Looking for a new racquet? Now could be the time to buy!

With racquet manufacturers announcing new models for 2010, now could be the best time to score a terrific deal on a current model racquet.  Technology that just a few short months ago was being touted as the most advanced in the world is either currently on sale or will be soon.  If you are in the market for a new stick, this may be the ideal time to find yourself a steal of a deal!

Now is also the time if you have a current model racquet that you enjoy hitting with to purchase a backup or two.  Due to being discontinued, they will become very difficult to find in the near future so grab one or two and stick them in your closet until needed.  By doing this now you will get them for a good price and there is a good chance you will be able to locate them with your preferred grip size.

Also, now is the time to purchase replacement grommet sets for your current racquet.  Hold onto them, because they may soon too be discontinued.  If you intend to stay with your current racquet for a few more years, make preparations to do so now.

As always we strongly encourage you to purchase racquets with healthy racquet specifications. Unfortunately racquet manufacturers produce many models that are not arm-friendly and it is essential for your uniterrupted play and enjoyment that these be avoided.  As a service to our customers we are including the following information to aid you as you select a racquet that is arm-friendly.  Note, the following suggestions are based on our observations and experience.

Stiffness: An RDC flex rating in the mid 60’s or lower.  Try to avoid any flex rating above 68.  This is the only aspect of the frame that can not be modified. We believe lower is better.  60 and lower is our ideal range.

Weight: Racquets weighing in at 11 oz  or greater tend to be healthiest.  Try to avoid racquets falling in the sub 10 oz range.  Weight can be modified.

Balance: Racquets with a headlight balance are preferred.  Even balance is acceptable.  The racquet’s balance can be modified.

Length: 27″ – 27 1/4″ is ideal.  Longer can create issues.  Length can be modified.

Wondering if your frame is healthy?  Curious about the specs of a new frame you are considering purchasing?  Ask us in the comments section of this blog and we will attempt to respond with our perception of the racquet you are considering.

Dear Prince…

I realize that I have been hard on you, leveraging some fairly significant criticisms in recent blog entries. The purpose of today’s post is to issue a KUDO. That’s right, I am about to say something nice.

Today I examined the new EXO3 Classic for the first time. It appears as if the channels on this racquet are finally deeper and designed in a manner that makes sense and will be more efficient. I think you may have gotten it right! While I have yet to string one or examine the other new EXO3 designs, I am hoping the apparent enhancements have corrected some of the challenges experienced by the earlier port style offerings.

Good job Prince! It appears the new EXO3 racquets may truly be ready for prime time.  KUDOS all around.

Just Bend Over.

I can’t even begin to describe how frequently I see this particular wear pattern on the headguard of racquets. Most frequently it is observed on the frames of junior players. I suspect if you are a racquet stringer you have seen it too.

In my shop I have several juniors who regularly wear through the headguards. The wear pattern is always the same, as pictured above. I attempt to explain the cause to the parents, but I am continually surprised at how many do not address the issue with the kids. In some instances the worn grommet is not caught in time and the racquet is compromised to the point where a new one is needed. Expensive propositions, especially in today’s economy.

The purpose of this blog is to clarify a common misperception. I will hear from players and parents alike that the head guard is worn from digging out low balls. 99.999% of the time this is simply NOT accurate. I have gone to the courts and watched the juniors practice. In so doing I have personally observed the act that I strongly suspected was causing this particular wear pattern. If I had a video of said act, I would post it. It is an act that simply is not necessary and can be avoided without impacting play in any manner.

Kids, (and some adults alike), use a technique to pick up lose balls that is the cause of head guard destruction. The best way to describe the act is the player approaches a lose ball on the court. Instead of bending down to pick the ball up (afterall we wouldn’t want too much exercise) they place the racquet head on the far side of the ball. They then scoot the ball to the heal of their foot and pop the racquet and foot up in order to get the ball to rise to a point where they can reach it without bending over. In the process of “scooting the ball to their foot” the racquet head is allowed to scrape the court. Over time and repeated transgressions;  abrasion, wear and head guard obliteration occurs.

