April 2006 Monthly Archive

The Trickle-Down Effect

The head pro at the National Tennis Center says that to continue the growth in the recreational game, the pro tours need to make some changes. (Click here to read more...)

Website Facelift: Free Tools to Improve Your Customer's Experience

While it's vital in 2006 to have a fresh website for your club, shop, or company, the fact is that you're in the tennis business, not the internet business. But there's hope — without spending any hard dollars on... (Click here to read more...)

Selecting the Right Frame, Part II

Add these latest entries to our Racquet Selection Map to complete the picture for 2006. (Click here to read more...)

Racquet Handle Weighting and Maneuverability

Inspection of 320 different racquets listed in the March 2004 and 2005 issues of RSI shows that almost every light racquet is head heavy and every heavy racquet is head light (see Fig. 1) This result is not so... (Click here to read more...)

Heads-Up Displays

Top retailers offer advice for sprucing up your display space. (Click here to read more...)

Prince Precision Tuning Center

The Prince Precision Tuning Center (PTC) is a machine that allows you to measure the weight, balance, and swingweight of tennis, racquetball, squash, and badminton racquets. Even though many of these measurements are available to USRSA members, published measurements... (Click here to read more...)

Spotlight on stringing

I just returned from an exciting event at The Tennis Channel Open in Las Vegas — the Wilson World Stringing Championships. I served as referee for the competition, which was essentially a speed-stringing contest using head-to-head competition (not just... (Click here to read more...)

Net Return

Sports InterActive gives specialty dealers a fighting chance on the internet. (Click here to read more...)

Hire Right and Keep It Fun to Turn the Tide of Turnover

You see it all the time at small to medium-sized tennis facilities across the country. A customer walks into a tennis pro shop and the person behind the counter is either on the phone with a friend or hanging... (Click here to read more...)

Klip Venom 17

Klip Venom is a high-end multifilament made of DuPont High Modulus PA66 nylon, which is impregnated with polyurethane resin and then twisted with high tenacity monofilament wraps and two polyester metallic yarns. Klip calls these two visible black twists... (Click here to read more...)

Industry News

Information to help you run your business. (Click here to read more...)

The Good Stuff

Each of hese soft-court winners is solid to the core. (Click here to read more...)

Lacing Systems that Enhance Fit

When it comes to tennis shoes, your players need to have a perfect fit. Wearing shoes that fit correctly will not only help your customers play their best tennis, but also, it can keep players from getting injured. Many... (Click here to read more...)

USTA and ITA Honor Champions of Campus and Community

The USTA and the Intercollegiate Tennis Association are continuing a tradition of honoring coaches who, in addition to their job of successfully coaching and graduating student-athletes, reach out to their campus and outlying communities to grow tennis. "The ITA... (Click here to read more...)

Pro Equipment: Australian Open 2006

Two veteran players took different routes to the Australian Open singles titles in January. In claiming his seventh Grand Slam championship, Roger Federer held off a challenge by unseeded Marcos Baghdatis in four sets. And Amelie Mauresmo won her... (Click here to read more...)

Frame slippage

Q: Have you ever finished stringing the mains on a frame and noticed that the throat billiard is resting up against one of the first grommets? I use a Babolat Star 3, and I know the frame was perfectly centered... (Click here to read more...)

Tecnifibre mounting

Q: I have a Tecnifibre SP Pro Cord, which is old enough that some of the really large racquets — such as the Wilson Hyper Sledge Hammer 2.0 — are difficult to mount. I know there are adapters, but do... (Click here to read more...)

Getting started with customizing

Q: I recently became a Certified Stringer, and now I'm interested in learning racquet customization, should I get a good scale and balance board, or go all out and get a Babolat RDC?... (Click here to read more...)

Stringing extras

When a customer comes in for just a string job, I usually install a free overgrip if the overgrip is dirty. It takes almost no time, the cost to me is minimal, and my customers have been very appreciative. 5... (Click here to read more...)

Measuring the short side

A quick and easy way to measure the short side is to measure 4½ lengths of a standard-length racquet. This should give ample length for the short side with enough left on the long side to do the rest of... (Click here to read more...)

Prevent grommet strip pull-out

When stringing the last mains and the grommet tries to pull out, I have found an easy way to keep it in place. Normally you would pull the string parallel with the hole. Instead, try turning the frame so that... (Click here to read more...)

Stencil bottle clean-up

Once your stencil ink has been opened and used a few times, you have to be careful when taking the cap off, so as not to find the sponge stuck to the cap and you are in danger of emptying... (Click here to read more...)

Mentoring

I enjoy the opportunity to string racquets at home. Now my 15-year-old daughter has become a great stringer. It all started years ago when she asked if she could cut and pull out the strings. Her interest will be a... (Click here to read more...)

Prince O3 tie-offs

Here's one for those who use multifilament string in the Prince O3 frames that tie off the crosses on a cross. The difficulty comes from pushing the end of a soft string through the tie-off hole at the throat. First,... (Click here to read more...)

Protect your investment

The owner’s manual for my stringing machine recommends using a surge protector to help prevent electrical line problems from causing expensive damage to the machine electronics. However, rather than using just a surge protector, I purchased a UPS (Uninterruptible Power... (Click here to read more...)