The Dead Zone - Professional Tennis Registry

Transcription

Retailing
Construction
CLOSE the DEAL! Award-winning
Tracking your
SOFT COURT
store close rate
tennis facilities
APRIL 2014 / VOLUME 42/ NUMBER 4 / $5.00
The Dead Zone
Help Your Players
Determine When
To Restring
Our Exclusive Racquet
Selection Map
Catching Up With Our
Original ‘40 Under 40’
Apparel
New textiles and
products promote
ACTIVE COOLING
TennisIndustry
APRIL 2014
DEPARTMENTS
4
Our Serve
7
Industry News
14 Letters to the Editor
p.24
16 TIA news
FEATURES
18 Retailing Tip
40 Ask the Experts
20 W
here Are They Now?
42
Grip Playtest: Tourna
Mega Tac Overgrip
Fourteen years ago, TI named its “40 Under
40.” You may be surprised to learn that many
are still influencing the tennis business.
60 Your Serve
INDUSTRY NEWS
7
Todd Martin named
Hall of Fame CEO
p.26
7
Bollettieri to be inducted
into Hall of Fame
New textiles and products are promoting
“active cooling,” making it easier for players to
stay comfortable in warm weather.
7
USTA sets record for
largest tennis lesson
8
rince Global Sports
P
to relocate to Atlanta
8
Coach Youth Tennis”
“
curriculum launches
8
ardio Tennis ads more
C
training sessions
9
TIA quarterly retail
market data
26 The Dead Zone
p.30
11
USPTA seeks nominations
for annual awards
Our exclusive Racquet Selection Map will help
you guide customers to their perfect frame.
11 Nominate for USTA outstanding facility honors
12 Short Sets
2 TennisIndustry
April 2014
What happens to strings with time and use?
How can you help your customers determine
when it’s time to restring?
30 Frames of Reference
10 People Watch
11 USTA SoCal section
acquires TGA franchise
24 A Cooling Trend Approaches
p.36
36 Soft Focus
These six award-winning facilities are excellent
examples of soft-court construction.
www.tennisindustrymag.com
Our Serve
Publishers
David Bone Jeff Williams
Editorial Director
Peter Francesconi
[email protected]
Associate Editor
Greg Raven
Why They Stay
I
f you’re like me, or probably
like most people in the tennis
industry, you have days when
you wonder why you’re in this business at all.
You may be a retailer, struggling
to maintain margin on the products
you sell. Or a facility owner or manager, dealing with court repairs—
again. Or a teaching pro, worried
about your clinic numbers this season. Or a league captain, constantly
trying to keep the peace between
players. Sometimes, you just have
to wonder why you do any of this at
all. And not only that, but why you
keep coming back for more.
Well, we may have stumbled on
some answers.
'There may be bad
days in this business,
but there's a whole
lot of good in this
industry too.'
Fourteen years ago, in our July
2000 issue, we did a story on “40
Under 40.” Our headline for the
story back then proclaimed, “These
men and women are examples of
exceptional talent that will bring
tennis into the new century.” So
this past fall, we thought, let’s check
up on the 40 people we chose for
that feature story and see what
they’re doing now. Did they, as
we said they would, stick it out in
tennis?
Surprisingly, many did, and are
still at it, in all areas of this industry.
When I dug that July 2000 issue
out of my files and started paging
through the story, I was surprised
to see that we were pretty darn
accurate back then with our picks.
And many of those who didn’t stay
in the tennis industry specifically
went on to roles that often still have
a tennis component.
Industry veteran Denny Schackter helped us make contact with
the original 40 (it ended up that,
despite our best efforts, one person
seemed to have dropped off the
grid), and Denny sent out a short
series of questions for them to
answer that included what their
current job is, what working in
tennis means to them, what they
found most satisfying about tennis
and the industry, and, if they’ve left
the industry, whether they still play,
coach or volunteer.
The answers, even from those
who have since left the tennis
industry, were eye-opening, and
made me realize that, yeah, there
may be bad days in this business,
but there’s just a whole lot of good
in this industry, too, and there are a
whole lot of dedicated and passionate people who love this sport
and consider working in tennis to
not be “work” at all. Our update on
what the original 40 are doing now
is on page 20, and we’ve devoted the
Your Serve on page 60 to some of
their answers about how they feel
about this sport and industry.
One of my favorite comments
came from Pam Shriver: “At the
end of my days, if I have given more
back to tennis than I received,
then I will consider myself a better
person.”
It’s inspiring, and an honor, to be
in such company.
Peter Francesconi, Editorial Director
[email protected]
4 TennisIndustry
April 2014
Design/Art Director
Kristine Thom
Special Projects Manager
Bob Patterson
Contributing Editors
Robin Bateman
Cynthia Cantrell
Kent Oswald
Cynthia Sherman
Mary Helen Sprecher
Tim Strawn
Contributing Photographers
Bob Kenas
David Kenas
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Advertising Director
John Hanna
770-650-1102, x.125
[email protected]
Apparel Advertising
Cynthia Sherman
203-263-5243
[email protected]
Tennis Industry is published 10 times per year:
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issues in September/October and November/
December by Tennis Industry and USRSA, PO
Box 3392, Duluth, GA 30096. Periodcal postage
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Number 4 © 2014 by USRSA and Tennis Industry.
All rights reserved. Tennis Industry, TI and logo
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IndustryNews
Information to help you run your business
Todd Martin Named
CEO of Hall of Fame
406 Kids Set Record for
Largest Tennis Lesson
T
C R E D I T: J E N P O T T H E I S E R / U S TA
he USTA set the official Guinness World Record for the ‘‘Largest
Tennis Lesson” in celebration of World Tennis Day and the thousands of USTA Tennis Play Events in March. The historic occasion
was held at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing
Meadows on March 3 and
featured 406 children from
local youth organizations in
the New York area.
In addition, the USTA
hosted special guest Judy
Murray (right), mother of
Andy Murray and the British
Fed Cup captain, to inspire
kids and families. •
April 2014
TennisIndustry 7
C O U RT E S Y U S TA /J E N P O T T H E I S E R
C O U RT E S Y A E LT C/ T O M L O V E L O C K
T
odd Martin, who was ranked world No. 4 on the ATP World Tour in
the 1990s, has been named CEO-designate of the International Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum in Newport, R.I. He will succeed Mark L.
Stenning, who is stepping down in September after 35 years with the organization and 14 years as CEO.
Martin will begin working at the Hall of Fame as
CEO-designate on April 1, with Stenning remaining as
CEO through Sept. 5. Stenning will then work on special
projects for the Hall of Fame, namely, the completion of
significant expansion and renovation to the facility.
"We are very pleased to welcome Todd Martin,” said
ITHF Chairman of the Board Christopher E. Clouser.
“When we began our search, Todd was one of the people
we went to for suggestions on candidates. Through discussions with him it became apparent that he, in fact, should
be on the short list.”
Stenning, Clouser said, “has been the heart and soul of the Hall of Fame for
35 years, during which time he has elevated the organization to outstanding
levels within the tennis industry and the local community. We are indebted
to him for his leadership and service.”
Martin, who retired from the pro tour in 2004, will assume the helm as
the Hall of Fame in the midst of a $15.7 million capital campaign. In spring
2014, the organization is scheduled to break ground on a major construction
project that will add three indoor/outdoor hard courts and a significant new
building for locker rooms, fitness facilities, and office and retail space. Also on
the schedule is a complete renovation of the museum.•
Among the five people who this summer
will receive the highest honor in the sport of
tennis—induction into the International Tennis
Hall of Fame—are two key industry contributors from the U.S.: legendary coach Nick Bollettieri
and industry leader Jane
Brown Grimes. They join
former world No. 1 player
Lindsay Davenport, Paralympic champion Chantal
Vandierendonck and British
tennis broadcaster and
author John Barrett.
Bollettieri, widely
regarded as one of the
most influential people in
the world of tennis, has
coached 10 world No. 1
players including Andre
Agassi, Jim Courier, Monica
Seles and Boris Becker. He
was inducted into the Tennis Industry Hall of Fame in
2012 and the USPTA Hall of
Fame in 2013.
Brown Grimes has had a
major impact on the International Tennis Hall of Fame
& Museum, the Women's
Tennis Association, and the
USTA, having held leadership roles with all three,
including USTA chairman
and president from 2007
to 2008. She has been the
longtime chairman of the
Rodney Street Tennis & Tutoring Association,
an inner-city program in Wilmington, Del.
Davenport, who won three Grand Slam singles titles and the Olympic gold medal, retired
in 2010 and is a commentator for Tennis Channel. Vandierendonck, of the Netherlands, was
an early star of wheelchair tennis. Barrett has
been a tennis broadcaster for the BBC, former
tournament director, and author and tennis
historian. He’s married to Hall-of-Famer Angela
Mortimer Barrett, and his induction will mark
the second husband-wife team in the HoF, after
Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf. The enshrinement
will be July 12. Visit tennisfame.com.
C O U RT E S Y I M G A C A D E M Y
Bollettieri, Brown Grimes Among
2014 Tennis Hall of Fame Inductees
IndustryNews
‘Coach Youth Tennis’
Curriculum Launches
The USTA, along with the PTR, USPTA and
USOC, officially launched the educational
curriculum program “Coach Youth Tennis,” to improve the quality and standards
of teaching tennis to kids and enhance the
long-term development of children in the
sport. The program consists of a series of
online courses and a hands-on workshop
introducing participants to the fundamentals
required for success in working with children
ages 10 and under.
The USTA worked in collaboration with the
PTR, USPTA and U.S. Olympic Committee to
develop the curriculum, which serves as a
pathway to Tennis Professional Certification
through the PTR and USPTA certification
programs. Beginning this year, all individuals who want to become a certified teaching professional will need to complete the
“Coach Youth Tennis” curriculum.
“This partnership is part of the USTA’s
continuing effort to bring more children into
the sport,” said Kurt Kamperman, USTA Chief
Executive, Community Tennis. “These educational resources will impact tennis teachers
and coaches throughout the country, with
information on how to best deliver the sport
to kids, as well as on maximizing their business.” The educational curriculum establishes a set of standards for tennis teachers
and coaches, ensuring that children will be
taught the proper essentials of the game.
