Archive for the ‘Equipment’ Category

Novak Djokovic 2011 US Open outfits

Here are a few images of what World No. 1 Novak Djokovic’s outfits could be for the 2011 US Open:

The white outfit is for the day sessions, and the navy blue outfit is for the night sessions.

And just in case of rain or harsh weather, some pants will be used as well!

Li Na’s outfit for the 2011 US Open

Here is Li Na’s Nike outfit that she will be wearing at the 2011 US Open:

Maria Sharapova New Head Tennis Bag for US Open 2011

HEAD has released some photos of Maria Sharapova with her brand new Sharapova racquet bag.

Im sure there are going to be some female players out there buying this bag!

Customise Your Own Nike Zoom Breathe 2K11 iD Shoe

Nike Sport will start offering tennis players with their own ability to customise their Nike Zoom Breathe 2K11 iD shoe. Any colour combination, any way you want.

The Nike Zoom Breathe 2K11 iD shoe is worn by Juan Martin del Potro and Tomas Berdych as well as many other players.

Tomas Berdych New Stick: HEAD YouTek IG Instinct MP

Tomas Berdych debuted his new racquet at the Rogers Cup last week and it seem to somehow improved his game. Berdych lost in the quarterfinals to Janko Tipsarevic 6-4 6-4, but it looks promising for Tomas.

The racquet is the HEAD YouTek™ IG Instinct MP.

This racquet is already used by Tomas Berdych and Maria Sharapova, so if your a top level player it might be worth checking it out. Currently they are on sale on Tennis Warehouse for $169.95

Rumored Roger Federer outfits for 2011 US Open

Here are some pictures of what Roger Federer might be wearing at this year’s US Open:

Day outfit:

Night outfit:

Rumored outfits for Rafael Nadal for 2011 US Open

Here are some pictures of what World No. 2 Rafael Nadal might be wearing at this year’s US Open:

Day outfit:

Night outfit:

Caroline Wozniacki Outfit for the 2011 US Open

Here is a photo of what Caroline Wozniacki’s outfit, obviously by Stella McCartney, could be for the 2011 US Open:

How to Pick Your Tennis Racquet

I came across this video about how to pick your tennis racquet. The video is very interesting, but I just wish the guy knew the information instead of just reading it all from a board.

Pressure Ball

This morning we received an email about a great new tennis product, the Pressure Ball. Pressure Ball is a new product that helps keep the pressure on your tennis balls. Pressure Ball is in fact a multilayer flexible plastic pressure tube that fits 8 tennis balls at a time.

It seems like a very interesting product. Check out more details at www.pressureball.com.

Nike Zoom Breathe 2K11 Available via Nike ID

Nike will soon be offering the Zoom Breathe 2k11 shoe online via Nike ID. Nike is yet to officially announce the launch, but it has been leaked that the Zoom Breathe 2k11 will be released on August 17th in Europe and North America.

Online Tennis Store Review: Tennis Warehouse Europe

I have been looking for a great tennis online store to use here in the UK. I came across Tennis Warehouse Europe, but I have been wondering if this is official and linked to the Tennis Warehouse based in the USA.

Does anyone know? Or can you recommend a store here in Europe.

Andy Murray’s Wimbledon Head Bag Given Away to a Lucky Member of the Public

At Wimbledon 2011 Andy Murray has a very cool concept bag from Head. If you watch Murray play at Wimbledon you would have noticed the bag that was filled up with messages from the general public.

The bag has now been raffled off and given to a very lucky member of the public.

Very interesting concept from Head.

Official Maria Sharapova’s 2011 US Open Dresses

Maria Sharapova’s US Open day dress is different from the one that was posted earlier, as that was her Wimbledon dress. Here is a picture of both day and night dresses:

A Sneak Peek at the 2011 US Open Dress of Maria Sharapova

Here are a few photos of the possible outfit that Maria Sharapova might wear at this year’s US Open:

Day:

Night:

Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova Wimbledon 2011 dresses

This is the dress that Serena will be wearing this year at Wimbledon.

And this is the dress Maria Sharapova will wear at the event this year.

Power Cushion: New Range of Tennis Shoes from Yonex

Yonex have just released their new range of tennis shoes. Yonex says that the new 3-Layer Power Cushion now absorbs 30% more shock and provides 5% more repulsion than the original Power Cushion.

