This is the first part of a series of blog entries designed to share thoughts about the new equipment paradigm that is radically shaping the tennis landscape. There are many myths that need to be addressed and we will attempt to provide a through overview and address many issues, myths and questions concerning these strings.

Chapter 1: Copoly Strings: The New Tennis Equipment Frontier

Fasten your seatbelts tennis fans! Our beloved sport is in the midst of a significant paradigm shift. In the late 1970’s Howard Head’s oversize racquet, (The Prince Classic), revolutionized racquet design and set in motion a paradigm shift away from wooden, standard-sized head racquets. Along the way there were many detractors and those that scoffed at the notion of such a radical equipment change. However, racquet companies did not shy away from the change. Engineers from all racquet companies began designing mid, midplus and oversize frames. The resulting technology took these frames to dizzying new performance heights. Today standard-sized heads are a thing of yesteryear. Thirty years after the introduction of the Prince Oversize Classic, the racquet landscape has changed dramatically. The high-tech frame technology has been embraced by recreational and professional players alike. The reason is simple, easy to understand, and can be summarized in 2 words: “Superior Performance.”

Likewise, near the turn of the century we began to see innovations in string design and composition. Polyester strings had been around for many years. They never gained popularity because the performance characteristics were quite frankly god-awful. They were stiff and lost their playing properties rapidly. A company called Luxilon was among the first to begin revising the performance characteristics of polyester strings with powerful chemical and element additives. As a result of this extreme makeover, “copoly strings” were introduced to the world of tennis.

The additives provided the Luxilon strings, specifically Big Banger ALU, with better feel than traditional polyesters while simultaneously offering improved performance characteristics. The string was amply named. It was originally intended for heavy hitters (aka “big bangers”) because it allowed players to take massive swings and generate tons of power while offering phenomenal levels of control.

As racquet technology increased the inherent power of a frame, all players, professionals included, searched for ways to tame the power. The answer for many, (before copolymers), was to string these new wondersticks at high tensions to gain control. However, when Luxilon introduced new copoly strings, a handful of professionals discovered the string provided plenty of control for the powerful frames.

Copoly strings are a lower powered string that serves as a near perfect compliment to the newer high-powered frames. Professionals found they could generate a nearly insane amount of topspin that allowed for control, precision and angles that heretofore had not been available. The new copoly strings and the new frames were meant for one another as if they were soul-mates!

Credit goes to the dirt-ballers for introducing these strings to the ranks of the professionals. Clay court specialists are the ones who introduced the “Extreme Makeover Polys,” known as copolys, to the professional tour. The best claycourter of the day, Gustavo “Guga” Kuerten, was the first top 10 rated in the Luxilon stable of professionals to use and endorse the string.

Soon many of the top-tier players were experimenting with Guga’s copoly strings and discovering an entirely new level of control and performance. It really wasn’t until Andre Agassi began using and endorsing Luxilon strings that they were even on the radar screens of many recreational players in the USA. Today the top echelon of players, Federer, Nadal, Roddick etcetera all use copoly or copoly hybrids to produce some of the highest quality tennis the world has ever seen. As a result more recreational players, wanting to emulate their favorite professionals, are requesting Luxilon strings for their racquets.

But should league and recreational players be using these strings? What are the pros and the cons? Are any strings as good as Luxilon ALU? Is Luxilon ALU as good for league players as professionals? All of these questions and more will be addressed in “CHAPTER 2: Contextual Thinking: Copolymer, thy name is Luxilon…or is it?” Be watching this blog for further updates!

Okay…our blog readers may have noted a twinge of doubt and sarcasm in our previous post concerning the new Prince Recoil string. We were skeptics, especially given the price.

However, we now have additional experience with this string, more notably, our customers have experience with this string and it has impressed us beyond our wildest expectations. We are skeptics no more.

The recoil bandwagon is firing up. Why? Well there are several reasons. The first is because Recoil delivers in a big way on the promise of little to no string movement. If string movement drives you or your customers batty, this string could very well be the answer. The technology is more than marketing bravado, it is effective and delivers.

