French open stringing room

jazar · Jun 7, 2011

zapvor said:
haha thats good honesty there

Jamie Murray was using it as well, but I suspect it's also because he can't get any better. His VS Team packages were arriving with a price label on (£29.99, if you're interested). You'd think his brother might just give him some of his gut.

diredesire · Jun 7, 2011

I was reading in another thread about machine maintenance and cleaning. Could you give some insight as to how often you guys are checking your machines, and specifically, how often you are cleaning your clamps? (And method used, if possible!)

A blog referenced in the thread said as many as 1 cleaning/5 racquets? This seems way too often to me.

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=382355

jazar · Jun 7, 2011

There were guys from Babtech there who maintained and cleaned the machines for us. They cleaned the machines either at the end of every day or at the beginning of the next day. They gave the turntable and clamps a good rub down with some form of alcohol.

Sinner · Jun 7, 2011

Any full-gut players this RG? Kim right?

jazar · Jun 7, 2011

^^^Not many. Kim, Razzano and Raymond are the only ones I can think of off hand.

Doubles · Jun 7, 2011

jazar said:
Didn't see any Solinco rackets. Their strings are only being used by juniors who probably can't get anything better.

So you're saying Solinco strings aren't very good? Most of the feed back I've heard has been good...

jazar · Jun 7, 2011

Doubles said:
So you're saying Solinco strings aren't very good? Most of the feed back I've heard has been good...

Personally I don't rate them that highly. I also think that most of the juniors using them would use something else (like Luxilon or Babolat) if they could get it free/at a very good price.

Doubles · Jun 7, 2011

jazar said:
Personally I don't rate them that highly. I also think that most of the juniors using them would use something else (like Luxilon or Babolat) if they could get it free/at a very good price.

Okay, I understand what you mean. What strings of theres have you tried, personally? I would assume tour bite...

stringertom · Jun 7, 2011

Agree to Disagree w/you re: Fratangelo's Motive for Solinco String

jazar said:
Personally I don't rate them that highly. I also think that most of the juniors using them would use something else (like Luxilon or Babolat) if they could get it free/at a very good price.

At the Vero Beach Futures, Bjorn and several other Tecnifibre-sponsored juniors played main draw and/or qualies. All but Bjorn used free Tecnifibre strings as well. Bjorn, being higher ranked, could have used the T-fibre string but has chosen Solinco Tour Bite as his preferred string, not because he gets a better deal. After all, free is the best price I know.

Schwelli · Jun 8, 2011

hm..here in germany Solinco strings are about 130€ per reel which i would not consider that cheap compared to for example babolat.

do they have lower prices in the us or is the "good price" refering to special offers top junior player get?

stringertom · Jun 8, 2011

Solinco Reels in US Much Lower

Schwelli said:
hm..here in germany Solinco strings are about 130€ per reel which i would not consider that cheap compared to for example babolat.

do they have lower prices in the us or is the "good price" refering to special offers top junior player get?

Solinco is an aggressive marketer here in the US. If I am correct on currency conversion, the 130 euro price you mentioned could buy almost two full 200-meter reels of even the most expensive Solinco poly. No ranking required. The "kids" mentioned previously are pursued by Solinco in the hopes that the brand will get noticed more, just as Lux did in the mid-90's. Futures and Challenger-level players have signed on...Lester Cook and Hayden Lewis are 2 names that pop out in my memory as Solinco string users. Lewis also plays a Solinco frame...says it matches Dunlop specs for the 200 Tour if I recall our conversation correctly.

A wiser man than me once said those who don't study history are doomed to repeat mistakes of the past. Before Kuerten and Agassi popularized the Lux brand, the Belgian company was primarily manufacturing non-tennis products. There are a lot of smaller, less-known string labels out there now with highly innovative designs just waiting to pounce on fat-cat Wilson-owned Luxilon. Judging from their need to 2-for-3 price new strings like M2 and Savage, the big boy is ripe for a beatdown, somewhat of a reminder of how Babolat lost market share in non-gut strings when Lux came in and ate their lunch. Ignore innovation at your own peril.

