All Strung out

The art if we may call it that of restringing a tennis racquet has always been the final frontier for many tennis players. Most of us know all there is to know about balls, grips racquets and shoes but why are so few prepared to dip their toe in the preverbial stringing mire? Perhaps it is the fear of making a mess of the string or worse still snapping any tennis players most prized possession, their racquet. I recently took the plunge and learnt how to string.

Broken

When I finally got the huge brown box up the stairs and out of its packaging I plonked the huge lump of metal on the snooker table. This would be more difficult that I had thought, all these things, knobs buttons and a screen, where would you begin? I had hoped in my head at least that I would have been able to get a racquet done within a few hours, it was my first time naturally it would take a little longer than my eventual stringing time. I got as far as the 2nd page of the instruction book and gave up. It seemed so complicated, what had I got myself in for?

When I eventually plucked up the courage the following day having watched a few dudes on youtube, I felt ready as I could be to string my own stick. I did it, the main strings took around an hour ( stringers dont ask me what I was doing) and the crosses another 90mins but that wasnt it! Id say it took me an extra 30mins to tie a knot! For a first try I was rivalling the Isner Mahut match. Over the weeks I began to string a little bit faster and yes there were casualties on the way with a few broken frames that left me feeling like Marat Safin!

I have now got my average time under 45mins which for me, an idiot with big hands is pretty good! I will put a vid of me stringing soon! watch this space!