To me this is an easy problem to avoid. Don’t use your racquet in this manner to pick up the ball.  Dr. Johnny suggests, “Just bend over, it won’t hurt.”

Design flaw, incompetence or conspiracy at Prince?

Sometimes you just have to wonder. Prince, claiming to be the company to produce the most technologically advanced racquets on the planet seems to continually fall short. In previous years technologies that were not ready for prime time were rushed to the market. The grommetless Air series is an example. Strings shanking all over the place. Oops!

Next came the O Ports followed by the Speedports. When the O Ports were first introduced there was a problem with the channels in the head being too shallow. This resulted in strings not having the proper protection, being scraped and breaking prematurely. Surely the world-class engineers at Prince would recognize this petty issue and correct it with deeper channels on future models. Guess what, they designed an ineffective grommet enhancement that wears down quickly on the 1st generation Speedports. At least this indicated to us that Prince recognized the problem. The solution was far from perfect, but it was addressed in a remedial way.

Surely the next generation Speedports would have a long-term fix. Today I received a Speedport Black to restring and it served to remind me that Prince has failed miserably to address this known issue.

My customer purchased it less than two weeks ago. She had it strung with the uber-expensive Prince Recoil. The string had snapped at the head. The reason, abrasion wear from lack of protection. The design flaw has still not been properly addressed and it is costing customers money.

In the case of the Speedport black, the inserts are ridiculous! There is no reason why these could not allow the strings to be further recessed. While fractionally deeper, the channels on the racquet head are still too shallow!!! This is absurd. It is a design flaw that should have been addressed before any of the port-style racquets were put into the marketplace, but to have it remain unaddressed for years is questionable. It makes one wonder if the shallow channels are PURPOSEFULLY designed knowing they will lead to more frequent string breaking and greater string sales. At this point a conspiracy theory is well warranted. What do you think? Feel free to comment in our blog.

Who’s Stringing Your Prince “Port-Style” Racquet?

Prince tennis has long been an innovator in racquet design. Tennis players throughout the world have flocked to the new design that Prince refers to as O Ports and Speed Ports. What most tennis players do not know is that ALL of the new Prince “port” frames that have ports located on the 3 and 9 o’clock side of the frame present special stringing challenges. If not properly addressed, these challenges can lead to an inconsistent stringbed which negatively impacts overall on-court performance.

When investing in a Prince Port-Style racquet you are paying for innovative engineering to enhance overall performance, but if the racquet is not properly strung the full performance potential may never be realized. Who’s stringing your racquet? Do they know how to optimize the process so that the stringbed will be consistent and you will get the optimal performance? We do!

While the engineers of the Prince racquets are to be commended for thinking way outside of the box, the design does present stringing challenges that I suspect only a small percentage of stringers are addressing in a manner to allow the frame to provide the user with premium performance.

The first and greatest of these challenges involves the side ports. Because the ports are open, with no grommet system to secure the string in place against the frame, the top portion of the cross strings pull at a very awkward angle when tensioning. The severity of the angle varies according to location of string and size of port. This angle must be eliminated to produce a consistent string job.

Prince has attempted to address this issue by providing a special stringing tool which is an adequate alternative, but not as effective as the method we use. Prince also recommends that stringers use a turntable break to hold the racquet in place or that the stringer use brute force to keep the string in proper position while tensioning. Some reputable stringers use the later suggestion and actually refer to it as the “Hip Method.” ALL of these suggestions/ solutions lead to inconsistencies and in some instances can actually cause damage to the stringing machine or possibly the frame itself. With all due respect to my colleagues, “The Hip Method” is not a proper or consistent solution.