Visit coachyouthtennis.com.
Bollettieri’s New
Autobiography Available
Nick Bollettieri’s new autobiography,
“Bollettieri: Changing the Game,” will be
published April 2. Written with Bob Davis,
with an introduction by Jim Courier, the
Prince Global Sports
to Relocate to Atlanta
P
rince Global Sports is relocating its corporate headquarters to Atlanta, from
its longtime location in Bordentown, N.J. At press time, Prince announced
it was finalizing a lease agreement to move into commercial property in the
Buckhead area north of downtown Atlanta.
CEO Mike Ballardie said Prince has been an iconic brand in the tennis industry
more than 40 years and feels Atlanta is a natural location for Prince Tennis’ headquarters. “As we continue our growth as a global company, we see Atlanta and its
vast resources as a perfect fit for our management, sales and marketing teams,” he
said.
“Atlanta has a thriving tennis community with more men, women and children
playing tennis than any other U.S. city, making it a great home base for Prince. As
a global brand, we are involved at all
levels of the sport from juniors to supporting key professionals in tennis and
squash tournaments all over the world.
Leveraging our assets with Atlanta’s
location, talented workforce and the
travel options offered by Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport will be a
tremendous benefit to the company.”
“Atlanta is a natural home for Prince given the city’s love of tennis and our position as a leading distribution and logistics hub,” said Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed.
Atlanta’s ALTA tennis league, established in 1934, has more than 80,000 members,
and the city also is home to the BB&T Atlanta Open pro event in July.
Ballardie said the company is relocating its product research, development and
player servicing activities to the IMG Academy in Florida, alongside the recently
opened Prince Innovation Center. Prince is owned by Waitt Company of Omaha. •
8 TennisIndustry
April 2014
hardcover is $26.95. The
promotional material for
the book says: “Mincing no
words, he discusses his 10
world champions, 9 lives,
8 wives, 7 children, and
all the successes and
failures in between. His
advice based on five decades of
dominance in sports training is inspirational,
motivational and reaches far beyond the
tennis court.” To order, including signed and
personalized copies, visit bollettierithebook.
com or contact [email protected] or
call (941) 752-2515.
Wristpect Sport! Introduces
‘Wristbands Unleashed!’
Sport accessory company Wristpect Sport! of
Plano, Texas, infuses wristbands with fashion,
color and function
with its “Wristbands
Unleashed!” Company founders Janelle
Sideris and Aleece
Schwalenberg develop individual patterns
for each wristband. All
products come packaged in their signature
retro paper envelope.
Visit wristpectsport.com.
Cardio Tennis Adds More
Training Sessions
Interest in delivering Cardio Tennis to
consumers continues to run high, as training
sessions for Cardio Tennis and TRX Cardio
Tennis have been added to the 2014 schedule. As of late February, the following training sessions have been scheduled, but check
CardioTennis.com as the schedule is updated
regularly. (CT means Cardio Tennis Training
Course; TRX CT is the TRX CT course.)
Austin, Texas—May 17 (CT) & 18 (TRX CT)
Birmingham, Ala.—April 19 (CT)
Cleveland—April 27 (CT)
Cleveland—May 18 (TRX CT)
Darien, CT—April 17 (CT)
Denver—May 16 (CT) & 17 (TRX CT)
Fayetteville, N.C.—Oct. 9 (CT)
New York, N.Y.—June 14 (CT)
New York, N.Y.—Nov. 8 (CT) & 9 (TRX CT)
Philadelphia—May 5 (CT)
Wexford, Pa.—March 22 (CT)
IndustryNews
TIA Quarterly Report
on the Tennis Retail Market
Tennis Racquet Performance
Specialty Stores
January-December, 2013 vs. 2012
Units2013690,171
2012731,346
% change vs. ’12 -6%
Dollars2013 $100,709,000
2012$102,432,000
% change vs. ’12 -2%
Price2013$145.92
2012$140.06
% change vs. ’12 4%
Top-Selling Racquets at Specialty Stores
By year-to-date dollars, Jan.-Dec. 2013
Best Sellers
1. Babolat Aero Pro Drive 2013 (MP)
2. Babolat Pure Drive GT 2012 (MP)
3. Wilson BLX Juice (MP)
4. Wilson Steam 99S (MP)
5. Babolat Aero Pro Team 2013 (MP)
“Hot New Racquets”
(introduced in the past 12 months)
1 . Wilson Steam 99S (MP)
2. Wilson Steam 105S (OS)
3. Head Graphene Speed MP (MP)
4. Head Graphene Instinct MP (MP)
5. Head Graphene Speed Pro (MP)
Top-Selling Tennis Shoes at Specialty
Stores
By year-to-date dollars, Jan.-Dec. 2013
1. Prince T22
2. Asics Gel Resolution 5
3. Nike Zoom Vapor 9 Tour
4. Nike Air Max Cage 2013
5. Adidas AdiPower Barricade 7
Top-Selling Tennis Strings at Specialty
Stores
By year-to-date units, Jan.-Dec. 2013
1. Babolat RPM Blast
2. Prince Synthetic Gut Duraflex
3. Wilson NXT
4. Wilson Sensation
5. Luxilon Alu Power
(Source: TIA/Sports Marketing Surveys)
April 2014
TennisIndustry 9
IndustryNews
People
Watch
The Intercollegiate
Tennis Association recently announced the
2014 inductees for the
ITA Men's Collegiate
Tennis Hall of Fame:
coaches Billy Chadwick
(Mississippi), Timon
Corwin (Kalamazoo)
and James Wadley
(Oklahoma State);
players Matt Anger
(USC), Juan Farrow
(Southern Illinois U.
- Edwardsville) and
Alex Kim (Stanford);
and contributor, Doug
Conant (Northwestern). The seven will
be honored at the
Enshrinement Banquet
on May 21 during the
NCAA Division I Men's
& Women's Tennis
Championships at the
University of Georgia in
Athens, Ga.
The Junior Tennis
Foundation will honor
four Eastern tennis
leaders on April 25,
at the 27th annual
Eastern Tennis Hall of
Fame celebration in
Mamaroneck, NY. The
2014 inductees into the
Eastern Hall of Fame
are: Tim Mayotte, Mike
Silverman, Richard
Lights Out for WTT Vegas Team
Las Vegas was all set to be the new home
of the Mylan World TeamTennis franchise
relocated from Sacramento, but the league
pulled the plug on the team after the owner,
Deepal Wannakuwatte, was arrested for
fraud charges and had the assets of his
Sacramento-based medical supply company
frozen by a federal judge.
The team, previously operating as the
Sacramento Capitals, had moved to Las
Vegas in February, signed Sam Querrey as
its marquee player and was renamed the Las
Vegas Neon. But with assets from the parent
company frozen, it was unable to meet its
financial obligations to the league. The WTT
season, which takes place July 6 to 24, will
consist of seven teams instead of eight this
year.
USPTA Seeks Nominations
for Annual Awards
The USPTA is accepting nominations
for its 2014 National Awards Program,
honoring members who are committed to
excellence as tennis teachers and as ambassadors using tennis to impact people
and communities.
The deadline for nominations is June
17. All Professional-level members are eligible. Recipients will be recognized during the Tennis Teachers Conference Aug.
10 TennisIndustry
April 2014
Walther and Marilyn
Aschner.
a sponsorship deal
with Subaru—his first
major endorsement
deal.
HEAD Penn racquetballer Rocky Carson
captured the U.S.
National Championship
in the National Team
Qualifying
Division.
It’s his
eighth
career
National
Doubles
Title.
Tennis Hall of
Famer Louise Brough
Clapp, a former world
No. 1 player and
the winner of 35
major titles,
died Feb. 3 at
her home in
Vista, Calif.
She was 90
years old.
Swiss player, and Aussie Open champ, Stan
Wawrinka has signed
Tennis Channel and
Mary Carillo have
agreed to a three-
22-25 at the Grand Hyatt New York. Visit
uspta.com for more information and to
nominate.
T.O.M. Conference to
Feature Facility Experts
The inaugural Tennis Owners & Managers Conference, to be held in Charleston,
S.C., April 3-4 (during the Family Circle
Cup women’s pro tournament) will feature
some of the industry’s leading experts in
club and facility management and programming.
Hall-of-Famer and ESPN tennis commentator Cliff Drysdale, who owns a tennis
facility management company, will be the
keynote speaker. He’ll be joined by experts
such as Doug Cash of CashFlow Tennis,
Kurt Kamperman and Virgil Christian of
the USTA, Thomas Deere of Five Seasons
Family Sports Club, Simon Gale of Yonkers
T.C., Jeff Goecke of Fairfield Indoor Tennis,
Greg Lappin of Life Time Fitness, Michael
Mahoney of Midtown T.C., Ajay Pant of
Tennis Center at College Park, John Embree
of the USPTA, Dan Santorum of the PTR,
and facility designer and consultant David
Lasota, among others.
The conference agenda includes sessions on topics such as how to grow your
membership base; making money through
programming, including Cardio Tennis;
year broadcast extension that expands her
role with the network
and keeps her on
air through 2016.
In addition to her
current French Open,
Wimbledon and US
Open assignments,
Carillo will cover the
Sony Open and other
events.
Billie Jean King will
deliver the Simmons
College 109th Commencement address
on May 9 at the Bank
of America Pavilion in
Boston.
dealing with employees and compensation;
court design and renovation; teaching pro
issues; the youth tennis market; retailing and
a club pro shop; technology; research; and
more. Visit TheTOMConference.com or call
843-473-4504.
Nominate Your
Outstanding Facility
Do you know an outstanding tennis
facility in your local area—one with great
courts, a great design, impressive construction and excellent tennis programs?
Nominate it for a USTA Outstanding Facility Award, which is a great way for a facility to receive local and national recognition, and to help in fund-raising goals.
The deadline to nominate is May 30.
Winners will receive their award at the
USTA SemiAnnual Meeting in September
in New York. Last year, 19 facilities from
around the country were honored as
“outstanding” by the USTA, and one was
chosen as a “featured” facility. Nomination forms for 2014 are available at USTA.
com/facilityawards.
