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Australian Open 2012 – 9 Jan
Day 2
Woke at 7am this morning. Had a quick shower and headed over to the courts around 8am. I had one racquet to do before 9. It was a slow morning so I went to the café for breakfast. We have access to the media café which is handy as it is close to the stringing room. The alternative is the staff café at HiSense arena. The food is cheaper here but it is a long walk from the stringing room. The ham and cheese croissants here are outstanding. Best thing ever. The coffee in the staff café is excellent too. Great start to the day.
Things pick up after lunch and by early afternoon we have a steady stream of racquets coming in which keeps everyone busy until about 7.30pm.
I am given my first Pacific restring of the tournament. No premature breakage. Must have been from a lucky batch. I have done enough racquets now to be in the groove but not enough to make my fingers sore. The perfect balance.
Most of the stringers have arrived now. There are 12 stringers with 3 more to come. One of the stringers is doing training with us and he will finish up tomorrow which will leave us with 14 stringers for the tournament.
I am on a brand new machine just as I was in New York. The clamps feel great. I clean them a couple of times each day but there is no chance of slippage.
We also calibrate and clean our machines every morning. All machines are calibrated with the same calibrator so that they are pulling at the same tension. I should be able to string on any machine in the room and pull up the same tension. The machines are not turned off at night. These machines self-calibrate each time they are turned on so we keep them turned on for the duration of the tournament to simplify the calibration process.
We finish early tonight. I have Nandos for dinner and kick back on the couch to watch some cricket. Tomorrow will be very busy. The day before qualifying starts is traditionally one of the biggest days for the tournament. I will have to stock up on Red Bull tomorrow morning.
Shane Mikic is the pro-shop manager for the Tennis Gear stores and their online store www.tennisgear.com.au in Brisbane. He has over 17 years racquet stringing experience and is currently part of the Wilson Global Stringing Team at the 2012 US Open. The following blog shares his experiences during his time in the Wilson Stringing room.