At Guts and Glory Tennis we were the first to share reports with fellow stringers (and Prince itself for that matter!) of a solution we found to these issues. By using a stringing technique known as 50/50 we effectively negate all of the negative issues that surround the above mentioned methods of getting the crosses installed. Our method results in the most consistent stringbed possible and allows our customers to experience optimal performance from their racquets.

We caution those not using our services that it is IMPORTANT to make sure your stringer is well versed in the 50/50 method if they are using it. This method involves starting the cross strings in the center of the frame and the starting process is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. If not properly started, the center cross strings will be installed several pounds lower that the rest of the strings and the overall result of this in terms of on-court performance is as bad or even potentially worse than the inconsistencies the ports can produce.

The second issue we have observed is that the Prince engineers have not designed string channels in the top of the frame that are deep enough to provide adequate protection to the strings. When stringing with a two-piece method, (which 50/50 is), this issue is magnified. (We have not yet seen the new EXO3 frames and hope this issue is now addressed). We have developed a stringing process whereby we have reduced the length of string in these channels to help provide extra protection until Prince sees fit to properly address this issue. (For those with Speedport racquets, look at 10 and 11 o’clock and you will see raised ridges on the headguard. This represents Prince’s very WEAK attempt to address this issue!)

The final issue we will address is the bottom ports on some of the Speedport racquets. The bottom port presents the most severe angle of all. This is one where we have not identified any better solution than the one that Prince offers. However, we do make sure to use the “loop over” method which Prince suggests and have found this yields much better and more consistent results than can be achieved without using it.

So, if you are using one of these newer, high-tech Prince racquets, you will obviously want to get the most out of it. In order to achieve this goal the racquet must be strung to optimize performance. I am suggesting in this blog that it is probable your stringer is either not aware or not addressing some of these issues and the result is an inconsistent stringbed and inconsistent results with each new stringing.

To get the best possible stringing job for your Prince Port-Style racquet we suggest using our services or find a professional stringer who is well versed in the issues. Local customers can simply give us a call 404-246-1062 to make use of our convenient racquet pick-up and delivery service. For those at a distance, we offer a mail order stringing service. Details can be found at our web site, under our Racquet Stringing From Afar section.

Bottom Line: We understand the challenges these frames present and are eager to show you that our methods to address these challenges result in the best-playing, most consistent stringbed for your Prince port-style racquet.

We are Different!

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!

Prince 03 Speedport Platinum	Kneissl Black Star
Headsize: 125 inches	Headsize: 110 inches
Length: 27.5 inches	Length: 27.4 inches
Weight: 9.5 ounces	Weight: 11.1 ounces
Stiffness: 71	Stiffness: 58
Beam Width: 27-30-27	Beam Width: 23
Balance: 7 points Head Heavy	Balance: 5 points Head Light

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!”

Kneissl Black Star

In an effort to continue locating the safest and most arm friendly racquets for those suffering from tennis elbow, we have just received the Kneissl Black Star for playtesting purposes. The specs on this racquet fill a void between the lighter weight, yet head heavy PowerAngle racquets and the heavier Avery racquets.

The Kneissl Black Star racquet is unique in that it is one of few OS racquets (110 headsize) with a dense string pattern, 18 x 21. The specs are arm friendly as the flex is only 58 and it is made of a graphite/fiberglass composite. The weight is approx. 11oz and it measures 6 pts. headlight. How does it perform on court? We will be playtesting during the coming weeks and will provide an update on this blog.

We are curious about a technology that Kneissl uses in the handle. They call it INTEGRATED VIBRATION CONTROL and describe it as a “fully integrated shock absorption system completely encircling the grip, which delivers utmost control without vibrations. A combination of One Piece with the grip of fiberglass and the completely new SHOCK-ABSORBER-BANDAGE of Texalium with Titanium or Carbonite. This combination guarantees perfect vibration dampening together with the optimum of control and superb ball feeling.”