Ashaway Introduces
Crossfire Hybrid
Ashaway Racket Strings has introduced
the latest addition to its Crossfire line of
tennis hybrids, Crossfire ZX. Combining
IndustryNews
Norway’s Sorvald Named
PTR Pro of the Year
O
ivind Sorvald of Lieskogen, Norway, was
named PTR Professional of the Year at
the PTR International Tennis Symposium, held in February in Hilton Head Island, S.C.
A PTR member since 1980, Sorvald has been a
PTR Tester since 1992. Currently, he is the Director of High Performance and Coach Education for
the Norwegian Tennis Association (NTF), where
he has conducted coach education courses for more than 20
years.
Dr. Jim Loehr and Jim
Verdieck were inducted into
the PTR Hall of Fame, joining
Dennis Van der Meer. Loehr, a
world-renowned performance
psychologist, has been a PTR
member since 1976 and is the co-founder of the Human
Performance Institute. Verdieck, who passed away in 2001,
coached the University of Redlands men’s tennis team for 38
years and was a charter member of the PTR.
The TIA/PTR Commitment to the Industry Award went to
Butch Staples, co-owner of the TennisClub of the Low Country
at Rose Hill in Bluffton, S.C. Staples is a PTR Master Professional and holds a B.A., a B.P.E. and an M.S. in Physical Education. Other PTR members honored during the Symposium
include:
• International Master Professional: Marc Blouin (right, top)
• Community Service Award: Nigel Pugh (middle)
• Jim Verdieck H. S. Coach of the Year: Jaime Kaplan (bottom)
• Humanitarian of the Year: Michael Paul • PTR Volunteer of
the Year: Maggie Collins
• Clinician of the Year: Daniel Breag
• Tester of the Year: Sandor Papp
• Touring Coach of the Year: Mike Sell
• College Coach of the Year: Sujay Lama
• Wheelchair Professional of the Year: Rich Berman
• Public Facility of the Year: Central Oahu Regional Park
• Male Player of the Year: Fernando Velasco
• Female Player of the Year: Elizabeth Kobak •
Ashaway's 17 gauge
(1.25 mm) braided
Aramid/PTFE Kevlar
+Plus main strings with
its 1.22 mm MonoGut
ZX Pro cross strings,
Crossfire ZX is designed for players looking
for a hybrid combination of soft power with
excellent durability and superior spin, says
the company. Visit ashawayusa.com.
SoCal Acquires TGA Franchise
The USTA Southern California (SCTA)
has acquired a TGA Premier Youth Tennis
franchise and will implement TGA’s schoolbased model in the San Fernando Valley.
SCTA, the first USTA section to invest in a
TGA franchise, will use it to create jobs to
oversee day-to-day operations, handle
staff training and teach the programs.
Revenue generated will help develop other
youth initiatives.
Power Courts Partners
with CourtTech
Atlanta-based squash court construction
April 2014
TennisIndustry 11
IndustryNews
Short
Sets
The U.S. will host
France in the Fed Cup
World Group Playoffs
April 19-20 at a site to
be determined by the
U.S. The winner of the
playoff will re-enter
the World Group to
compete for the Fed
Cup title in 2015,
while the loser drops
down to the World
Group II. The U.S. is
11-1 all-time against
France. In February,
the U.S. lost its quarterfinal to Italy, 3-1, in
Cleveland.
Great Britain defeated the U.S., 3-1,
in the Davis Cup in
February on red clay
in Petco Park in San
Diego. It was Great
Britain’s first win over
the U.S. since 1935
and the first win on
American soil since
1903. Great Britain
will play Italy in the
quarterfinals in April;
the U.S. will play in
September’s World
Group Playoff against
an opponent to be
determined, and the
winner will remain in
the World Group for
2015.
Access Fixtures says
its LED tennis court
lighting systems can
achieve recreational play
lighting levels over the
entire court area with
an LED system rated for
100,000 hours, for under
$16,000. The company
says its newest LED lights
produce an average of
23.8 foot-candles over
the entire court area
while using substantially
less energy. Lighting
systems include 25-foot
poles, mounting hardware and high-performance LED luminaires.
Visit AccessFixtures.com.
The 1973 “Battle of the
Sexes” match between
Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs will reportedly
be the focus of a biopic
of BJK by “Slumdog Millionaire” director Danny
Boyle. News reports say
Boyle is prepping the biopic with Oscar-winning
writer Simon Beaufoy
and producer Christian
Colson.
Ashaway Racket
Strings has a new string
for professional level racquetball players plagued
by chronic string break-
company Power Courts is the exclusive
North American partner of squash court
maker CourtTech in Germany, and is dedicated to growing the sport and making it
more accessible in the U.S. and Canada.
Co-founded by former World No. 1 squash
player Jonathon Power, Power Courts by
CourtTech offers “system courts” that
have been accredited by the World Squash
Federation. The sand-filled panels are joined
with a special tongue-and-groove connection. Power Court by CourtTech provides a
5-year warranty on wall construction.
12 TennisIndustry
April 2014
age. New PowerKill
Pro is a tough, 16
gauge (1.30 mm)
string designed
with Power Filament Technology (PFT), a
proprietary
new wear
layer, or
"jacket," which uses
Zyex fibers to enhance
durability and power,
and help maintain
string tension, says
the company. Visit
ashawayusa.com.
The eBook "The
Tennis Parent's Bible"
from Frank Giampaolo is now available
in paperback. The
book, with topics
such as "Navigating Tournaments,"
“Maintaining Positive
Communication,"
"On-Court Strategies
& Tactics,” is designed
to assist parents and
coaches through the
mental and emotional
complexities of raising
a world-class young
adult through the
game of tennis. The
paperback is available
through Barnes &
Noble and Amazon.
BoardRoom magazine recently honored
the USPTA with the
“2013 Excellence in
Achievement
Award” for
Association
of the Year, for
its dedication to
enhancing the relationship between
clubs and tennis
professionals.
Bridgeport (Conn.)
Community Tennis
Inc. is receiving a
$35,000 contribution from the USTA to
grow the sport. The
money will help in refurbishing six school
courts and adding
blended lines.
The Washington
University-St. Louis
Bears beat Johns
Hopkins 6-3 and win
their first ever ITA
Division III National
Men's Team Indoor
Championship in
February. The ITA
Division III National
Women’s Team Indoor title was won by
Johns Hopkins, which
beat Carnegie Mellon
for the second year in
Company President Andrew Bailey says
Power Courts has already been asked to
quote more than $3 million in business,
and the company is looking to expand
its team of advisors and builders. Call
1-844-4SQUASH, email info@powercourts.
com, or visit powercourts.com.
Correction
Our playtest report of Victory Acelon
Seven string in our March 2014 issue
included erroneous information regarding
the price and gauges. The correct prices
a row in the final.
Former Wall Street
trader Sean Rivera
has acquired a TGA
Premier Youth Tennis
(TGA) franchise in
southern Westchester
County in New York
state—one of seven
TGA tennis franchises
in the Northeast
region and the 24th
developed nationwide in just over 18
months. TGA of South
Westchester is already
impacting youth
through tennis in elementary and middle
schools.
The Ohio State
Buckeyes beat USC
on Feb. 17 to capture
their first title at the
2014 ITA Division I
National Men's Team
Indoor Championship.
ThinkLite recently
replaced the fluorescent lights at two
Boston-area tennis
clubs—Natick Racquet
Club and the Waltham
Athletic Club—with its
new high-output LED
tube lighting. Visit
ThinkLite.com.
are $16.99 per 40-foot set and $379.99 for
Victory's exclusive 600-meter mega-spool.
Victory Acelon Seven is available in 17 (1.24
mm), 16L (1.27 mm), and 16 (1.31 mm).
We apologize for any confusion. Read the
corrected playtest report here. http://www.
tennisindustrymag.com/articles/2014/03/
playtest_victory_acelon_seven.html
USRSA Announces
New MRTs/CSs
MRT - Eric Adams - Chicago, IL
CS - Robert Myers - Lexington, KY •
March 2014
TennisIndustry 13
IndustryNews
Letters
Dropping the Ball?
I noticed the blurb in Industry News
in the November/December issue
about the New York City Department
of Parks and Recreation doubling the
cost of seasonal permits. I have always
been shocked by how little attention
was paid to this when it happened.
This major occurrence in the largest
market in the country would obviously
have a serious negative impact on
participation overall, and be incredibly damaging to our sport.
I, and many of my tennis colleagues/friends, made a major effort
to contact the USTA and open a discussion. We thought they would care,
and might want to address the Parks
Department to see if anything could
be done. We contacted every relevant
department of the USTA via phone,
mail, and email, and they all ignored
the situation.
I did receive a single form response
from a department at USTA Eastern,
saying, "Please be advised that the USTA
Eastern section will be taking NO position on the issue at this time.”
For an organization that claims its
mission is to grow the game and encourage minority participation, the lack of
action, rude tone, and willingness to
let participation be cut in half without
lifting a finger is abhorrent. Several of us
discontinued our USTA memberships
because of it, and told them so, but this
also produced no response.
It’s a crushing disappointment to
find that, after being a USTA member for
over 30 years, the association seems to
care about very little except in milking
the US Open for money. It has certainly
dropped the ball on its mission.
Laurence Shanet, New York, NY
National High School
Coaches Association?
I really enjoyed Denny Schackter’s Your
Serve (“Influence Peddlers”) in the
February issue. I am proud to be a high
school tennis coach and have been
coaching since 1997, and I have the
same passion and love for it to this day. I
have plenty of students/former players
that still keep in touch with me. There
are thousands of us high school coaches
who have made a positive impact on our
players.
Some tennis professionals don't take
high school tennis players seriously.
Regardless of the level, we as tennis professionals have a responsibility to coach
these high school players as if they are
on the ATP or WTA tour. And as coaches,
we have a responsibility to prepare them
for being productive young adults.
We're all concerned about the aging
of tennis teachers in this country—but
think about the fresh, young teaching
talent we could have if we had a mechanism, through a high school coaches
association, to influence passionate high
school players to join the ranks of our
professional teaching groups.
Jeff Bernales
Midtown Athletic Club, Bannockburn, Ill.