There are 7 new tennis shoes in the line-up. The Power Cushion 307, $125 USD is above left (also in black and yellow, below, special for clay surfaces) and Power Cushion 108, $90, right.

Find more info at Yonex or buy at Tennis-Warehouse or tennis retailers worldwide.

String Test Review: Titan Natural Gut 17

One of the things I’ve been searching for lately is a lower-priced, but still high-quality, natural gut string.  Babolat is by far the most popular, but with installed prices creeping up on $65, some resistance is being generated.  So, my quest has led me to Australian-made Titan Natural Gut; I’ve decided to try the 17g version.

This string is much less expensive than almost any other gut I’ve come across, and I anticipate an installed “street price” in the $40 range, a guess I had to revise upward later (see Stringing).  It’s available in 15, 16 and 17 gauge versions.

Specs

This is a true 17 gauge string, measuring 1.18mm in diameter, and the 39’6″ length should string most anything this side of 125 sq. in.  I had a problem with my testing in one respect:  to assign a power potential, I normally test the string’s elongation at 60 and 70#, but Titan failed (broke) twice while pulling at 70.  Obviously, don’t string it at a high tension, especially in 2 pieces, as it won’t take the load.  So, I had to make an adjustment.

I checked the elongation at 50#, getting 10.6%, and then at 60, receiving a reading of 20.3%, showing me that this string will have a nice power potential when installed.  The knot strength is poor, as most gut is, failing long before 60#.

Stringing

I strung Titan 17 in a Gamma Tour 330X at 43# for playtesting on a Babolat Star 5 machine.

This is where I’d have to make a concession on pricing, as it took forever to install this stuff:  the coating was so thin as to be almost nonexistent, and it was a real labor to weave, pull and straighten the cross strings.  The dragging sound it made while doing so was most disconcerting, and I half-expected a string to snap from the effort.  The  issue, though, came after the frame left the machine.

It took almost as long to finish straightening the strings as it did to install them, which is disatrous to final tension, as the strings will loosen the more you have to adjust them, affecting both string bed stiffness and tension maintenance.

You could wax the heck out of the mains before starting the crosses, but then you’ll have to remove that wax from the finished racquet and from your clamps before moving on to other frames, both of which will also use up valuable shop time.  I think this extra effort will add $10-15 to the cost of the job for me, making VS not too much more expensive.

The Tour 330X strung at 43# returned a DT reading of 29 on the Beers ert300 Tenniscomputer, and a string bed stiffness reading of 36 on the Babolat RDC.  After 24 hours, the DT had dropped to 26 (an 11.5% drop), and SBS had declined 12.5% to 32.  I feel the string straightening issue contributed mightily to this, but Titan may just not be as good as the gut I’m used to, as well.

In Play

The power potential was there, just as I thought, with shots whizzing right off the strings, and the classic, soft gut feel was there, as well.  What I didn’t like was how the strings refused to even remotely realign themselves, forcing me to take countless amounts of time between points and on changeovers to attempt it.  The lack of coating made it impossible to put the strings back in place, no matter how I tried; this became most frustrating, to the point where I finally gave up.

Fine Points

This problem brought up another one:  the strings were showing noticeable fraying after 2 hours of play.  I know it’s a 17 gauge gut, but this is unacceptable from the perspective of a player, stringer or consumer.  I’m not a player who uses extreme amounts of spin, and have used other thin-gauge guts for many more hours than this without such a problem.

I had no choice but to give up on Titan Natural Gut, as it was killing me to deal with the string alignment problem.  Before removing it, I checked the string bed again, and came up with a final DT of 26, and an SBS of 29, exactly where they were after the first 24 hours.  Of course, it received very little use, so I wasn’t surprised to see the readings be very close.

Conclusion

The bottom line on Titan Natural Gut is this:  it plays fine, but the time needed to install it and straighten the strings means much of its price advantage would be gone in a shop environment:  time is money here, and the owner has to factor that time into his final price.  If you’re stringing at home, you may have all the time in the world to sit around and straighten them, but the frustration will get to you, eventually.

What you’ll have left are gut strings that, while they play well, will leave you tearing your hair out as you try to keep them in place, and will also have you examining the cost/benefit ratio as it frays prematurely.  If the folks at Titan could develop a coating that is even somewhat noticeable, many of these problems would go away, and I think stringers and players alike would pay up a few bucks for it.  Until then, I recommend you do what I’m going to do:  stay away.  Titan Natural Gut will not be on my shelf.