Second and most importantly, this string holds tension better than we EVER expected. One of our initial users just returned for a restringing. The string was in the racquet for a total of 55 days. The customer played 33 matches and estimates having at least 98 hours of playtime. At the time of stringing (note, we used regular tension, did not drop 10% as Prince recommends) the DT reading was 44. After 55 days and nearly 100 hours the DT reading was 38 which represents a mind-boggling tension loss of just 13.6%!!!

Durability seems to be surpassing our expectations as well. We had read accounts of the string breaking rapidly, but this conflicts with our current observations. The racquet with 98 hours shows insignificant signs of fraying. Very minor.

Our new take is that this string may actually be worth the price. (Did I really just write that???…hard to believe.)  More about this string will be posted in future entries.

Each week we receive questions from customers seeking advice about hybrid string setups, specifically with copolymers.  This post seeks to provide a general guide to those who are considering a copoly hybrid.

Generally the first decision to make is whether to use the copoly as the main or the cross.  The answer to this will depend on what the player is seeking to accomplish.  If s/he is seeking greater durability, in most cases the mains will be the copoly with a synthetic gut cross string.  (This can vary according to hitting style, but the majority of players we serve break the mains before the crosses.)  If the player is seeking to add additional control to an existing synthetic gut or natural gut setup, then the copoly is sometimes used as a cross string.

Many who approach us already know where they want to use the copoly string.  The more important question to them, is what to use as a complimentary string?  One advantage of using a hybrid over a full copoly setup is a softer partner in the stringbed can result in greater comfort.  Because the goal is often adding increased comfort, the thought is to use an ultra-comfortable multifilament string.  The question is which one is most durable?

We believe the concept of using a multifilament string in hybrid with a copoly is flawed thinking.  There are two primary reasons behind this belief.

1.  Multifilament strings do not hold up well at all in a hybrid with a copoly string.  Either as a main or a cross, the copoly string, being infinitely stiffer, will act like a saw, cutting through the multifilament in a relatively short period of time.

2.  The playing characteristics of the copoly will dominate the stringbed.  The copolys possess very distinct playing properties and while they can be softened with a synthetic stringbed partner, they will still dominate the stringbed.

Because the copoly is a dominant string, we believe it is extremely difficult for even advanced recreational and league players to be able to distinguish a difference between a hybrid consisting of a soft solid core synthetic gut or a multifilament string.  (NOTE:  We do believe a hybrid does offer a  more comfortable and different playing stringbed than a full copoly setup.)

Since a stringbed consisting of a soft solid core synthetic gut and copoly will play nearly identical to a hybrid of a multifilament and copoly, we believe the soft solid core synthetic is definitely the way to go.  There are two key advantages:

A.  The softer synthetic gut string will last longer.
B.  The softer synthetic gut will cost less!

We are currently playtesting a variety of hybrid setups and will post results when there is enough data to be of interest.  In the interim we will list some of the soft solid core synthetics that we have a great deal of success in using with our local stringing customers.

LaserFibre Classic Synthetic Gut (Comes in a variety of colors!)
LaserFibre RuffCut (A textured option for optimal spin)
LaserFibre LaserTour (A premium solid core that holds tension well!)
LaserFibre LaserLite XL
Forten Sweet Synthetic Gut
Signum Pro Ultra Power SF
Yonex Tournament 80 Spin
Signum Pro Topspin SF

Guts and Glory Tennis offers our customers another advantage.  Our stringing professionals play and understand string products and how they relate with one another in different frames.  We are uniquely positioned to make recommendations related to equipment (string choice) that others frankly can not match.  Take advantage of our experience and realize that if we make a recommendation that you do not enjoy, we will replace it for you at no additional charge.  Satisfaction is always guaranteed.

Last week we had several conversations with customers describing the difference between premium copoly strings and their lesser cost counterparts. Of course, WeissCANNON is one of the brands we carry and it clearly resides in the category of premium copolymer. But what does this really mean and how is it any different?

