattern very well.

We had a lot of tour groups coming through the room today. We don’t have many groups coming through the room during the Australian Open because the setup there is much different.  It is open to the public for viewing.

I told my life story to a TV crew from the Tennis Channel. They interviewed Ron (who runs the team) about how the team works and then they interviewed me for about 10 minutes or so. The interview airs Friday on the Tennis Channel over here.

Today was supposed to be my last day but I have been asked to stay one more day. That only leaves me 2 full days of shopping here. I’m not sure that will be enough.

US Open Stringing Room - Day 12

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US Open Wed 30^th August 2011

Slow morning so far. Just a steady stream of racquets, then Zvonoreva sends in 3 on-courts at once. I get one of them. She uses a Prince Exo Black and Gamma Zo string. The string has been breaking at the grommets all tournament so we have tubing on all of the mains. Tubing an Exo is not the easiest thing to do. There are no traditional grommets to hold the tubing in place so keeping the tubing there while you tension the string is a fiddly exercise. As I am tensioning the 2^nd last main the string pops at the tension head.  Happy days. She has not given us any spare sets. Well at least she will get 2 of her racquets on time. We spend a few minutes hunting around for some string and find a spare set so I start again. The racquet is bagged 25 minutes after it came in the door.

Ten minutes later she sends back another which I get straight into. And then 5 minutes later she sends another. They have both broken at the top inside the tubing at the head. Ten minutes or so after sending those 2 out she sends back another. The break is in the same spot. There is nothing more we can do to stop the breakage. The string she is using just does not work with the racquet she is using. She has not sent any string in with the racquet. The runner has to go back to the court and get some more from her. As soon as I have the string I start again. As I pull the 4^th right main string it snaps inside the tubing. This is funny. We have no more string for her. Even if we did have string it wouldn’t do any good. By this stage she is serving for the match. We all sit and watch hoping that she closes it out. She always has issues with her string breaking at the grommets in her racquet. It is the string not the racquet that is the problem. After the match we do some racquets for her with different string.  That should fix the problem.

It is a quiet day. Only about 200 racquets. I spend most of the afternoon sitting around doing the occasional racquet. Ron goes around the room filming all of us stringing. In particular he is looking at our weaving techniques. There are a few different types of weaving. The technique I use is unusual so he has me go in slow motion and then super slow motion so he can see exactly what my hands are doing. Luis is the other guy on the team with a different weave. His hands move up and down like pistons. I could never learn that technique. Ron will be presenting a seminar on weaving techniques at the Grand Slam Stringers Symposium. So our techniques will all be analysed and critiqued.

I have to wait til last of the outside courts are finished before I can go home. They are done by 9.40 so I catch the 10pm shuttle and get home around 10.30. Pizza for dinner then I’m in bed catching up on some sleep. Tomorrow will be my last day stringing. I am looking forward to having a few days off before I fly home.

US Open Stringing Room 2011 - Day 12

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US Open Monday 28^th Aug 2011

490 racquets in one day!!! That is the most racquets strung in a single day at a Grand Slam event. It was fun and painful all at the same time. We knew it was going to be a busy day with the previous day cancelled due to the hurricane. We were all on the 7am shuttle bus out to the centre. We get there by 7.30 and then the fun starts. At 7.45 I am given 5 Head Prestiges due by 11.30. Easy. An hour later I am handed 4 racquets due for 10.30. The Prestiges are done quickly and I get started on the next 4 racquets. The player’s coach wants to check after the first one is done. This guy is notorious for never being happy with his restrings. He was happy with 31kg the on Saturday so I am doing it at the same tension. I hand it to him and he taps the strings. Far too loose.Far too loose. His player will not be happy. I reassure him that it is exactly the same as the racquet I did for him on Saturday that he was happy with. I know it is exactly the same because I have not missed a beat all week. I have been stringing multiple frames for players and they have all been done perfectly. Every multiple set of racquets pings exactly the same. We have a guy here checking every set to make sure they are all exactly the same. There has not been a problem with my restrings once. The machine has been checked and calibrated, the clamps have been cleaned and are not slipping and to cap it off I am the most pedantic person I know. I know this racquet is exactly the same as the other. This guy is mental. Nevertheless he wants it tighter. Without hitting a ball he decides it has to be tighter. The strings are cut and I now still have 4 racquets to string by 10.30. We up the tension to 32kg.

Another 2 racquets come in for me as I am doing these. I quickly get through the 4 Diablos and start on the next set. Just as I am finishing them we get an on-court call. Guess who wants his strings looser? Too funny.We drop the tension to 30kg for the on-court. He loses in straight sets.