String Test Review: Gamma Zo Verve 17

Zo Verve is the latest in Gamma’s Zo series of co-polymer strings, and is designed for stronger hitters looking for controlled power with added spin.  As of this writing, it is only available in 1.25mm (17 gauge in Gamma’s opinion).

Specs

Besides the 1.25 gauge (I actually measured it at 1.27), Zo Verve has an elongation of 5.21% at 60#, and the same at 70# tension .   The lack of extra stretch at a higher load tells me that the power potential of this string will be minimal (see In Play for details).  The set length was 40′, as advertised, and the 2-tone maroon and black color scheme is pretty cool, even if it doesn’t match your racquet.  The edges are quite sharp to the hand; we’ll see how that affects stringing ease.

Based on its wholesale price, I think you can expect an installed "street price" between $32-40, depending on your dealer.  This puts Zo Verve in the price range of Babolat’s quite popular RPM Blast string, and Luxilon’s M2 series.  What it doesn’t do is differentiate in publicized feel:  Blast and M2 are advertised as softer strings, while Zo Verve is promoted as a hard-hitter’s string, implying just the opposite.

Stringing Zo Verve

I strung Zo Verve in 2 different racquets with 2 different tensions.  First, I strung it in my Wilson HTour 95 test racquet at a reference tension of 55#, and received a DT reading of 40 on the ERT300 Tenniscomputer, and a string bed stiffness reading of 65 (quite stiff) on the Babolat RDC.  After 24 hours of no play, the readings were 37 and 62, respectively, showing a tension loss of 7.5 and 4.6%, respectively, quite good for poly-based strings (by contrast, Luxilon ALU lost approximately 8%, and RPM Blast showed a similar loss).  At the end of 1 week of no play, Verve showed no additional tension loss, meaning to me that it will play at a consistent level for a noticeable time.  The next stringing was with in a Gamma Tour 330X frame, at a reference tension of 41# (all stringing is done on a babolat Star 5 machine), yielding a DT of 35 and an SBS of 46; after 24 hours, these had dropped ot 32 and 41, respectively.

Stringing Verve was not as hard as I had imagined, as the shape wasn’t a hindrance on weaving, except to be sure it didn’t twist, something I find necessary on all profiled strings.  It was a little stiff on weaving, but it didn’t slow me up much, and tying knots tightly was not a major issue.  With a little extra straightening, the racquet was ready to go, so I don’t think you need to allocate more than a couple of extra minute’s time to installing it.  Now, on to the good stuff:  playing with the string.

Zo Verve in Play

Gamma’s definition of Zo Verve as a hard-hitter’s string was right on, as it took a real strong swipe to generate any power at all.  The lack of resilience I noted in initial testing proved accurate, as I felt as if Iwas hitting with a board.  My normal swing sent the ball nowhere, and spin didn’t seem to take unless I really cut loose.

As my playing time wore on, I actually had to do just the opposite of the string’s intent, and open up the face of the racquet to hit flat or slice shots to get the ballto travel the length of the court.  Even after doing this, I still felt like I had no real power, and the racquet twisted mightily in my hand on mishits, and actually almost flew out of it on one shot.  I’ve not normally had this problem with poly strings, even the stiffest Kirschbaum models.  ZoVerve managed to reduce my racquet’s sweet spot size due to its lack of response.

I found I could actually volley fine with it, as long as the hits were pure, but it gave me no help when I was extended at net.  Ditto for serves and overheads, and groundstrokes were a labor no matter how I hit them.

Fine Points

You’d suspect comfort to be lacking on a string this stiff, and you’d be right:  my elbow and shoulder really knew they’d had a workout by the time I was done with this string.  Movement was minimal, but I’m not sure if it was due to the string’s design or its lack of response (perhaps a stronger hitter could make it move; I don’t know).

I had no notching when I was finished with Verve, but tension loss was noticeable, going down to a DT of 28 from the original 35 (a 20% loss in just over a week).  I had hoped I’d pick up some length on my shots as it loosened, but it was dead all the way.

Conclusion

Gamma Zo Verve is a very stiff and unforgiving string that is going to have a small market:  very hard-hitting players with young arms that can tolerate its lack of forgiveness.  It would be advisable to reduce tension 2-5# over normal polys to bring back some of the loss of length you’ll undoubtedly see, and to replace it regularly as it goes even more dead than when installed, something the price point will make hard on the wallet.