First, it is important to note there are virtually countless grades of polymer molecular links. WeissCANNON engineers select the ideal link for a particular string and enrich them with powerful chemicals. Some important elements for WeissCANNON include Linear Breaking Force, Loop to Loop Breaking Force, Elongation, Linear Density and Tenacity.

WeissCANNON is proud to offer (and we quote them) “the best of the best, but not the cheapest of the cheapest.” Players of advanced levels can clearly distinguish the difference in feel and overall performance of the WeissCANNON string family. It should also be noted that the WeissCANNON strings are less prone to shearing and hold playing properties longer than the majority of the competing brands.

So why not splurge and treat yourself to the “best of the best!”?  WeissCANNON.  Available at Guts and Glory Tennis. USRSA members qualify for volume discount pricing. Contact us for additional information.

Bear in mind, stringing customers who venture outside of the friendly confines of Guts and Glory Tennis seem to always find their way home. Just this week we had 3 former customers confess to going elsewhere for racquet stringing. Saving a few $’s by giving their racquets to an independent local basement stringer, literally stringing at basement prices, seemed like a good idea at the time. Unfortunately for them, they soon discovered the racquet wasn’t playing the same. Why?

It could be any number of reasons, but the common denominator is quality. From our knowledge of Atlanta’s highest quality string collection to our top quality equipment, to our anal pursuit of perfection, it is hard to duplicate our magic. As the kids would say, our stringing Kung-Fu is very strong!

We welcome all former customers back with open arms. We understand the temptation to save a few dollars is a well-baited trap, but the quality we provide is worth the cost. Keep in mind, our costs remain lower than most local tennis specialty shops while we offer a superior string selection and vastly superior service.

In addition to welcoming several customers back this week we also welcomed back one of our juniors. Her case is interesting. Her father purchased a stringing machine in order to string her racquets and save some money. As it turns out this little tournament dynamo prefers to have her racquets strung at Guts and Glory Tennis. “Thanks Dad, but I like the racquet better when John strings it…plus I win more!” Like we said, our stringing Kung-Fu is very strong.

Guts and Glory Tennis provides custom stringing services via mail for customers who do not reside in our service area. We have a number of customers throughout the continental USA who choose to use our services. Many of our customers using this service are badminton players while another group are those seeking a stringer for PowerAngle racquets. The majority, however, are just league tennis players who want a string job done right. Yesterday we received an email from one of our “Stringing From Afar” customers that we thought we would share on the blog.

Dear John, 

I hope you are well, and I hope you remember me
...SNIP...(from Fort Lee, New Jersey). You did
the most AMAZING jobwith my last racquet! Too
good for your business.   I still play with it
and the stringing holds and feels great. I just
got the follow-up model (Head Prestige Microgel
and ordered it strung with a hybrid from tennis
warehouse). It’s O.K., but I know you can do
wonders, so I am planning to send you this one
for a string job. Especially since I am sure you
have some new “tricks” and options in stringings
for playability (feel), control and power. In
the meantime, I improved a little, so I hope I
can handle whatever you suggest   !…SNIP…

Many local customers know we are currently sold out of LaserFibre Supernatural Gut Phenom XRC in 16 and 17 gauge.  We appreciate your patience and want you to know we have spoken with LaserFibre to determine the delivery date.  The strings are currently being laser treated which is a process that is done in the USA.  LaserFibre expects this process to be complete early next week.  We have been told we will have supply in hand by late next week.  In the meantime we thank you for your patience.  A limited supply will also be available for our online customers who purchase this product through us.

The following new items are now available. MSV Focus Hex, one of our best-selling copoly strings, is now available in a new thicker/more durable diameter, 1.28mm, which equates to a guage of 16L. Currently this product is only available in white. We expect to have it available in white, black and red in early June. Also MSV Hex 1.10 is now available in a new color…red!

Also MSV’s newest evolution, the MSV Focus EVO, has arrived. Currently it is available in 40′ sets. The color is amber and it is available in 16, 17 and 17L gauges (1.30mm, 1.25mm and 1.20mm). We are hoping the crystal color and reels will also be available in early June.

