Board 8 > ATTN: Princess Anri

(+) Yeah! (+)

Usually I just have pretty cheap tennis rackets simply because it's all I can afford and I just need something to play with. And when the strings go chances are the rest of the racket is not in great shape anyways so I just replace it.

But I finally have a racket I actually like and so I'm going to get it restrung.


Which means I need help/advice on how to go about that. There are a few stringers in down but I don't want to go in looking like I don't know anything about rackets <_<

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Ok, so the two things you need to know are:

What type of string you want.
How tightly you want it strung.

Two things I need to know from you to help you are:

What racquet do you have?
What is your skill level/playing style?

Like, do you hit hard, you lots of spin or do you hit less hard and focus more on control. That type of thing.

Once I know that information, I can recommend options for the first two things.

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Congratulations to Rafael Nadal on a Career Golden Slam. - The Mana Sword

hey anri, after you help FD, can you come over tomorrow and help me with my serving technique thanks

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From: MajinZidane | #003
hey anri, after you help FD, can you come over tomorrow and help me with my serving technique thanks

Yes, it's really simple.

It's all in the legs.





And arms.

And torso.

And hands/wrists.

And there's a huge mental aspect.

And the ball toss is really important.

You know what, it' not simple at all. Just give up.

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Congratulations to Rafael Nadal on a Career Golden Slam. - The Mana Sword

My racquet is a 'Carnelian' from what google tells me it doesn't seem like its an "amazing" racket, but like I said I really like how it feels which is more than I can say about the cheapy ones I've had to date.


~Specs~
Headsize: 613 cm
Stringing: Main 16 / Cross 19
Weight: 300g
Balance: 30-31 cm



I am pretty competent and I've been playing quite a bit lately. Several times a week at least.

Unfortunately I haven't developed a strong backhand and so out of instinct almost everything to my backhand side turns into a slice. It's a pretty competent slice (or drop) but it feels like my backhand would really only take advantage of control but my forehand is more about pace.

But my typical groundstroke is a hard shot with as much topspin as I can muster.

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I'm actually really proud of my first serve right now. I can't do anything other than a flat shot, but it has some good pace on it and about 70% consistency.

My 2nd serve is a steaming pile of crap though.

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Damn, that's a small head size (which means you'd probably be better suited with a tighter string for control).

It is likely a cheaper version of this:

http://www.tennisexpress.com/wilson-Pro-Staff-SixOne-95-BLX-Tennis-Racquet-25803

And that is a great racket.

So I'd definitely recommend getting string based on control and have it strung at 56-57 pounds.

Last question is how much you want to spend on the string (keep in mind most people will charge $10-15 just for the stringing process).

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Congratulations to Rafael Nadal on a Career Golden Slam. - The Mana Sword

I edited that post because I posted the wrong Wilson racquet for comparison.

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Congratulations to Rafael Nadal on a Career Golden Slam. - The Mana Sword

What is the difference in string material quality/price? I basically just want whatever will work best as long as its not horrifically more expensive than the alternatives.

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I am by no means an expert on string but I use Dunlop's Black Widow string:

http://www.tennisexpress.com/dunlop-Black-Widow-Spin-And-Durability-Biomimetic-17G-Tennis-String-19744

It is shaped like a heptagon so it grips the ball better and helps me get more topspin. And I know a kid who basically gets it for free from Dunlop.

It is ~$15 for a set of this string.

You can get string for like $3-5 that is serviceable and I used to not be able to tell the difference. But the first time I used Black Widow, I fell in love with it.

The $3 stuff will obviously not be as good but if you're getting it restrung anyway, you might as well pay a few more dollars for some better stuff.

If they don't have Black Widow, just ask for any durable string that is good for control and ask to get it strung at 56 to 57 pounds.

That's my advice.

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Congratulations to Rafael Nadal on a Career Golden Slam. - The Mana Sword

Okay! ^_^

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Let me know how it works out.



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Congratulations to Rafael Nadal on a Career Golden Slam. - The Mana Sword

My strings broke this last saturday when I was participating in a doubles tourney at my old high school. Members of the current team got paired up with returning players and we played almost all day to determine the winners. The early matches were all 8 game pro sets and then the finals was 2/3 sets.