I am currently a high school coach at
New Hanover High School in Wilmington, N.C., as well as a director at several
tennis clubs. I just read Denny Schack-
14 TennisIndustry
April 2014
ter’s article about the need for a high
school tennis coaches association, and
he could not be more right.
Jeff Kohl
Director of Tennis, Figure Eight Island Yacht
Club, Wilmington, N.C.
I read Denny Schackter’s "Influence
Peddlers" and could not agree more. Not
only do we need to get young coaches
involved, but we need to support them
with all resources we have.
I coached at the high school level for
25 years in Arkansas and retired two
years ago. I'm still very close to the
program. I have been working with the
Arkansas Tennis Association and the
Arkansas Activities Association (our governing body for high school sports) to
get a coaches association off the ground
in Arkansas. This is an exciting time in
Arkansas for high school tennis coaches.
We can make things even bigger with a
national organization.
Paul Pautsch
Kingsdale Tennis Complex, Bella Vita, Ark.
I greatly enjoyed Denny Schackter's
“Your Serve.” In 1996, as head tennis
coach for Shawnee Mission Northwest
H.S. in suburban Kansas City, I started
the National High School Tennis Coaches
Association (now on Facebook). My
goals included:
• Building relationships with tennis
academy coaches (some of whom were
telling players not to play H.S. tennis).
We wanted to endorse their academies
while they endorsed H.S. tennis.
• Building an organization that could
help H.S. coaches with knowledge of
the game, turning an individual sport
into a team one and how to manage
practices with large groups and varied
abilities.
• Recognizing top H.S. teams across the
nation through a national ranking.
• Developing national/regional clinics
for coaching camaraderie and development, and to recognize H.S. coaches
through a Hall of Fame.
Scott Enge
President, ACT Sport Services, Olathe, Kan.
We welcome your comments. Please
email them to [email protected].
THE T.O.M. CONFERENCE – APRIL 3-4, CHARLESTON, SC
Tennis Owners & Managers Conference
Empowering Tennis Businesses and Leaders for a Stronger Industry!
For the inaugural Tennis Owners & Managers (T.O.M.) Conference, April 3-4,
in Charleston, we’ve lined up some of this industry’s leading experts in club
and facility management and programming to provide practical information
and key “takeaways” that owners and managers can implement to become
more competitive and profitable in this evolving tennis marketplace.
From ideas to help you market your facility and programs, to best
practices for managing and compensating staff, to navigating legal issues,
discovering the latest in technology tools, and important research you need
to know about—and much more—the information at the T.O.M. Conference
will help your business and improve your operations and bottom line.
The T.O.M. Conference will:
• Provide important business “takeaways”
for attendees.
• Enhance the dialogue between owners/
managers and key industry segments.
• Identify new ways to show tennis as an
attractive activity for recreational players.
• Introduce the latest technology to drive
consumer engagement and retention.
• Provide networking opportunities.
REGISTRATION INCLUDES:
• Welcome Reception in Legends Sky Suite at the Family Circle Cup for
evening matches on April 3.
• Keynote speaker breakfast, and lunch both days.
• TIA Level 1 Business Assessment for facilities and retailers.
• Welcome packet with program booklet.
IMPORTANT & DYNAMIC TOPICS
• The latest research, including participation, consumer and
manufacturing trends.
• Growing your membership base.
• Staff compensation—managing your biggest expense.
• How Cardio Tennis will make money for your club.
• Facility and court design and renovation.
• USTA plans to bring more players to the game.
• Educational pathways from PTR, USPTA, USTA.
• Teaching pro issues affecting clubs and facilities.
• Legal issues of running a tennis club or facility.
• Making big money in the youth tennis market.
• Evaluating and maintaining the financial stability of your club.
• Making your pro shop a profit center.
• The latest technology for today’s facilities.
• Moving the needle on adult frequent play.
• The top 25 things you need to know to run a great club.
KNOWLEDGEABLE SPEAKERS
& PANELISTS
• Kirk Anderson, USTA
• Mike Barrell, evolve 9
• Jim Bates, Intelligent Creativity
• Doug Cash, CashFlow Tennis
• Virgil Christian, USTA
• Jolyn de Boer, TIA
•Thomas Deere, Five Seasons
Family Sports Club
•Cliff Drysdale, Int’l.
Tennis Hall-of-Famer,
ESPN commentator
• John Embree, USPTA
•Simon Gale, Yonkers
Tennis Center
•Jeff Goeke, Fairfield
Indoor Tennis
•Kurt Kamperman, USTA
•Greg Lappin, Life Time Fitness
•David LaSota, Facility Designer/
Cliff Drysdale
Technical Consultant
•Michael Mahoney, Midtown Athletic Clubs
•Ajay Pant, Tennis Center at College Park
• Dan Santorum, PTR
•Keith Storey, Sports Marketing Surveys
• Jay Townley, Gluskin Townley Group
The T.O.M. Conference will take place in historic Charleston,
S.C., named the No. 1 U.S. city for the third straight year in
Conde Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards.
For more information on the T.O.M. Conference and to
register, including rates at the Charleston Marriott, visit
TheTOMConference.com or call 843-473-4504.
Restring for Spring: Use the Tennis
Tune-Up Campaign to Boost Business
Now is the time to get more players
into your store, pro shop or facility
to find out how your expertise with
racquets, string and equipment can
help their games. Get your players to
“Restring for Spring!”
The TIA can help in this effort, with
free marketing materials that you
can easily download and customize
so players know where to go to get
the best service and advice for their
gear. But first, make sure consumers
can find out about your retail shop,
facility and stringing services by
listing your business—for free—in the
PlayTennis.com searchable database.
Go to PlayTennis.com and click “My
Account.” If you don’t have a log-in,
you’ll find a link to sign up and create
an account, which is free and fast. If
you do have a log-in, check to make
sure your business listing is up to date.
Together with the U.S.
Racquet Stringers Association,
the world’s largest organization
for stringers, the listings on
PlayTennis.com now include whether
the business has a USRSA Certified
Stringer and/or Master Racquet
Technician on hand, so consumers
are assured they’re getting the best
racquet service available.
To help bring consumers to your
business to “Restring for Spring” and
players to your facility to tune up their
game with lessons and clinics, simply
download the free, customizable
marketing material from PlayTennis.
com/tennis-tuneup/. Go to the “For
Retailers and Stringers” page and
you’ll see a list of Tennis Tune-Up
collateral material including fliers,
web banner ads, posters, business
cards and logos.
Make
your customers
aware of the services you
offer and how it can help their games,
and they’ll rely on you for all their
tennis needs.
On page 26 of this issue, you’ll find
a story on how you can help your
customers determine when it’s time to
restring (“The Dead Zone”), with tips
and advice that can not only help keep
your players playing their best, but
also bring them in regularly—and more
frequently—for your expert services.
Take Advantage of ‘Try Tennis for Free’
Join your industry
in NYC on Aug. 24
The Tennis Show 2014 will be a
collaborative, one-day celebration of
tennis that will feature an Exhibitor
Show, the TIA Tennis Forum, and
more. Held on Sunday, Aug. 24, at
the Grand Hyatt NYC in conjunction
with the Tennis Teachers Conference,
the Tennis Show will include an
exhibitor area with nearly 50 tennis
manufacturers, organizations and
businesses. For more information
and to request an exhibitor packet,
visit TheTennisShow.com.
Facilities and certified teaching pros are being encouraged to get behind the
“Try Tennis for Free” promotion. Beginning in May, tennis facilities and pros will
offer beginning and returning players the chance to try tennis for free, so they
get a foot in the door—and onto the courts—and get hooked on the sport.
The details of the Try Tennis for Free offer are flexible and left up to the
individual facility or pro themselves, meaning you set the rules, such as whether
participants need to register in advance or can walk in, whether it applies to
specific times or days, how many free sessions are offered per person, etc.
But to get maximum reach, tennis providers should
register at PlayTennis.com/try-tennis-for-free. You’ll
get a free listing in the PlayTennis.com database so
consumers can easily contact you to find out about
programs and sessions.
USPTA teaching pros supporting the Tennis Across
America free lesson program during the month of May will also be searchable
through PlayTennis.com for consumers to find them. The PTR also will encourage
pros to offer free clinics or intro lessons during the month of May.
For details, visit PlayTennis.com/try-tennis-for-free.
TIA State of the Industry Slated for Spring Release
This spring, the TIA will release the fourth edition of its State of the Industry report, which
analyzes data from the past year collected through the nearly 80 TIA surveys and research
studies into one easy-to-read report.
One important change from previous reports is a new methodology for determining
tennis participation in the U.S. For 2013 participation, a new online-only sample will be
used, compared to previous years that surveyed consumers through a traditional land-line
phone-based survey. The State of the Industry report will analyze the tennis industry via
the most recent research and data in four segments: The Economy and Tennis, Demand,
Supply, and Competitive Tennis.
The TIA’s State of the Industry report is available to Industry Level members of the
TIA and above. For more information on how to obtain a copy of the report when it is
released, contact the TIA at [email protected] or 866- 686-3036.
Join the TIA . . . Increase Your Profits . . . Grow the Game . . . www.TennisIndustry.org
TIA S
TATE
K e y
T e n
n i s
OF TH
E IND
US
I n d u
s t r y
TRY
I n d i
c a t o
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2014
E D I
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TIA Research hesis of
across diffe Reports
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of the Tenn sectors
is Industry
for 2013
April 2014
TennisIndustry 17
Retailing 129
Close the Deal!
You may think tracking close rates is old school,
but they are effective at boosting your sales.
S
mall to medium retailers, including specialty tennis retailers,
seem to have forgotten about the
importance of closing a sale. For many,
the process of closing and tracking
close rates has become a lost art that is
costing sales and revenue!
In a market where every sale counts,
we see smaller retailers forgetting to
trial close or actually close sales, allowing prospects to walk out without
buying. Yes, shoppers have gotten
smarter and understand they are
in charge, and you can’t sell them
something they don’t want. But they
still expect you to do your job as a
retailer and ask for the sale! If you
don’t, they’ll leave and possibly end up
buying from another retailer who did
ask for their business.
There are basics involved in providing a satisfying retail shopping experience, including greeting a shopper
within minutes of him or her entering
your store—with a smile and a welcoming “hello,” followed by, “How can
we be of service?” Then, either direct
the shopper to the tennis products
they are interested in, or ask questions
to determine their wants and needs.