Several of our customers have contacted us recently inquiring about the newest, latest and greatest.  We are known for being the first to introduce new string products to the USA.  Indeed we have been the first to introduce many outstanding string products.  As a result, we are continually receiving samples for playtesting.  To be honest, we reject many more than we choose to select.  In order to make a positive impression the string must possess excellent ability to hold playing properties and tension.  It also must either offer something different than the strings we currently carry or it must offer something similar at a lower cost.

Here’s the newest that have us excited in random order.

MSV Focus EVO - The playtests for this new copolymer have been excellent.  It will be a nice addition to the MSV lineup.  We look for this string to arrive in early May when it will be available in 40′ sets.  It will not be available in reels until later this summer.  The string will come in 1.20, 1.25 and 1.30 diameters.

WeissCANNON Repulse - A new copolymer from WeissCANNON.  This will be the thinnest offering from WeissCANNON.  It will be available in a 1.13mm version and the color will be white.  Play is similar to the Phaenomen, which is a co-poly hybrid produced by WeissCANNON.  We expect this string to be available later in summer 2008.

WeissCANNON Explosiv! - A new multifiber string.  We are anxious to playtest this string.  German playtests have been raving about this new multi that is constructed with 1250 ultra-thin twisted fibers. We have been told there is very little string movement, the string is proving to be quite durable.  Performance wise it is being described as “gut-like play with incredible elasticity.”  Easy to string with no notching.  This string should be available later in summer 2008.

No Frills Black Knight - This is a new generation copolymer that we are currently testing from an independent string dealer in Germany.  If playtests continue to go well, we MAY make this string available as part of our No Frills series of affordable copolymer strings.  Not sure about this one, but it is promising so we decided to include it in this blog entry.

So there you have it.  The most promising NEW string introductions for 2008.  Brought to you exclusively from your friends at Guts and Glory Tennis.

No Frills…Just Thrills!

Guts and Glory Tennis is interested to see how our customers will respond to lower-cost high quality tennis string products. The concept is similar to generic products you might find in a pharmacy. Reduce costs by eliminating the frills, ie fancy packaging, marketing, advertising and branding. The customer receives a product in which satisfaction is guaranteed at a price much lower than the competing brands…(it’s good stuff, just not wrapped up pretty!) As always, we will not compromise on quality so you can be assured each product we sell meets our standards of excellence.

We want to hear from you. We plan to test the market with two new products in the coming days. The first will be a copolymer called Big Pace which is eerily similar to a ProSupex string with a similar name. It will be available in 1.22mm, 1.25mm and 1.28mm at the cost of $5.99 per 40′ set. (Compare to $7.95 per set)

The second is a string that can be compared to the new Luxilon ALU Fluoro. We call ours Platinum Mint. It will be available in 1.19mm, 1.24mm and 1.29mm at a cost of $9.99 per 40′ set. (Compare to $17.00 per set)

Note: These products will be limited as we test the market to see if interest in such products exist. If no interest is found, these products will be discontinued. If interest is keen, we will explore expanding the product line.

Dear Friends Living Abroad:

When Guts and Glory Tennis was founded in 2003, we built the business upon the cornerstone of unwavering customer service. Our published Philosophy of Service is to “Delight, marvel and inspire customers with world-class service emphasizing quality, consistency, innovation, convenience and value.”

We began as a local business eventually expanding into a national provider of tennis supplies and gifts. Our focus on customer satisfaction and service remains steadfast and true. As our web presence expands and we begin to carry products that are of interest to many abroad, our requests to serve international customers also grows. Up to this point we have done our best to provide quality service to international customers on a case-by-case basis. A recent exchange with an international customer helped us to realize that this group of customers is clearly not receiving a level of service and care that is congruent with our philopsophy and due to this, we have decided to suspend all international business activities for the time being.

Serving international customers was never a part of our business plan. Perhaps it was short-sighted, but it was never truly on the radar screen as a target-market. To serve this customer base and meet our standards of excellence, much work needs to be done. Chief among the tasks is to find shipping partners who can reliably and reasonably provide the goods to our customers. We also need to revise our web site to be friendly and able to accept information easily from our international customers. Finally we need to be able to commit extra time to communicating with these customers because they often have unique questions and issues that deserved to be addressed in a personal, responsive and caring way.