Initial Impressions:

The racquet is designed and marketed by a Austrian company, but is produced in China. That said, the quality and workmanship appear to be high. The finish and paint job are among the finest I have seen, glossy and slick, though we did not test for lead content. The string channels are capped, providing a extra clean and unique look. The caps are easily removed for restringing. We will have to wait and see how many times they can pop in and out of the channels before fit issues arise. Kneissl refers to these as”aerodynamic frame spoilers” and claims they increase the aerodynamics of the frame by 30%. Who needs Speedports when these puppies look so much cooler?

This racquet incorporates a technology known as “More Area Channel”. I have seen this on a few other racquets, Dunlop comes to mind. The grommets are recessed into the frame. Functionally it is designed to increase the size of the sweetspot. I don’t know whether this is an accurate claim, but it does create a minor challenge when tying off knots during the stringing process.

Another technology that we noticed was what Kneissl calls “SQUARE STRINGING GEOMETRY.” The drill and string pattern does create even string spacing. Kneissl makes the following claims: With conventional rackets, the strings form a net of rectangles of differing sizes. That means the direction the ball takes depends on the spot of the racket it hits. It’s different with KNEISSL’S new SQUARE models. The strings are ordered in such a way that they produce perfectly equal squares over the surface of the entire racket. That makes the direction the ball takes the same as the direction of the racket swing – regardless where it hits on the racket. As soon as you play your first shots, you’ll feel it: the ball goes exactly where you want it to.”

We will take her out to the court tomorrow and she how she performs. We will test her with WeissCANNON Silverstring, MSV Focus Hex and Signum Pro Fiber High Tec EXP during the coming weeks and will report back on the performance.

Power Angle – “Going Diagonal”

PowerAngle RACQUETS

“Go Diagonal!”

No gimmicks here. An innovative design that actually stands up to the claims being made. PowerAngle racquets have been specifically designed so the diagonal string pattern allows for a more uniform string length. The more uniform length has been proven to reduce harmful shock and is great for players seeking a lighter weight, arm-friendly racquet. This technology may look a bit different, but in this case different is definitely good.

But wait…there’s more!!!

In addition to being one of the healthiest racquets available, the patented PowerAngle design also features added bonuses for serious tennis players.

1. Many players who use these racquets will attest to the fact that the diagonal string pattern actually aids in spin production. These racquets grab the extremely well allowing for added spin and bite on demand.

2. Angled strings help create a lively and more powerful stringbed compared to traditionally strung racquets.

3. Power Angle diagonals allow for greater durability and longer lasting strings. For a real treat, try stringing your PowerAngle racquet with LaserFibre Premium strings.

Guts and Glory Tennis is pleased to have a working partnership with PowerAngle where we make these fabulous racquets available to our stringing customers. We currently carry the Power 102 and Power 115 as demo racquets for our local customers to check out. (See specs below) We invite you to playtest these racquets and experience the PowerAngle advantages for yourself. Guts and Glory Tennis is currently metro Atlanta’s only approved stringer for all PowerAngle racquet products and the only resource for interested players to demo/playtest.

Models	Head Size	Weight Strung	Balance Strung	Racket Length	Swingweight
Power 102 (Pictured top right)	super-mid 102 sq. in.	9.6 oz.	1/2 in head heavy	27 3/8”	315
Power 115 (Pictured bottom right)	Oversize 115 sq. in.	9.3 oz.	3/4 in. head heavy	27 3/8”	309

Tennis Magazine has written that PowerAngle racquets are “a new angle on comfort.”

PowerAngle Diagonals are known for dispersing shock and being an extremely comfortable racquet. According to the PowerAngle designers, orthopedic surgeons and physical therapists confirm that less effort is to needed to hit a ball solidly. The longer, Diagonal strings better absorb the shock of the ball, thus protecting the muscles and joints of the shoulder, arm, elbow, wrist and hand from undue stress.

Guts and Glory Tennis is proud to bring these racquets to our customers and know that they will be able to bring relief to area players who are suffering from tennis elbow and performance to those seeking a new paradigm in racquet technology.