Remember, good sales techniques
and accordingly good close techniques
always focus on the buyer. Asking politely, in the flow of your presentation,
is not only all right, it is expected. Not
asking doesn’t help anyone.
Ask For The Sale
At the point where you have qualified, demonstrated and narrowed the
possible product selection, you need
to ask for the sale. Start with a trial or
soft close by asking something like,
“…what do you think?” Depending on
the response, you can continue with
the sales process or move to close the
primary sale.
18 TennisIndustry
April 2014
If the shopper wants to hear more,
continue until you feel it is time for
either another trial close or a direct
close: “Would you like to go ahead and
purchase this?” or “What do you think,
is this the one you want?”
In the case of racquets, you have the
demo program your store offers as an
interim step that can bridge between
your initial product presentation and
your close. But remember, you’ll still
need to ask for the sale at the end of the
demo period.
This leads to add-on sales, and making sure after you close the primary
sale you suggest accessories and any
specials you are running that you feel
might be of interest. Remember, it is
always easier to sell an add-on after
you have closed an initial sale.
Tracking Your Close Rate
In turn, this leads to tracking close
rates—or making sure you know how
many shoppers who came in your store
actually purchased something.
There are technically sophisticated
methods for tracking close rates, but
we suggest you start with the simple
“poker-chip” method. Start with
two colors of poker chips, say red
and white, and a fish bowl or similar
container. Explain to your staff that
for every shopper they greet, they put
a white chip in the bowl. They can do
this as they greet and move to engage.
When a sale is closed they put a red
chip in the bowl. At the end of the day
you count the white poker chips to
determine how many shoppers came
into your store that day, and count
the red chips to determine how many
sales your store closed that day, and
record both numbers.
For example, if you had 40 white
chips and 20 red chips, your close rate
is 50 percent. You can determine if
every shopper and every transaction
is tracked on a daily basis, or if only
merchandise transactions will be
tracked.
The objective is simple: Determine
what your close rate is, then set goals
and improve it.
Remember, there are only three
ways you will be able to grow your
tennis retail business:
• Increase the number of customers
who visit your store.
• Increase the value of each transaction.
• Increase the number of transactions—that is increase your close
rate. •
This is part of a series of retail tips
presented by the Tennis Industry Association and written by the Gluskin
Townley Group (www.gluskintownleygroup.com).
Tennis People
Where Are
They Now?
Fourteen years ago, Tennis Industry
named its “40 Under 40.” You may be
surprised to learn that many are still
influencing the tennis business.
B
ack in our July/August 2000 issue, Tennis Industry magazine named its
“40 Under 40”—men and women we felt would help lead the tennis industry into the then new century and have a strong influence in the sport and
the business of tennis.
After we named our recent “30 Under 30” in the November/December issue
this past fall, we thought it would be interesting to go back to the original 40 from
14 years before, to see what they’re doing now and whether they’re still involved in
tennis. And we’re happy to report that most of our 40 still are very involved in this
sport in some way, and others who may have left full-time work in tennis still have
a connection to the sport. (Note: We couldn’t locate one of the original 40, who left
the industry shortly after our story appeared in 2000.)
As responses poured in from our original 40, we also noticed how thankful they
all were for getting involved in tennis. Many noted how wonderful it is to work in a
field that they also truly love. Tennis, it seems, is more than just a job for these men
and women.
Many thanks to Denny Schackter for coordinating our coverage and reaching
out and tracking down our original 40 Under 40.
D.A. Abrams
Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer,
USTA
In 2000, Abrams was the director
of USA Tennis NJTL, charged with
expanding that program. He has been
in the tennis
industry for the
last 24 years
and now, as
Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer for
the USTA, is
responsible for
ensuring that all segments of the U.S.
population are actively encouraged
and recruited to participate in tennis
as players and spectators.
20 TennisIndustry
April 2014
Casey Angle
Corporate Concierge, SEI
After 11 years with the Intercollegiate
Tennis Association, Angle left his position of director of communications in
2008 to join SEI. In his current role, he
plans and manages over 100 events and
meetings a year for the giant financial
services company near Philadelphia
and helps bring other services to the
2,500 employees.
Jennifer (Kenas) Arianas
Executive Director–Tennis Industry
Relations, Tennis Channel
Arianas, in the industry for 21 years,
was a promotions manager for Head/
Penn in 2000. A longtime USTA committee volunteer, her role with Tennis
Channel involves
working with
production, marketing and sales
as the network’s
liaison to the
industry, in addition to managing
interviews with players and others for
programming and live broadcasts.
Steve Bellamy
CEO & Chairman, The Ski Channel/
The Surf Channel
In 2000, Bellamy was CEO of Atonal
Tennis. But that was before the entrepreneur launched the Tennis Channel
in 2003, which he
left after seven
years as president.
He still heads
Atonal, which
owns and operates three tennis
centers in Southern California, and he remains actively
involved in tennis, but he also founded
The Ski Channel (2007) and The Surf
Channel (2012) television networks.
Tim Cass
COO, University of New Mexico
Athletics
Cass’s current position, which he began
in 2006, includes overseeing UNM athletic facilities; game
operations; football,
basketball and tennis teams; fundraising; personnel; and
much more. Fourteen years ago, he
was the head men’s
tennis coach at
Texas A&M, and he continues to serve on
the NCAA Tennis Committee and USTA
Collegiate Athletic Directors Committee.
Andrew Coe
Chief Executive,
International Motor Sports
Based in England, Coe was head of
product development and technical
director for the International Tennis
Federation back in 2000, where he was
the first manager of the ITF’s Technical
Centre. He left that position shortly after
and became an executive in the world of
motor sports.
Sam Cook
President, Tecnica USA
& Blizzard Sport America
A former Dartmouth player, Cook
started his professional career in the
tennis industry in 1993 at Volkl Sport
America, left the industry for a time,
then came back as an executive at
Prince, which he left in 2012. Currently he is responsible for U.S. brand
management for Tecnica and Blizzard
for the Tecnica Group USA.
Jim Courier
TV Tennis Analyst, Davis Cup
Captain, Former World No. 1
In 2000, Courier had just retired as a
touring pro, after winning four Grand
Slam singles crowns, 23 ATP singles titles and reaching the No. 1 world ranking. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2005
and, among other
things, is an analyst
on the broadcasts
of the four majors
for various networks and serves as
captain of the U.S.
Davis Cup team.
Lindsay Davenport
TV Tennis Commentator,
Former World No. 1
Davenport retired in 2010 with three
Grand Slam singles titles and an Olympic gold medal in singles. Ranked No.
1 on eight different occasions, she was
a member of the WTA Tour Players’
Council during her Tour days and married tennis player Jonathan Leach in
2003. Today, she is a TV tennis
commentator.
Larry Dillon
Manager–10 and Under Tennis,
USTA Eastern
Fourteen years ago, Dillon was the
founder and president of The Sports,
For Life! Foundation Inc., working
to use tennis to
enhance lives. He
is still using the
sport to bring out
the best in adults
and children, now
as a manager with
the USTA Eastern
Section.
Johan Eliasch
Chairman & CEO, Head N.V.
Eliasch, who has been in this industry for 18 years, held the same role in
2000, when Head had just completed
acquiring Penn Racquet Sports. From
2007 to 2010, he served in the British
Government as the Special Representative of the Prime Minister on
Deforestation and Clean Energy.
Joe Favorito
Self-Employed, and Director of
Industry Relations, Columbia
University Graduate Program in
Sports Management
Favorito handles marketing, communications and business development
for a host of different clients in sports
and entertainment, including the
John McEnroe Tennis Academy and
recent work with the WTT New York
Sportimes and Washington Kastles.
In 2000, he worked for the USTA as
director of publicity and media relations.
Tony Godsick
President, TEAM8
Godsick is founder and president
of Team8 Sports & Entertainment,
whose clients include Roger Federer,
Juan Martin del Potro and Grigor
Dimitrov. In the industry for 22 years
(and married to former pro player
Mary Joe Fernandez), Godsick was
the vice president for Racquet Sports
at IMG.
John Hanna
Publisher-ALTA Net News,
Ad Director–Tennis Industry,
Sales Manager–Tennis
Hanna’s role in tennis publishing
spans decades and includes key
titles in this industry. He remains
publisher of
Net News,
as
he was in
2000, but is
also the ad
director for
Tennis Industry magazine and the
endemic sales manager for Tennis
magazine. He also is president and
owner of the Baseline Network digital tennis business.
Rodney Harmon
Head Coach, Women’s Tennis
Team at Georgia Tech
Since 2000, Harmon, who was the
USTA’s director of multicultural
development at the time, has been
the men’s head tennis coach for the
2008 Beijing Olympics, and he was
inducted into the ITA Men’s Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame in 2009.
As tennis director at Deerwood CC in
Jacksonville, he was named Competitive Coach of the Year by the USTA
Florida Section in 2012.
Feisal Hassan
General Manager/Tennis
Director, Midlothian Tennis Club
Hassan has been in the tennis
industry for 26 years, and currently
oversees and manages the operation at the Midlothian Tennis Club
in Virginia. He’s coached nationally
ranked juniors, collegiate players,
and touring pros, receiving many
honors along the way.
David Higdon
Managing Director–Integrated
Marketing Communications,
NASCAR
Higdon’s start in the tennis industry
came in 1982 with a story about his
Kalamazoo College team that ran in
Tennis magazine. He worked as a senior editor for Tennis, then was VP–
Corporate Communications for the
ATP Tour. He currently develops and
implements NASCAR’s integrated
marketing communications strategy.
Liza Horan
Head of Brand Strategy &
Engagement, Hop-a-Razzi
Horan first started working in tennis
22 years ago as an
assistant editor of
USTA Magazine,
then became the
longtime director of the Tennis.
com website and
served for many
years as president
of the U.S. Tennis Writers Association. She leads the digital, marketing,
advertising and public relations efforts for the Hop-a-Razzi ball basket
brand.
April 2014
TennisIndustry 21
Tennis People
Jerome Jones
District Sales Manager,
Head/Penn Racquet Sports
the Sport Management program at
Nichols College in Dudley, Mass.