Schwelli · Jun 8, 2011

stringertom said:
Solinco is an aggressive marketer here in the US. If I am correct on currency conversion, the 130 euro price you mentioned could buy almost two full 200-meter reels of even the most expensive Solinco poly. No ranking required. The "kids" mentioned previously are pursued by Solinco in the hopes that the brand will get noticed more, just as Lux did in the mid-90's. Futures and Challenger-level players have signed on...Lester Cook and Hayden Lewis are 2 names that pop out in my memory as Solinco string users. Lewis also plays a Solinco frame...says it matches Dunlop specs for the 200 Tour if I recall our conversation correctly.

A wiser man than me once said those who don't study history are doomed to repeat mistakes of the past. Before Kuerten and Agassi popularized the Lux brand, the Belgian company was primarily manufacturing non-tennis products. There are a lot of smaller, less-known string labels out there now with highly innovative designs just waiting to pounce on fat-cat Wilson-owned Luxilon. Judging from their need to 2-for-3 price new strings like M2 and Savage, the big boy is ripe for a beatdown, somewhat of a reminder of how Babolat lost market share in non-gut strings when Lux came in and ate their lunch. Ignore innovation at your own peril.

thank you for those informations. i don't think Solinco can compete against companies like Topspin or Signum over here if they do not lower their prices.

cmb · Jun 8, 2011

^^or now this Black Mamba/Discho strings. I have been using Topspin CB, but when i get home im gonna get a reel of MaMBA and see if it compares

Automatix · Jun 8, 2011

Sorry if this has been asked before but will Babolat release an official summary of setups used by the top players? Like the one released by Wilson after the US Open.

Also there quite a few discussions about choosing tension mains/crosses.

My friends' hypothesis is that stringing the crosses higher gives more spin, feel and results in less string movement. I can only state 2 facts:
- some manufacturers recommend lower tension on for the crosses (Yonex, as well as Fischer, a long, long time ago though);
- most players string crosses at the same tension or lower.

Would you say, more or less of course, that more of the racquets you strung had crosses strung lower vs the mains?

ericsson · Jun 8, 2011

stringertom said:
Solinco is an aggressive marketer here in the US. If I am correct on currency conversion, the 130 euro price you mentioned could buy almost two full 200-meter reels of even the most expensive Solinco poly. No ranking required. The "kids" mentioned previously are pursued by Solinco in the hopes that the brand will get noticed more, just as Lux did in the mid-90's. Futures and Challenger-level players have signed on...Lester Cook and Hayden Lewis are 2 names that pop out in my memory as Solinco string users. Lewis also plays a Solinco frame...says it matches Dunlop specs for the 200 Tour if I recall our conversation correctly.

A wiser man than me once said those who don't study history are doomed to repeat mistakes of the past. Before Kuerten and Agassi popularized the Lux brand, the Belgian company was primarily manufacturing non-tennis products. There are a lot of smaller, less-known string labels out there now with highly innovative designs just waiting to pounce on fat-cat Wilson-owned Luxilon. Judging from their need to 2-for-3 price new strings like M2 and Savage, the big boy is ripe for a beatdown, somewhat of a reminder of how Babolat lost market share in non-gut strings when Lux came in and ate their lunch. Ignore innovation at your own peril.

I just want to add here that Luxilon before it became popular, already was a quality product and was never cheap, i know the string from the mid 90's and even back then it was not cheap, never was.

jazar · Jun 8, 2011

Of the players using two tensions and full poly, most went looser on the crosses. Of the players using hybrids with gut crosses, most went tighter on the crosses (to compensate for the softer string).

It is my belief that stringing the crosses looser gives more spin, as it allows the mains to slide more freely across the crosses.

Automatix · Jun 8, 2011

Thank you very much jazar!

Really appreciate it.

Cheers!

stringertom · Jun 8, 2011

Agree Whole-Heartedly but Exceptions Occur

jazar said:
Of the players using two tensions and full poly, most went looser on the crosses. Of the players using hybrids with gut crosses, most went tighter on the crosses (to compensate for the softer string).

It is my belief that stringing the crosses looser gives more spin, as it allows the mains to slide more freely across the crosses.

I've serviced the same Futures tourney seven years running and every player using full-poly has even tension M/X or less X tension with one notable exception...the '10 champion; he went up 2#'s on the X's. His ball was much flatter than the "parabola" players and the sound on contact was very distinctive...like a cannon vs. a rifle. I remember rushing by his match one day on my way to an outer court for a "rush" racquet and hearing two very different sounds when the ball was struck, so on the way back I watched a couple of rallies. He was taking so much time away from his opponent it was like watching a chess master closing in on the "mate". We talked later and he confirmed his logic for the tension difference. He felt it keeps the ball on the stringbed at MOI a tad longer, flattening the ball for more surface area to work across, thereby getting spin with his flatter swingpath.