To be perfectly honest, addressing these issues is something that is on a very long list of growth activities. It is not currently a priority item for us. We believe that customers seeking tennis goods from the USA will be better served by tapping into the resources of our friends at Tennis Warehouse until we can commit the resources to serve this group of customers. Tennis Warehouse does have a staff and system that is capable of providing the services that tennis players abroad deserve.

Please watch our blog as we will update progress we make in being able to serve international customers in the future. Until then, we thank you for your understanding and most importantly your patience.

“If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right!” - John 2008

Earlier this year Unique Sports products was victorious in a lawsuit in which they successfully defended their trademarked color of overgrip. While the color is the same, the overgrip is new.

For years the standard by which overgrips have been measured is the classic version of Tournagrip. While it remains an outstanding product that many tennis players refuse to play without, there is a new kid on the block. For those who prefer the tackiness of the newer-style overgrips, Unique Sports delivers big time! The new Tournagrip II, now available in 10 unit packs from Guts and Glory Tennis, is a plush and moisture absorbing experience that outlasts the original Tournagrip by several times.

This is the grip being used by many US players including the world’s #1 doubles team, the Bryan Brothers, and the big serving newcomer from the University of Georgia, John Isner. Discover for yourself why the pros are hooked on this great product. Tourna Grip II comes in the extra long version to easily fully cover the grip area of today’s racquets.

Guts and Glory Tennis is excited to make available, for the first time to the general public, Western and Semi-Western Replacement Grips.

Many of our customers have coaches who are encouraging a grip change for added spin and more power. Our new western and semi-western grips will allow you to wail away just like Rafa Nadal!

Simply remove your old grip and replace with the new replacement grip and you will soon be hitting with more spin than ever before. No tennis lessons required. This revolutionary product will automatically convert you to a western or semi-western style player. It’s as simple as removing the old grip and replacing it with a new one.

After more than 5 years in secret development, Argentina’s top engineers have finally perfected a replacement grip that will change tennis forever. Be one of the first to own this revolutionary technology and blow your opponents off the court!

ONE DAY SALE!!! This product has been restricted to a one day only sale. Available exclusively in the USA through Guts and Glory Tennis on April 1, 2008. Order yours today!!!

Last week we serviced a new customer who reminded me again about the value our customers receive by using our stringing services. We are not the least expensive in town, but our pricing is generally lower than the specialty retailers and is definitely not out of line given the overall quality of personal care and assistance we provide.

Anyway, last week my new customer asked me how fast I could string a racquet. He explained that he was the former manager of the golf and tennis department for a sporting goods retail establishment in town. He went on to tell me about a test he was given in which 3 racquets were in a large brown paper bag. His task was to select a racquet, unseen, and string it in 10 minutes for certification. Admittedly I have never heard of such a test, but that is not to doubt his story. He then went on to brag about the speed at which he and his staff could knock out racquets. They averaged approximately 10 minutes per racquet.

After lifting my jaw from the ground and trying not to let my face show complete horror, I responded to his question. “I really do not pay much attention to how fast I am stringing a racquet, but I do know it takes me much longer than 10 minutes. In fact, I do not mean to be disrespectful in any way, but I have to question how you and your staff were able to accomplish the task so fast?”

As the conversation continued I learned that they did not pull tension on every string. I was told “we would juice up the tension and pull 2-3-4 strings at once…the customers couldn’t tell the difference. It’s not like they are professionals.” He then went on to admit that he would never be able to string his own racquet using the process that was used for the customers of the retail establishment.

For those reading this entry who are not familiar with stringing, pulling tension on multiple strings at one time is not an acceptable method of stringing. Yes, it is faster, but the results are wildly inconsistent and unprofessional. It leads to uneven stringbed stiffness creating an unbalanced and unpredictable response to the ball off of the strings. In a nutshell: It’s amateurish.

Morale of the Story: Just because a retailer exists and has a tennis department does not mean they provide quality services. It can be tempting to cut corners in pursuit of the almighty dollar and some stringers apparently follow this practice.