Get a Grip: Making Your Tennis Better Through Proper Grip Miantenance

With all the attention given to high-tech frame designs and the latest tour string trends, tennis players have, for years, shortchanged one of the most important parts of their racquets: the grip.  By understanding what it can do for you and how to choose them correctly, you can make a major impact on your game and help prevent injury.

Why Care?

Why should you care about your grip or its size?  It’s the main line of communication between you and your racquet, for one, and it has a great deal to say about the health of you arm, for another. Picking properly, and maintaining your choices, should be of vital importance.

Not Created Equal

Almost every replacement grip made today has a polyurethane outer layer, providing color and tackiness (and possibly a raised rib or other texture), and a foam inner layer with padding and moisture absorption properties. Where they part company is how, and in what amounts, these details are executed.

Chart #1 shows the bare handle sizes of many different racquets, along with the size stated on the frame. As you can see, not every 4 3/8 grip measures the same underneath: the remaining size is taken up by the grip.

Chart #2 shows the “build-up effect” of several popular replacement grips. Choose your replacement grips carefully, and you’ll keep the performance characteristics you desire.

Chart 1:  Bare handle sizes of several popular racquets, in inches

Chart 2:  Handle build-up effect of several popular replacement grips, in inches

Measure Twice; Cut Once

To determine your proper grip size, place a ruler on the palm of your racquet hand (right, if you’re right-handed), on the lower crease across the middle of the palm, and measure the distance from that crease to the end of your ring finger (see photo #1).  In this instance, the player should use a grip size of 4 ½  inches.  Then, see if your racquet’s grip size matches. If you determine your grip size is incorrect, before running off to the pro shop, see if your current replacement grip is still in good working order, or if some simple changes could save you from buying a new stick.

Photo 1:  Measuring for correct grip size

Months or years of use will compress the padded layer of any grip. The grip isn’t good just because the outer layer isn’t worn off (using an overgrip doesn’t help; see below).  After using a measuring tape to determine your racquet’s grip size, see if it matches the size noted on the shaft (or under the grip). You may only need to install a new grip. Even if it’s still off, there are ways to fix it without starting over.

Quick Fixes

Before discussing how to change a grip’s size, perhaps it would be good to explain why it may need to be done. If your racquet’s grip is the wrong size, either from wear or improper fitting, it forces the smaller muscles of the forearm to work harder to grip the handle. These smaller muscles won’t react kindly to the stress, and an injury can result.

If your grip is improperly sized, there are 3 simple ways to change it. Overgrips are the cheapest and easiest way to add size. Thin overgrips will add very little to grip size, but may be enough if you’re close. Thicker, cloth-style overgrips like Tourna-Grip can add almost one full handle size.  A problem with thicker overgrips is their “rounding” effect: you will lose some feel for the bevels on the handle, which could hinder grip changes. Thicker overgrips can also add up to ½ oz. to racquet weight.

It may be quite easy to change your grip size by selecting a grip that is thicker or thinner than your current one. As Chart #1 shows, grip build-up effects can vary from ¼” to 9/16”, meaning you could change handle size by as much as 5/16” (two and one half sizes) by simply changing grips.  This would have a minimal change in handle shape and racquet weight.  However, make sure you like the resulting feel and shock absorption qualities.

Heat shrink sleeves let you control the amount of size increase and maintain handle shape. Most sleeves add one full size; some only ½ size. Their complete adherence to the handle maintains the bevels for sure grip changes although they, like thick overgips, can add up to ½ oz. to overall racquet weight. These sleeves should be installed by a professional racquet technician.

Myth Busted

Let’s take some time now to dispel the biggest “tennis myth” to come along in years: “I don’t need to change my grip; I use an overgrip”.

Every time you swing your racquet, your hand or hands squeeze down on the grip, compressing its padding. Initially, this is imperceptible. However, over a period of time, this compression reduces handle size and lessens shock absorption.  Overgips do nothing to prevent this.

Conclusion

Most tennis players never think about the grips on their racquets. Making sure your grip size is correct, making changes as needed, and exercising proper maintenance of the grip, can make stroke production easier, ease or eliminate arm problems, and give you the upper hand in your matches. So, “get a grip” on your racquet today!