Richard Parnell · Jun 8, 2011

stringertom said:
Solinco is an aggressive marketer here in the US. If I am correct on currency conversion, the 130 euro price you mentioned could buy almost two full 200-meter reels of even the most expensive Solinco poly. No ranking required. The "kids" mentioned previously are pursued by Solinco in the hopes that the brand will get noticed more, just as Lux did in the mid-90's. Futures and Challenger-level players have signed on...Lester Cook and Hayden Lewis are 2 names that pop out in my memory as Solinco string users. Lewis also plays a Solinco frame...says it matches Dunlop specs for the 200 Tour if I recall our conversation correctly.

A wiser man than me once said those who don't study history are doomed to repeat mistakes of the past. Before Kuerten and Agassi popularized the Lux brand, the Belgian company was primarily manufacturing non-tennis products. There are a lot of smaller, less-known string labels out there now with highly innovative designs just waiting to pounce on fat-cat Wilson-owned Luxilon. Judging from their need to 2-for-3 price new strings like M2 and Savage, the big boy is ripe for a beatdown, somewhat of a reminder of how Babolat lost market share in non-gut strings when Lux came in and ate their lunch. Ignore innovation at your own peril.

A quick side note here, Wilson does not own Luxilon, they are the world wide distributors of the brand. Luxilon string is owned by Luxilon industries and is a very small part of the company (an almost insignificant percentage of the company actually). Luxilon strings (big banger) were also marketed by Babolat under their own name and available to Babolat contracted players.

All the best

Chief77 · Jun 10, 2011

Does anyone know, where to get the blue bags in video no. 2?

Thanks.

ericsson · Jun 10, 2011

Richard Parnell said:
A quick side note here, Wilson does not own Luxilon, they are the world wide distributors of the brand. Luxilon string is owned by Luxilon industries and is a very small part of the company (an almost insignificant percentage of the company actually). Luxilon strings (big banger) were also marketed by Babolat under their own name and available to Babolat contracted players.

All the best

Hi Richard, you are correct.
I remember back in the days Moya used BB orginal while Babolat advertised him using Polymono...

Richard Parnell · Jun 18, 2011

It was called Babolat Resisto if my memory serves me....

uk_skippy · Jul 9, 2011

Here are a few racquet pictures I took at Roland Garros

More below

uk_skippy · Jul 9, 2011

More pictures from Roland Garros

ben123 · Jul 9, 2011

uk_skippy said:
More pictures from Roland Garros

dunno if its only me but i cant see anything ^^

tennisnoob3 · Jul 9, 2011

ben123 said:
dunno if its only me but i cant see anything ^^

yah i cant either.

uk_skippy · Jul 10, 2011

Ok, seems I can see it but others can't!

I'll try and edit my original posts

Regards

Paul

uk_skippy · Jul 10, 2011

Should be ok to see pictures now

Paul

baseline_monster · Jul 10, 2011

Did Davys racket have the aero skin on it paul?

uk_skippy · Jul 10, 2011

^^^ IIRC, no. He also dropped of some plain black frames. There were a range of weights & flex printed on the frame, but the variance were only by a gram or so, or 1 to a 1/2 ra on flex

Paul

tennisnoob3 · Jul 10, 2011

uk_skippy said:
Should be ok to see pictures now

Paul

who's green microgel is that? i remember peng had it, but you also have her extreme below(and its an IG)

i thought davydenko didnt play at the french because of injury? is he 100% back?

Doubles · Jul 10, 2011

The frame that appears to be a Liquid Metal Instinct, does it belong to Yen-Hsun Lu? Thanks...

uk_skippy · Jul 10, 2011

tennisnoob3 said:
who's green microgel is that? i remember peng had it, but you also have her extreme below(and its an IG)

i thought davydenko didnt play at the french because of injury? is he 100% back?

The green microgel is/was Peng. It was her 1st couple she had strung @ RG but suspect as they were new it was to be used by her coach(?). The rest she had done were the Extreme pj.