At Guts and Glory Tennis we never cut corners and you can be assured your racquet is strung to the highest possible standards using the most modern and best equipment. Here are some of the advantages of stringing with us:

1. Personal service. Most area tennis retailers employ multiple stringers. Each stringer uses his or her own technique. In fact, when using the same equipment with the same string at the same tension the final results can often vary from stringer to stringer. Because we have one full-time professional stringer who strings all our racquets, you will have a consistent string job that will play the same with each and every stringing service. The top professional players hire personal stringers so that they will have consistently strung racquets. Using Guts and Glory Tennis provides you the same personal and consistent service that the professionals receive for a fraction of the cost.

2. We offer free racquet pick-up and delivery for customers who reside in our service delivery area.

3. We have personally playtested each string we carry and have one of the widest selection of strings available. Our first-hand knowledge of our products allows us to provide you with information and assistance to help you select a string and tension that will optimize your game.

4. We offer a 100% customer satisfaction guarantee. We fully stand behind our products and services.

5. We treat your racquet as if it were our own. No shortcuts and the level of service that you can trust.

Guts and Glory Tennis is a different kind of company. We stand out from the competition in a variety of ways. We are not afraid to objectively test new products and we are often the first to bring them to market.

Another key difference is our extreme commitment to provide quality products and services to our customers. We are full time tennis equipment professionals and we take a great deal of pride in “knowing our stuff.” When working with us, you get the full benefit of our years of knowledge coupled with an emphasis on customer care.

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to assist one of my local stringing customers. She was extremely upset because she had purchased the new Prince Platinum racquet from a local tennis specialty store and she could not keep the ball in play. The racquet had entirely too much power for her game. It was eons away in terms of specs from her previous racquet. i.e. previous racquet flex = 50, new racquet flex = 71. Had the local retailer been focused on the customer they may have asked questions about her game, style of play, hitting preferneces etcetera. They then would have steered her to a more appropriate racquet choice. However, the lure of a fast sale on a new and expensive racquet was simply too much temptation and the deed was done.

In addition to encouraging her to purchase an inappropriate racquet, they also strung it with powerful strings…the dreaded double whammy! The specs of this Price racquet, IMO, are absolutely horrible. If I were a traditional shop owner I would reject this racquet refusing to carry it. I wouldn’t give a darn if the markup was 250% and it was the hottest selling racquet on the planet. The bottom line is that I believe it is the antithesis of arm friendly and I refuse to subject my customers to a racquet that is produced to what I consider to be grossly inappropriate specifications. It is, simply put, an arm problem in waiting.

We were able to use a new technology string just brought to the market from Topspin tennis to tame the power. I seriously doubt if any local stringers or tennis retailers have knowledge of the string or carry it as part of their inventory. The difference is, we do! After playing, the customer told me the racquet performed like a dream for her. We were able to successfully bring the power level to something acceptable, but I fear how long she can play without damaging her arm. The Platinum is simply too powerful to use any of my beloved multis or natural gut and too large to use our Sweet Spot Enhancement stringing method with any success. This will be the ultimate test for the new Topspin Energy string.

Anyway I just think it is interesting to see what we are doing compared to our competitors. This week, while local tennis retailers are bringing in and selling goo-gobs of Prince O3 Speedport Platinums, we are bringing in the much lesser bally-hooed Kneissl Black Star. For grins and giggles, look at the specs!

In terms of arm health please keep the following risk factors in mind.

1. Racquets weighing less than 11 oz.
2. Racquets with a stiffness over 67
3. Racquets that are head heavy.

Any combination of one or more of the above make the racquet particularly susceptible to contributing to tennis elbow. There is simply no comparison between the two in terms of arm health. Winner = Kneissl.

In the long run, the sales of the Prince O3 Speedport racquet will be a boom to our local stringing business as many will suffer from elbow and control issues and will ultimately seek us out. Our knowledge of equipment will end up helping them, but realistically they may have to select a different, more arm-friendly racquet.

Guts and Glory Tennis: where “Different is GOOD!”