In 2000, Jones was a USA Tennis
National Administrator, growing
the game in any
and all capacities. That still is
a focus of his, as
his current job,
in the Southern
California territory, involves sales and promotions
for Head/Penn products and distribution to all retail channels.
Todd Martin
CEO-Designate, International
Tennis Hall of Fame; President,
Todd Martin Tennis LLC
Jeff Karp
Executive VP–Social and Mobile
Leslie McCormack-Gathy
Deputy Chairman,
Right To Play UK
Karp left Wilson Sporting Goods
at the end of 2000 after nine years,
where he was Vice President of Interactive Marketing, and joined video
game giant Electronic Arts, where his
responsibilities included field sales,
planning, retail marketing supply
chain management and more. He
currently works for Social and Mobile
in San Francisco, a leading international social games business.
Rick Kerpsack
VP/Managing Director,
Tennis Warehouse/TW–Europe
Kerpsack manages all purchasing for
retail giant Tennis Warehouse,
and in 2008 established Tennis
Warehouse–Europe. He’s been
in the tennis
industry for 32
years, joining
Wilson in 1991, where he took over
the shoe category as business director
for performance footwear.
Timothy Liptrap
Associate Professor & Chair,
Sport Management,
Nichols College
Involved in tennis in various forms
for 25 years, Liptrap starting as a
high school coach in 1989, director of
marketing for USTA New England,
section marketing manager for USTA
National, and VP of World TeamTennis. Since 2002, he’s been building
22 TennisIndustry
April 2014
Martin was recently named CEO of
the ITHF, taking over full time this
September. The former pro player,
who has been active on the ATP Tour
Player Council, currently is on the
USTA Board of Directors and has a
passion for giving back to the sport—
from coaching youth tennis through
elite juniors and professionals.
McCormack-Gathy, who lives in
London, left her vice president position at IMG in 2004. In addition to
raising her three children, she joined
the board of Right to Play UK in 2005,
which uses sport and play to educate
and empower children and helps girls
become active in sports in countries
where this traditionally has not been
allowed.
Patrick McEnroe
General Manager–USTA Player
Development; TV Commentator
Former tour pro McEnroe has held
many roles in the industry, including
as a member of the USTA Board of Directors, former Davis Cup captain, and
president of USTA Serves. In 2008, he
assumed his current position, overseeing all USTA player development programs. A respected TV commentator,
he’s worked for ESPN and CBS, among
other media outlets.
Drew Munster
CEO, Tennis Warehouse
Munster continues to run tennis
internet retail giant
Tennis Warehouse,
where he still does
a fair amount of
programming on
the system that
runs TW’s businesses. The company’s innovative
approach over the last two decades has
helped shape tennis retailing.
Tracy Nickerson Schaefer
Administrative Assistant to
Athletics & Wellness,
North Cross School, Roanoke, Va.
Although Nickerson left her position as
director of marketing for the Georgia
Tennis Association in 2002, she remains
involved in the sport as an avid player
(plus, her husband is a USPTA-certified
pro). After taking eight years off to raise
a family, she wanted to get back into a
sports career and started her current
position in February 2013.
Kevin O’Connor
Senior Advisor, Arnaud Lagardere
O’Connor was the VP of Saddlebrook
Sports in Tampa in 2000, working with
tennis stars such as Pete Sampras, Jim
Courier, Martina Hingis and Jennifer
Capriati. He became COO of Lagardere
Unlimited’s sports representation and
marketing business in the Americas in
2010, but left that position in 2013 to be
senior advisor to the agency’s namesake.
Chris Renner
President, Helios Europe & China
In 2000, Renner was managing director
at ISL Tennis, securing broadcast rights
for the Tennis Masters Series and Fed
Cup. He has since moved to Helios Partners, which is an international sports
marketing consultancy.
Jeff Schwartz
President & Founder,
Excel Sports Management
Excel Sports Management, which
Schwartz started in 2002, represents
some of the top athletes in pro sports, including NBA, MLB and PGA standouts.
Schwartz started in sports management
in 1992 at IMG, managing the careers
of Pete Sampras, Martina Hingis and
Marcelo Rios. He later joined Artists
Management Group (AMG), building up
the athlete division.
Larry Scott
Commissioner, Pac-12 Conference
Scott currently oversees all intercollegiate athletics (including tennis) and
related businesses for the Pac-12 Conference, which he joined in 2009. The
former tour player and Harvard grad
served six years as chairman and CEO of
the WTA, and prior to that was COO of
the ATP Tour.
Pat Shields
Owner & CEO, Fromuth Tennis
Shields bought wholesale distributor
Fromuth Tennis in 1992 and he continues to move the
business forward,
while working with
tennis retailers to
help them get the
products they need
and boost their own
businesses.
Pam Shriver
Tennis Broadcaster; Board Member, USTA Serves; Former Pro
Player
Including her time playing professional events (she won 22 Grand Slam
doubles titles), Shriver has been in
the tennis industry for 36 years. And
she’s worn a multitude of hats in that
time, from helping to grow the game at
the grassroots to serving on the USTA
Board of Directors and as a VP of the
Hall of Fame.
David Sparrow
Senior Editor, Parents Magazine
Sparrow left Tennis magazine, where
he was deputy editor, in 2001, but he
continued to write freelance pieces for
USTA Magazine until 2008. In his role
at Parents, he heads up the magazine’s
education and personal finance coverage. He still plays tennis regularly, and
last year watched his 15-year-old son as
a second-generation ball person at the
US Open.
Kathleen Stroia
Senior VP–Sport Sciences &
Medicine and Transitions, WTA
Stroia, in the industry for 25 years,
currently is responsible for, among
other things, setting standards for
tournament physicians, identifying and
participating in research projects for
tennis, injury prevention, women’s
health issues, and
new high performance/sports
medicine products.
She also developed
the Transitions
program, which
focuses on professional development
for current and retired players.
Fred Viancos
Director of Professional
Development, USPTA
A former professional player, Viancos has spent
the last 25 years
as an administrator in tennis,
including as an
ATP Tour manager. A longtime
employee of the
USPTA, he currently, oversees the membership,
certification/testing, education
and multimedia departments.
Scott Warner
Warner Investments; Coach
In 2000, Warner was the racquet
sports buyer for retail chain Sports
Authority, which he left in 2008.
A former pro circuit player, he
started his own company, Warner
Investments, and buys real estate
for rental income. But he still is
involved in tennis, coaching several
juniors in Denver and coaching
high school tennis last year.
Ann Worcester
Tournament Director,
New Haven Open at Yale
Worcester started her career in
this sport 30 years ago, working for
IMG. She is a former CEO of the
WTA Tour, and became tournament director in
New Haven 17
years ago, where
she continues to
emphasize tennis at all levels—
from the pros
right down to
the grassroots.
She also serves as chief marketing officer for Market New Haven,
reporting to the mayor’s office.
Ben Yun
Senior Footwear Designer,
Nike
Yun, who has remained with Nike
since our original “40 Under 40”
list in 2000, has had a hand in shoe
designs not only worn by millions
of consumers, but also by Nike’s
top tennis stars, too. •
April 2014
TennisIndustry 23
Apparel
A Cooling Trend
Approaches
New textiles and products are promoting “active
cooling,” to make it easier for players to stay
comfortable during warm-weather workouts.
W
By Emily Walzer
hile watching the 2014 Australian
Open, I couldn’t help but think how
the latest innovations in textile science are tailor-made for athletes
dealing with extreme heat. As the
tournament progressed and players struggled, yet continued
to compete, with temperatures rising to record highs, I stifled
an urge to yell at the TV, “If you guys would simply change
your clothes, you’ll feel a whole lot cooler!”
Soon enough tennis players will get the message—without me hollering from the sidelines—that there are new and
improved ways to stay comfortable when exercising in hot
weather. This Spring, a range of products are entering the
market engineered to promote what is being called “active
cooling.”
Without getting into the nitty-gritty of thermodynamics,
these new fabric technologies work by changing density with
the absorption of water. Or as we were taught in high school
science class, when something changes size without changing
mass, it must change temperature.
Wicking properties (the ability to pull water away from the
skin, promote evaporation and quickly dry a fabric) are still
important, but these new offerings go beyond conventional
moisture-management to actually work with sweat to lower
body heat. The cooling comes from conduction—in other
words the technology touching and directly cooling the skin.
There have been forays into cooling textiles in recent years,
but this next generation of technology brings a fresh blast of
innovation. Veteran activewear brands as well as material
tech newcomers are advancing the trend. For example, Columbia Sportswear will offer a wide assortment of garments
featuring its proprietary Omni-Freeze Zero technology and
Adidas is launching Climachill, its new cooling fabric science. Performance textile company Coolcore has introduced
cooling-specific products, and Swiss fabric supplier Schoeller
24 TennisIndustry
April 2014
Textil has just announced a new temperature-regulating
development available for garments in the future.
Air-Conditioning For the Skin
Columbia’s fabric tech is based on tiny yet distinctive blue
rings laminated on polyester that contain a cooling polymer
to suck up sweat and then react to the moisture as an individual exercises. When exposed to sweat or moisture, these
rings swell (similar to goose bumps) creating an instant and
prolonged cooling sensation.
“The little blue rings are like ice packs in your freezer,” says
Scott Trepanier, promotions manager. “When describing
the product, it is important to make the point that this is not
wicking, this is active cooling.”
Executives at Columbia Sportswear believe cooling technologies will only grow in importance as the temperatures
across the globe continue to rise. The extreme 105 degrees in
Melbourne this January would bear this out.
Adidas’ material innovation also relies on thermodynamic
textile science with its Climachill product. The fabric uses
titanium cooling fibers and aluminum silver dots that cool the
body. “With Climachill, athletes can train harder, run longer,
retain their focus and compete better,” explains Greg Thomsen, managing director, Adidas Outdoor North America. “This
technology helps users utilize sweat’s core cooling function to
their advantage.”
Thomsen continues, “The aluminum is super-lightweight
and a really good conductor even when used in such small
amounts. Because the dots are raised, they push the heat
away from the skin and create cooling. You can think of it as
enhanced thermo regulation.”
