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Restringing abused racquets

Q: Some of my clay-court customers have the bad habit of hitting the racquet lightly against the court, not enough to crack the frame, but certainly stressing it over time. How can I protect myself against the possibility of one of these “lightly stressed” racquets breaking while I string it?

A: The carbon fiber/graphite in racquet frames is pretty durable stuff. It takes a lot of stress with no ill effects. When it does fail from too much stress, it’s usually pretty obvious. If an over-stressed (but not yet broken) frame is mounted and strung correctly, it should not break during stringing. Just inspect each frame as you should be doing anyway. If you find a crack (or even obvious signs of abuse) during your pre-stringing inspection, we recommend you contact the customer before proceeding. Tell him about the crack (or abuse) and explain that you won’t be held responsible if the condition grows worse during or after stringing. Depending on the customer, you may want to get more than a verbal waiver before you continue work.

If the frame cracks during stringing, there was probably a problem with the way the frame was manufactured, or the frame was damaged somewhere along the line. If the frame does not appear to have been abused, you can send it back to the manufacturer for warranty replacement. If it does appear abused, you will be very happy that you discussed the matter with your customer first.

From the November 2006 issue
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