My strings broke in the third match (it was on a return winner so at least it counted for something) and then I had to borrow someone else's to finish the day. We ended up taking 2nd place. The winning team consisted of the high school's #2 paired with a returning player who currently plays for his college team. But considering I was COMPLETELY out of shape (and 50 pounds heavier) a year and a half ago I'm just glad I was able to attend this years mix-n-match doubles tourney and make such a good showing of it. It was still more tennis than I've played in a single morning/afternoon in a long time though. Its monday now and I'm still feeling it.

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That's awesome.

I just played a student/teacher tennis tournament at the school where I teach last week.

We got third.

Originally, the head coach said I couldn't be in the tournament since it wouldn't be fair.

But he changed his mind and paired me with a freshman who was terrible to compensate and we still won every match except one (against the eventual champs).

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Congratulations to Rafael Nadal on a Career Golden Slam. - The Mana Sword

So who was the teacher on the champion team? And was he paired with one of the strongest kids?

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It was a mixed doubles tournament.

The student was a boy and he is pretty good (though I consistently beat him in 6-3, 6-4 type sets).

And his partner was a teacher who I actually played with at the community college when I did my student teaching and I regularly beat her in 6-0, 6-1 type sets.

Just came down to the fact that my partner was an extraordinarily weak link. I missed three shots the entire match (one double fault, which didn't matter because I held serve), one lob that went long and one missed volley.

It was fun though.

Like, when I played one of the other guys in the science department, I just toyed with his team and hit almost all lobs and drop shots to make them run a lot.

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Congratulations to Rafael Nadal on a Career Golden Slam. - The Mana Sword

The strongest student (the only person in the entire school, student or coach, who can ever beat me) got 2nd to last place because his partner was a joke.

Coach tried to make it fair but overcompensated.

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Congratulations to Rafael Nadal on a Career Golden Slam. - The Mana Sword

From: Princess Anri | #016
I just toyed with his team and hit almost all lobs and drop shots to make them run a lot.

XD nice. We did something like that in our 2nd match. About every third point or so we would manage draw both opponents in the same part of the court because they had bad doubles mechanics and send them both running after every shot.

The kid I partnered with goes to the church youth group that I help run and so we had already played with each other a few times which is partially why we did so well.

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From: Princess Anri | #017
The strongest student (the only person in the entire school, student or coach, who can ever beat me) got 2nd to last place because his partner was a joke.

Coach tried to make it fair but overcompensated.

Ugh thats no fun. Better to just true randomize it and hope you get a few good match ups. I mean it's all for fun anyways.

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The whole team is kind of a joke anyway, outside that one kid.

I mean, I started playing less than two years ago and I can beat everyone there except for this kid.

Aside from him (and his little brother who has great potential), they don't try very hard and they aren't in very good shape. And it doesn't even bother them that they aren't in good shape.

And yeah, that's fine for some people but for a varsity tennis team, it's pretty disheartening.

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Congratulations to Rafael Nadal on a Career Golden Slam. - The Mana Sword

I wasn't very good in high school myself to be fair. And then I put on wait after HS and finally lost it. So I'm quite a bit better now than I was at the time.

But I do think if I could go back in time I'd have put a helluva lot more effort into it the first time through.

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I am not talking as much about not being good.

It's more about being lazy and not wanting to work hard/run/improve your game.

I took over the JV team for about a month and I would make them run half a mile at the end of practice.

They started complaining and I was like "Seriously, guys? Half a mile? You realize running is a huge part of tennis and that it's kind of sad that you can't keep up with a 25 year old?"

They were like "We do fine without runnining" which is a total lie. They never win matches, let alone "do well" in tournaments.

I got sooo mad at them. After that, we started off practices with sprints and then after practice I made them run until I got tired.

It just bothers me and if I was the head coach, a lot of these kids would be benched until they tried harder or they'd be off the team.

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Congratulations to Rafael Nadal on a Career Golden Slam. - The Mana Sword

From: Princess Anri | #022
"We do fine without running"

Oh wow. That is something else then. We would have to jog 2 miles every other week or so and that felt like a lot at the time, but complaining about half a mile?

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