US Open Fri 2nd September
This is my last day stringing. I am looking forward to having a couple of days off afterwards. There is lots of shopping to be done.
The morning is fairly busy. We have a steady stream of racquets leading up to the 11am start time. Zvonareva has decided to go back to the Gamma string she was using previously. This spells trouble. Once her match starts we are hit with a stream of on-court racquets from her. She sends in 4 for the match. All have broken at the grommets inside the tubing. There is nothing we can do about this.
The day slows down after lunch. There are still racquets for me to string but the urgency of the last few days is not there. I don’t have to string 4 racquets an hour. We are losing another 2 stringers today. It is Vasiliy’s last day as well.
Ron has started organising the team for the Australian Open. Everyone on the team here has been invited back for Australia. One or 2 of the Americans are undecided but the team will be essentially the same.
We saw the new Wilson range today. The new BLX’s have all undergone a cosmetic change. There are a couple of new models. The Wilson has also introduced a new handle system to the range to increase feel.
Before today the team had strung 2666 racquets for the tournament. I had strung just under 200 racquets. My fingers feel fine. The new taping has worked wonders. After the Australian Open in January my fingers were shedding skin for a month. Looking at my hands now it is like I have been on holidays for the last couple of weeks. They show no adverse signs.
I finish my last racquet just after 9pm and jump on the 9.30 shuttle with a few of the guys. We are off to get noodles. The restaurant closes at 10pm and we get there right on closing time. Tadashi manages to talk our way in. The noodles are great. One of the best meals I have had in New York.
I have 2 days to shop now. It hardly seems like enough time but I only have 8kg of baggage allowance to play with so it’s probably a good thing. I am looking forward to coming home.
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 16 years racquet stringing experience and is currently part of the Wilson Global Stringing Team at the 2011 US Open. The following blog shares his experiences during his time in the Wilson Stringing room.