By 1pm I have done 17 racquets and I have another 5 lined up all due at 30 minute intervals. We have 16 machines in the room and every one of them has been going flat out since we started this morning. I am really enjoying this.

I finally get a chance for a quick break around 4pm. 10 minutes for food then straight back to the machine. The racquets don’t stop all day. It is just frantic. I have lost count of how many racquets I have done. It doesn’t matter.  The matches are finishing up early tonight so most of us get on the 11.30pm shuttle. The end of the day can’t come soon enough. By this stage I am ready for bed. The head cold is still messing with me.

 In Melbourne this year we did 378 racquets in a day which was our record up to that point. We have just blown that out of the water. If only we were getting paid by the racquet.

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 16 years racquet stringing experience and is currently part of the Wilson Global Stringing Team at the 2011 US Open.  The following blog shares his experiences during his time in the Wilson Stringing room.

US Open Stringing Room 2011 - Day 11

Day 11 - US Open Sun 28^th Aug 2011

I wake up around 9am. I have slept for 17 hours. I feel average. I need fruit. There is none. I have no energy. I stay in bed for another 5 hours. I look bad and sound worse. I go out in search of food. A few of the cafes close to our hotel are open. I order an omelette. Jelena Jankovic is there with her coach. Brad Gilbert is also there. I would recommend the omelette but suspect they would recoil in fear if I came close.

I go back to the room and stay in bed the rest of the day. Everyone is going out for sushi for dinner. I skip it. I need rest.

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 16 years racquet stringing experience and is currently part of the Wilson Global Stringing Team at the 2011 US Open.  The following blog shares his experiences during his time in the Wilson Stringing room.

US Open Stringing Room 2011 - Day 10

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Day 10 - US Open Sat 27^th August 2011

No one really knows what is going on with the hurricane coming. All public transport stops operating from midday. This means that the shuttle buses are our only way to and from the centre. If we miss the last shuttle bus then we will be stranded at the centre. The morning shuttle bus driver has told us that all bridges and tunnels are closing at 3pm. Everything will be closed on Sunday. New York is shutting down. This is not ideal. Sunday is our biggest day. In Melbourne this year we did 378 racquets on the Sunday. We would expect a similar number here. To make things worse we are only going to be operating for half a day today.

I arrive in the morning to find that the 5 racquets I have due has become 7. I really need to motor. With the main draw players arriving we are starting to see a lot of multiple frames dropped off. Players are dropping off 3 to 6 frames at time. This is not great. When we string multiple frames they have to all be done at the same time to ensure that they are all the same. So when a player drops off 6 frames it puts the stringer out of action for an extended period of time.

In half a day of work we do 200 frames. The racquets just keep coming. Some of the players are asking for Sunday morning collection. They haven’t heard that there is no tennis on Sunday.

The last shuttle leaves at 3pm. We are on it. We have covered all of the machines in plastic in case we have water in the stringing room. We get back to the room around 3.30. I go to bed straight away and don’t wake up until 9am the next day.

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 16 years racquet stringing experience and is currently part of the Wilson Global Stringing Team at the 2011 US Open.  The following blog shares his experiences during his time in the Wilson Stringing room.

US Open Stringing Room 2011 - Day 10

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Day 9 - US Open Fri 26^th Aug 2011

Busy day.  A lot of the main draw players are starting to arrive. We did around 250 racquets.  It is more than we did the same time last year. All up we have done 1050 for the tournament so far. I have been given Xavier Malisse to string for. This is going to keep me busy. He gets a lot of racquets strung. He strings at a very tension with Babolat Fibre tour which is a very stretchy nylon multifilament. He also likes his racquets to be strung in the morning. As a stringer this makes your life hard. Each morning before you even get hit with players wanting their racquets just before their match, you still have the backlog to clear from the night before. When I go in tomorrow morning I will have 5 racquets to get through before 10am. Busy morning.

I had my first on-court racquet today. It was a Prince Exo3 Tour with Big Banger Original. I had it strung in 11 minutes and it was out the door 16 minutes after it came in. Not world record speed but fast enough.

Everything is shutting down with the hurricane coming. We have been told that the tennis centre will close before 5pm tomorrow. The last shuttle bus will be at 5pm. We will not be finished by then. Peak hour for us is usually 4pm – 8pm. Everything will be closed on Sunday. This means we will have a huge backlog waiting for us on Monday morning. The shuttle buses start at 8am so we will have to catch the train in. A 6am train might not be out of the question.

I feel ordinary. The nights of no sleep have caught up with me. I am battling a head cold. Not fun. I will have to stock up on food from the café tomorrow before we head home.

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 16 years racquet stringing experience and is currently part of the Wilson Global Stringing Team at the 2011 US Open.  The following blog shares his experiences during his time in the Wilson Stringing room.