May 2008 Monthly Archive

Spread the News

Journalist and commentator Gloria Borger once said, “For most folks, no news is good news; for the press, good news is not news.” Well, we humbly disagree, at least with the second part of that quote. For tennis, there has... (Click here to read more...)

Industry News

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

Finding the Right Mix

Luxilon has been getting a lot of play among the top pros, but is this string right for your players? (Click here to read more...)

Tennis' Upward Swing!

Across the board, this sport is growing, and that's good news for everybody in this industry. (Click here to read more...)

Centers of Action

Family-oriented, affordable, and fitness for life are proving a winning combination for both private and public tennis facilities. (Click here to read more...)

Valuable Lessons

With the public finally realizing all the benefits that tennis provides, teaching pros — and the sport itself — are beginning to cash in. (Click here to read more...)

Building Boom

The upsurge in tennis is providing more building and renovating opportunities, but court builders need to market themselves now. (Click here to read more...)

Shopping Centers

Business remains good for most tennis retailers, and there are some strategies you can use to keep it going. (Click here to read more...)

String of Success

Unit sales have increased, but even bigger is the growth of the premium string category, which means more profit for you. (Click here to read more...)

Public Service

For CTAs and parks, gains in participation have led to full courts, new facilities, an increasing economic impact at the local level, and more. (Click here to read more...)

Playtest: Tecnifibre Xr3

Xr3 is a multifilament string from Tecnifibre that is made with a core of three composite monofilaments surrounded by six bundles of Elastyl micro fibers, imbued with Polyurethane 400. According to Tecnifibre, the monofilament cores provide a firmer feel, more... (Click here to read more...)

Beyond the Bottom Line

A tennis programmer and frequent player says this business is about more than just selling a product to customers. (Click here to read more...)

Natural gut coating

Natural gut is coated for protection. Unfortunately, this coating clogs even the best string clamps very quickly. Before the end of a string job, you could see the string beginning to slip in the clamps. My solution is to do... (Click here to read more...)

Polyester lint collector

I am amazed at how much lint polyester-based strings pick up. This lint gets caught in the grommet holes when you pull the string through and, once you’ve tensioned the string, it’s very difficult (if not impossible) to dig out... (Click here to read more...)

TLC for that last weave

It always bothered me to have to pull the last cross through the weave, because there is usually no room to fan the cross, and you’re pulling through what amounts to a hard weave, which can be very tough on... (Click here to read more...)

Keeping your knots off the mains

There are a few racquets out there where the last knot for the crosses touches one of the main strings. There is so little space between the main and the grommet for the tie-off hole that you can’t fit even... (Click here to read more...)

Avoid your textured clamps

One of the great innovations in string clamps is the textured clamp faces, which allow the clamp to hold the string without crushing it. Some machines clamps, for whatever reason, are also textured on the outside of the clamp, away... (Click here to read more...)

Fanning the crosses

I use what I thought was a simple technique for fanning the crosses, but many of the other stringers I’ve seen don’t do it the way I do, so I thought I’d share. As I start to pull the cross... (Click here to read more...)