I was thumbing through the pages of my July 9th issue of NEW YORK
magazine and ran across an article about Roger Federer titled “Where was my
Mind wandering?”, in short it’s about injury, losing, mental toughness, survival
and yes poly strings. Just coming off of
a tremendous win in London
probably is partially responsible for this article, none the less, Roger
Federer has become more of a household name beyond sports fans. If you had a chance to watch the emotional
Wimbledon Final earlier this month you would probably agree that Roger is a
class act and his unmatched talent can’t be denied.
I read anything I can find pertaining to tennis and
therefore sat down at my kitchen table with my coffee and began to wade through
the pages. By now you might be wondering
how this ties into ‘poly tennis strings’,
it will so please just keep reading. Although
Geoffrey Gray, the author of this article, was sharing some experiences he has
had with Roger and trying to get the reader to understand some factors both on
and off the court that tug at a player as he progresses in his career
especially the mental factor, my eyes were drawn to the discussion as it
relates to tennis strings.
As the article progressed and the discussion led to Pete
Sampras and possibly a decline in interest due to perhaps a predictable players
who sometimes appears boring, etc. The
implications that the ‘tennis powers that be’ should make some changes in the
game to perhaps make it a little less boring led to the fact that perhaps
making the game more thrilling and more marketable to audiences outside of die
hard tennis fans would be to make some changes. Perhaps the changing racquets also may
influence the game toward a positive change, the technology is leaning toward
making these frames easier for the power game and to quote the article” Most
important, players use a new kind of polyester string that makes it easier to
return heavy serves and allows them to generate more spin.” As articles before have emphasized, the
market from natural gut strings has shifted 360 to polyester being the staple
for touring pro’s. The article voices
research that explains that the ‘new’ poly’s actually are smooth, slippery and
the strings act like a kind of ‘spring’ and generate unbelievable spin and
control.
I wanted to share this article (July 9th NEW YORK magazine) here as it pertains to string and would recommend it as a read.
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