Davydenko certainly played at RG, judging by the number of rqts he put it. Can't remember who he lost to. He use some frames with Polystar, and others with M2.

Doubles said:
The frame that appears to be a Liquid Metal Instinct, does it belong to Yen-Hsun Lu? Thanks...

Yes, its Lu's. He wanted all the tie-off holes tube as he'd experienced breakages there at previous tournaments. Once you got the hang of them they were straight-forward. I also did them at Eastbourne and Wimby for him.

Regards

Paul

PED · Jul 10, 2011

Interesting specs on the Davy sticker. I would assume they are unstrung: 299g, 318SW but the BP of 33.9 would be 34.9ish or so when strung. Kind of high isn't it.

That's really a different direction for him spec wise: he was 346g static and 33.2 strung balance on the specs from a few years back.

The SW would still be around the same level: it was 352 before and the above specs would be around 348ish if my mental math is correct.

Great work on the pics BTW, thanks for the inside look

ricki · Jul 10, 2011

Hi, what string is that for McEnroe?

uk_skippy · Jul 10, 2011

BDE natural gut

Paul

ben123 · Jul 10, 2011

and what string is lu using? thought he used sppp or smth in the mains but in the picture it looks so yellowish

uk_skippy · Jul 10, 2011

ben123 said:
and what string is lu using? thought he used sppp or smth in the mains but in the picture it looks so yellowish

It is SPPP. Its the lighting which makes it appear yellow.

Regards

Paul

Up&comer · Jul 10, 2011

uk_skippy said:
It is SPPP. Its the lighting which makes it appear yellow.

Regards

Paul

What's he have in the crosses? Gut?

zapvor · Jul 11, 2011

uk_skippy said:
The green microgel is/was Peng. It was her 1st couple she had strung @ RG but suspect as they were new it was to be used by her coach(?). The rest she had done were the Extreme pj.

Davydenko certainly played at RG, judging by the number of rqts he put it. Can't remember who he lost to. He use some frames with Polystar, and others with M2.

Yes, its Lu's. He wanted all the tie-off holes tube as he'd experienced breakages there at previous tournaments. Once you got the hang of them they were straight-forward. I also did them at Eastbourne and Wimby for him.

Regards

Paul

thanks for the info. especially interesting about Lu. does he mishit a lot? lol

uk_skippy · Jul 12, 2011

Up&comer said:
What's he have in the crosses? Gut?

Yes, VS Touch 1.3 prestretched. Tensions were usual around 53/50 mark, maybe varying by 1lb on each.

zapvor said:
thanks for the info. especially interesting about Lu. does he mishit a lot? lol

No sure, but to consistently break strings at the knots would mean either vary accurate mishits(!), or previously bad stringing, something I have heard about. Either way, while I was tubing the tie-offs he didn't break any at the knots.

Regards

Paul

ben123 · Jul 12, 2011

btw paul are some pros actually using the new "bt7" gut? or some pacific gut users there?

uk_skippy · Jul 12, 2011

^^^There are some BT7 users as some pros are using the new black gut which is only bt7. Can't recall if there are players using 'natural' bt7 as so so many packets of gut.

There are a few users of Pacific gut - Schuettler, Mayer to name a couple

Regards

Paul

ben123 · Jul 12, 2011

uk_skippy said:
^^^There are some BT7 users as some pros are using the new black gut which is only bt7. Can't recall if there are players using 'natural' bt7 as so so many packets of gut.

There are a few users of Pacific gut - Schuettler, Mayer to name a couple

Regards

Paul

who uses the black gut? and mayer and shuettler use prime gut? thx

jazar · Jul 12, 2011

ben123 said:
who uses the black gut? and mayer and shuettler use prime gut? thx

Mayer uses Classic Gut.

ben123 · Jul 12, 2011

jazar said:
Mayer uses Classic Gut.

interesting
thx

zapvor · Jul 12, 2011

uk_skippy said:
Yes, VS Touch 1.3 prestretched. Tensions were usual around 53/50 mark, maybe varying by 1lb on each.

No sure, but to consistently break strings at the knots would mean either vary accurate mishits(!), or previously bad stringing, something I have heard about. Either way, while I was tubing the tie-offs he didn't break any at the knots.

Regards

Paul

thanks for the interesting tidbit

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