How low can you go?

No matter where I looked, what I read or whom I spoke to, I kept hearing talk about very low string tensions. I guess it all started when I interviewed professional stringer and all out racquet guru, Priority One’s Nate Ferguson, in 2007. During the interview, pro player Filippo Volandri came into the stringing room [...]

The greatest racquet breaker of them all hangs it up

Being a tennis racquet just got a whole lot safer: Marat Safin has retired from professional tennis. Safin, along with having a reputation as one of the world’s most talented players, also possessed a penchant for smashing racquets. Earlier this year when TW’s Spencer interviewed Safin’s racquet customization and stringing team, Priority 1, P1’s Nate [...]

Rack-et-ing the brain

I’ve hit a road block on this tennis journey of mine. (If you missed the first leg of my “journey,” check it out here.) I am being Ms. Indecisive. I’ve rekindled my fling with the Dunlop Aerogel 4D 300 Tour, and I’m still flirting with the ProKennex Black Ace 98. Every time the playtesters head [...]

Taken by surprise

A tennis player’s racquet is a very personal thing. Our racquet connects us to the ball. Its combination of frame, string and grip provides us with the feel and control for our shot-making mastery. A tennis player without a racquet is like a knight without a sword, a magician without wand, Takeru “Tsunami” Kobayashi without [...]