Coolcore does not have a branded apparel line—though that
may be coming soon. However, Coolcore is now marketing
Dr. Cool recovery wraps. According to the company, this is
the first product to combine cold and compression
in one flexible fabric for “recovery on the go.” Dr.
Cool wraps can be used dry as a compression wrap,
or frozen. To use as a cold compress, you need to
wet the wrap, roll it and freeze it; Coolcore says its
material will keep the fabric colder, longer.
The company’s fiber technology is incorporated
in other products useful for tennis players. For
example, Coolcore has an exclusive partnership
with Mission Athletecare that offers EnduraCool
products powered by Coolcore. The items, including a cooling towel, arm sleeve, headbands and
hoodie, rely on a three-step activation process that
consists of soaking the fabric, wringing it out and
then snapping it in place. This procedure activates
the technology and serves to cool body temps.
(Serena Williams is one of Mission Athletecare’s
sponsored athletes.)
While today’s new cooling materials are often
promoted as ideal for long bike rides and highmileage treks, some see even greater potential in
shorter duration exercise—a few sets of tennis, for
instance.
ADIDAS
The Climachill fabric used in
this Terrex Climacool shirt
enables twice the flow of air
though the fabric as normal
ventilated apparel and the
loose fabric construction allows
moisture to evaporate away
from the skin for enhanced
comfort.
COLUMBIA
SPORTSWEAR
Trends in Warm-Weather Comfort
While “active cooling” is certainly a buzzword
in textile tech these days, there are other trends
worth mentioning. Cotton, for example, continues
to advance as a performance product. Increasingly
cotton is being treated to offer wicking capabilities as well as odor-control properties. The fabric
market is also seeing more action in cotton blends
that provide durability as well as softness. Once
sidelined to synthetics in the activewear category,
cotton is now making a big comeback.
Lightweight is another important trend. Most
fabric specialists will tell you that textiles these
days are close to half the weight compared to just
a few years ago. The innovation comes from fabric
developers now being able to trim the bulk of a
textile without losing any of the functionality.
Lastly, many in the textile community believe
“smart fabrics” for everyday wear are on the
horizon. Right now most of these textiles are being
developed for military purposes (for example, garments engineered with fabrics that have the ability
to administer wound-healing medicine so soldiers
in the field can receive immediate medical attention) or elite sports training. A new study involves
clothing items with computer networks woven
into the fabric that can sense motions of
the wearer, classify the person’s activity and monitor physiological measurements related to the
activity.
If textile science can help you adjust to the
heat, why not a shirt that can monitor your fitness
levels? •
This season, Columbia is
expanding the Omni-Freeze
ZERO line to be available in
all men’s and women’s categories including shirts. Shown
here are the men’s Zero Rules
short sleeve shirt and the
women’s Freeze Degree Tank
top.
COOLCORE
Dr. Cool Wraps serve dual-purpose for compression and cooling.
April 2014
TennisIndustry 25
Stringing
The Dead
Zone
What happens to tennis
strings with time and
use? And how can you
help your customers
determine when it is
time to restring?
T
By Bob Patterson
ennis strings go dead.… Or do they?
According to Rod Cross and Crawford
Lindsey in the book Technical Tennis (Racquet
Tech Publishing, 2005), strings do not go dead
in the racquet.
“When a string loses tension, it becomes softer,” they write.
“That is all that changes in a string. It does not lose power,
resiliency or ‘go dead’ in any quantitative way. It simply becomes less stiff, and thus feels ‘different’ to the player.”
But players describe that difference in many different, and
often conflicting, ways. Some describe balls flying off the racquet with a loss of control, while others describe a soft, dead
feeling that lacks power.
So, what happens to strings with time and use? If strings
don’t go dead, what is it that changes, and why do players have
a hard time agreeing on just what that difference feels like?
We set out to find an answer and were led right back to
our old friend and string expert Crawford Lindsey. It seems
that Lindsey was curious also, and in his usual way set out to
conduct tests to find the answer. His results can be found in a
two-part article on the Tennis Warehouse University website
(http://twu.tennis-warehouse.com/learning_center/).
What Actually Happens
Basically, Lindsey found two significant changes that occur.
First, the strings relax internally and lose tension. This
involves relaxation at a molecular level and does not show up
26 TennisIndustry
April 2014
as a string stretching and getting longer over time. (I have
several racquets in my collection that date back to the 1920s,
and many were last strung 80 years ago or more, yet the
string beds are relatively firm. They may disintegrate if they
were to hit a ball, but they are not sagging in the racquet.)
But what does happen is the strings become less stiff.
When this happens, at impact the ball imbeds deeper into
the string bed and stays there a fraction of a second longer,
before being sent off at a higher trajectory than usual. The
ball then travels farther and is usually perceived by the
player as having more power and a loss of control.
Second, as strings wear, they get roughed up and no
longer slide against each other as easily. With gut and
multifilaments, the outer fibers break and wear, making the
coating rougher and less likely to slide. Monofilaments and
single-wrap nylons will actually notch and are difficult to
move at all.
With a fresh string job, if you move the main strings with
your fingers, they will more or less snap back into position
when released. But after being in the racquet for a while
and especially with some hours of play on them, the strings
will stay where they are moved. With the current designs of
racquets and strings emphasizing spin, you will see a lot of
information about how string “snap back” plays a significant
role in generating spin. So when this snap back is hampered,
it will have a negative impact on performance.
Both of these changes that occur—tension loss and friction
Stringing
increase—happen to every string regardless of the string’s
composition or the tension at which it is installed. Each string
and situation is unique and the changes will occur at differing rates depending on the string and the playing style of the
player. One string may lose tension quickly but maintain its
ability to slide, which will make it feel like it gains power and
loses control. Another string may hold tension better but
begin to stick to itself more, resulting in less spin and power,
and making the strings feel dead.
Lindsey sums things up: “The strings are simultaneously
gaining and losing in power behaviors or in stiffness and softness characteristics. It is the net effect that determines the
player’s perception of string performance.”
Player Sensitivity
When to restring, then, really depends on the perception of
the player and his or her sensitivity to the changes that occur.
Many top pros go to a fresh string job with every ball change
(every nine games) in a match. Obviously, they are very sensitive to change. As the balls get fluffed up and their strings lose
tension, they can feel the difference, no matter how slight.
So, does your level of expertise on the court determine your
perception to change in the string? Not necessarily. Although
many of the top pros change to fresh racquets often during a
match, others prefer to stick with one as long as possible.
During his professional career, James Blake rarely had
more than two racquets strung before a match and often
played the entire match without ever changing racquets, so
it really depends on the player and their perception of the
change to determine when a restring is called for.
But, regardless of sensitivity, the strings will need to be
replaced at some point. For some it may be once a season; for
others, much more often. It is up to us as racquet technicians
to help players determine what their comfort zone is and
when it is time to restring. While this is mostly determined
by the player, you can certainly help them by being able to
quantify what they are feeling.
I often will have a player tell me they really liked the
racquet after it had a few hours of play. This tells me that
dropping their tension just a bit will give them that same feel
from the start.
An essential tool in helping your clients determine their
comfort zone is by tracking the string-bed stiffness or dynamic tension. This will make your job easier because it can
quantify the difference the player is feeling, which will most
likely translate into the player restringing more frequently.
Using A Diagnostic Tool
If you want to see a dramatic jump in your business, incorporating free string-bed testing will do the trick. Once your
customers understand what you are doing, their frequency of
restringing will increase—and you’ll see new customers coming through your door.
String diagnostics tools come in many forms, from large
multi-tasking units like the Babolat Racquet Diagnostic Center (RDC) to small hand-held units. They also use a variety
of methods to read the string bed. The RDC and some others
actually depress the center of the string bed and provide a
reading. Others use harmonics by vibrating the string, while
others twist and measure the stiffness of one string at a time.
When servicing your players, what’s important—no matter
String Composition
We’ve determined that the change in a player’s strings is very
subtle and happens in small increments with every impact
of the ball and over time, which makes it difficult for most of
us to determine when it is time to restring. The old adage of
“restring as often in a year as you play each week” is no longer
valid, if it ever was. One player may hit 100 balls in a session
while another may hit 1,000 during the same time frame.
An even bigger factor in the equation is the string itself.
Today’s strings vary so much in their composition, stiffness,
thickness, coating and ability to retain tension, there is really
no way to assign an expiration date to a string job. It is really
dependent on the racquet, string and the player’s sensitivity to determine how often to restring. But, as professional
racquet stringers, we should be educating and advising our
players. So how do we do this?
You need to know your clients. Ask questions and listen to
them to find out as much as you can about how they play and
what they feel is important. This holds true for helping them
determine not only when to restring, but also in selecting the
right racquet, string and tension.
28 TennisIndustry
April 2014
what diagnostic tool you may use, and whatever type of “number” that tool generates—is the percentage drop over time.
Also, whatever diagnostic tool you use, you will need to be
consistent as to how it is used, when measurements are made,
and where it is placed on the racquet—to make sure you are
comparing apples to apples.
The best thing is to test the string job right after you take it
off of the machine. This will be your baseline. When you test
later on, the number will drop.
It is up to your client to determine their “magic number”
as to when they feel they want to restring. For some players,
a 15 percent drop is noticeable enough to affect their game,
while others may be fine waiting until that number drops 35
percent or more. This takes the pressure off of you; the client
will determine their number and will
come by often for a check up.
Once the number dips below that
predetermined plateau, you have
another string job—most likely much
sooner than you would have without the
diagnostics. And importantly, you’ll also
build more foot traffic in your store.
fessionalism and shows them that we are not making
things up when we suggest a restring.”
Encouraging your customers to get in the habit of
checking the status of their strings frequently is vital.
When they do, they will restring when they need to,
instead of waiting until the due date or later.
Matt Steverson, MRT and owner of Matt’s Tennis in
Altamonte Springs, Fla., uses the ERT 300 for string
tests because of its portability, even though he has a
Babolat RDC. “I keep an ERT in my tennis bag and
my customers know this,” he says. “They’ll come up to
me on court when I am teaching or playing and ask to
have their racquet checked, and it’s not unusual to get
a couple of string jobs on the court.”
Steverson records the dynamic tension on every
racquet he strings and also puts it on the label he
places on each racquet. Even if he is not at his shop,
the original dynamic tension is on the label so he can
help the player determine if a restring is in order on
the spot.
Restringing can be—and should be—an even bigger
part of our business. It’s a matter of educating consumers and players when it is time to get rid of their
old strings. •
Contributing Editor Kent Oswald contributed to this
story.
To help boost the stringing and restringing business, the Tennis Industry
Association has created
a “Tennis Tune-Up” campaign that stringers and
retailers can tie into to
make your players more
aware of the importance
of playing with fresh
strings. The Tune-Up is
on the PlayTennis.com
website. If you go to the
“Tennis Tune-Up” tab at
the top of the page and
click on “for stringers
and retailers,” you can
download all sorts of
free collateral material to help you market
your stringing services,
including customizable
posters and fliers, web
banners, logos, and
more.
More Frequent
Restringing
“We have customers coming in frequently asking, ‘How’s my strings?’”
says Randy Stephenson, MRT and
owner of Rackets N Strings in Plano,
Texas. He’s been using the Babolat RDC
since his shop opened a little over a year
ago. He tests the string-bed deflection
(SBD) after each restringing and records it in the customer’s file and on the
sticker he places on each racquet. “It’s
really simple. When a customer comes
in, I don’t even have to pull their record.
The original SBD is on the sticker so
I can just test and compare. Now that
customers know I can track loss, they
are restringing more frequently.”
Philip Van Asselt, MRT and owner of
Tennis Junction in Bryn Mawr, Pa., says
they used to put a “restring by” date on
the frame—until they added the RDC
machine to their arsenal in early 2012.
“Poly’s would get three months and
synthetics a six-month restring date,”
he says. “But now, with the RDC, players
rely on the RDC number to help them
decide when to restring—and often it is
before it is really dead. We use the RDC
to show the customer the power level of
the string. I think it adds a level of pro-
April 2014
TennisIndustry 29
Racquets
Frames of
Reference
Our exclusive Racquet
Selection Map will help
you guide customers to
their perfect frame.
By Bob Patterson
W
ith all the choices available, selecting
a new racquet can be a daunting task
in today’s market. Basic Psychology
101 shows that when consumers are
overloaded with too many choices,
they often don’t make a decision, which means you don’t
make a sale.
It is up to you to narrow the focus of your customer to help
them choose a racquet that is going to fit their needs and
elevate their performance on the court. If you are successful,
not only will you make the sale, but also that customer will tell
their friends about their experience. Word of mouth advertising is always the best promotion.
So how can you help narrow their focus? First, if you are not
familiar with their style of play, you’ll have to ask some questions and listen carefully to their answers. While they may not
know exactly what they want or need, with a brief conversation you will be able to get some good information to get them
started.
Second, you need to know your inventory. Using our exclusive Racquet Selection Map on the following pages enables
you to help your customer choose the perfect racquet for
them quickly and easily, with the features and performance
they want. You can also use the map to make sure your racquet wall has a good selection and variety across the map. If
you find some gaps, fill in some models so that you don’t miss
sales.
30 TennisIndustry
April 2014
Our Racquet Selection Map presents the entire performance racquet universe on one grid that instantly locates
each frame compared to every other in terms of power,
control and maneuverability. Simply locate the specs of your
customer’s current racquet on the map, then move outward
in large or small increments in the direction of the customer’s primary preference—relatively more or less power,
control or maneuverability. Once you’ve zoomed in to an
approximate location on the grid, you can narrow down the
racquet’s feel attributes by choosing from length, size, and
flex specs coded into the racquet number.
Next, look up the racquet(s) by number in the accompanying table. Note, though, that the table on these pages only
lists the performance racquets introduced in the last 12
months. If the racquet you find on the grid is not in one of
these charts, you’ll find it online at tennisindustrymag.com,
where we have the complete list of every racquet that is currently on the market.
Your customer will now have a handful of frames to try,
and all you have to do is give them a couple of demos in their
target area. Once they’ve given the frames a test drive, get
feedback from them. Did your demo selection meet their
needs? Do they need more power? Larger head? Something
else?
From here it should be easy to hone in on that perfect racquet with a couple of additional demo sessions—and you’ll
have a satisfied customer.
Racquets
Trends & Technologies
‘Smart’ frames, more spin and customization are some of the trends in racquets today.
E
very year we see new technologies introduced as racquet manufacturers strive to improve their racquets.
Their ultimate goal is to improve the consumer’s game,
so if their newest technology can improve a player’s performance, there’s a good chance they will buy. And after all, just
like you, the manufacturers are in business to sell racquets.
As a racquet retailer, it is up to you to not only make your
customers aware of the new technology, but you must also be
able to show your customer how that technology can elevate
their performance on the court.
Some technology is easier to explain than others. What is
generally referred to as “visible” technology is usually simple
to explain and show, while a new material or handle system
may be more difficult since the new racquet looks pretty much
the same as the previous model. The bottom line is that you
need to learn about new technologies as they are introduced
and be able to explain what the technology is and what it can
mean to a customer’s game.
Some of the trends we are seeing today include data technology, spin and customization.
• “Smart” Racquets: Babolat introduced the Pure Play model earlier this year. The racquet “talks” to your smartphone
or computer, providing stats about your performance during
a match or training session. Other products are in development, such as Shot-Stats, which tracks similar information
and attaches to the strings of any racquet much like a dampener. Sony unveiled another device at this year’s Consumer
Electronics Show that attaches to the butt cap of a racquet. As
this technology evolves, we’re sure to see more products being
developed.
• Spin Is In: Almost every company is touting spin in their
marketing these days. Both Prince and Wilson introduced
racquets late last year with open patterns to produce more
spin and they are expanding their lines in 2014.
For Prince, frames with Extreme String Pattern (ESP)
have fewer mains and crosses and claim to provide up to
30 percent more spin. Prince offers ESP racquets across
the spectrum, from a game-improvement super oversize to
tour-level mid-plus models. Wilson’s Spin Effect Technology features racquets with fewer cross strings (15 or 16 in
most models). The company claims this enhances spin with
3.3 times more string movement, 69 percent faster string
snapback and 10 percent more spin.
• Customized Options: More companies are offering
customized options in many models. For the most part this
means offering the same racquets with variations in length,
weight or string pattern. For example Head has three versions of its popular Speed model: The Speed, Speed Pro and
Speed REV. Now the company takes customization to a new
level, giving consumers the opportunity of options usually
reserved for top touring pros by offering a Custom Racquet
Program on their Graphene Speed model.
On the website custommade.head.com, Head customers
can choose cosmetics, weight, length, balance, handle shape,
grip type, string pattern and strings. Roger Petersman of
Head USA explains, “This is not for everyone. We do these
types of custom builds for our touring pros and thought,
why not make them available to everyone. All the racquets
come from our Pro Room in Austria.” The service is $400
per racquet plus shipping. Because Head feels the market for
this service is limited, it doesn’t plan to do a lot of advertising.
—Bob Patterson •
Racquet Selection Map Key
1. Power/Control (columns). (formula =
length index x headsize x flex x swingweight) ÷ 1000. Length index calculation:
27" = 1.0, 27.5" = 1.05; 28" = 1.1, etc.
2. Maneuverability (rows). RDC (Babolat Racquet Diagnostic Center) swingweight units.
3. Racquet ID. The number in the grid
correlates to the accompanying racquet
list.
4. Headsize. Midsize and midplus (≤104
sq. in.) have no indicator.
Oversize (105-117 sq. in.) = •. Superoversize (≥ 118 sq. in.) = :.
5. Length. x = extended length. Standard
length (27") racquets have no indicator.
6. Flex (RDC). a = < 60; b = 60-64; c =
65-69; d = 70-74; e = > 74. The higher the
number, the stiffer the racquet.
7. Company. Coded by number and
color. See accompanying racquet list on
the following pages.
32 TennisIndustry
April 2014
8. Racquet Quadrants and the Center of the
Racquet Universe. The center of the racquet
universe is located at the intersection of the
two red lines. Approximately half the racquets
lie to the right and left, and half above and
below these lines. The lines divide the racquet
universe into four color-coded quadrants –
clockwise from top left: (1) quick power, (2)
quick control, (3) stable control, (4) stable
power. These characterizations provide a general vocabulary for comparing racquets.
9. Racquet Finder List. The racquet list
accompanying the map identifies all the new
racquets and gives additional information.
For a complete list of all current frames on the
map, go to TennisIndustryMag.com. The map
provides specific (very narrow ranges, anyway) swingweight, flex and power statistics,
and general size and length characteristics.
The racquet list specifies the length and size
and further specifies weight, balance, and
price.
How To Use It
1. Ask questions. What are you looking
for that your current racquet does not
provide? What do you like most and least
about your current racquet? What are the
strengths and weaknesses of your game?
2. Locate current racquet on map. If
the racquet is not in the list, take measurements.
3. Locating potential racquets. Depending on the answers to the above
questions, draw an imaginary arrow (a
wide or skinny one) from your present racquet in the desired direction for
power and maneuverability.
4. Narrowing the field. Shrink the
choices using the length, headsize, and
flex codes to match customer preferences.
5. Selecting racquet demos. Once the
choices are narrowed, locate the racquets by number in the racquet list.
211x:b
3000
3x:d
2900
Maneuverability (Swingweight)
April 2014
2800
234x•d
189x•d
124•e
185x•d
2700
30d
7xd
265x•c
190x•c
208x•c
214x:b
2600
22e
21xd
123e
58x•c
136•d
223x•d
91x•c
135•d
1x•d
85x•d
2x•d
2500
Number corresponds to racquet list
No indicator = Mid and MP (≤104); • =oversize (105-117); =super-oversize (≥118)
x = extended ( *Length index: 27' = 1; 27.5 = 1.05; 28 = 1.1; etc.)
a = Soft (,60); b = Medium (60-64); c = Medium Stiff (65-69); d = Stiff (70-74); e = Super Stiff (≥75)
70x:b
(405/4261)
Racquet:
Headsize:
Length:
Flex:
>360
Slow
S TA B L E P O W E R
355
350
345
340
335
330
325
212x:b
3100
320
210x:b
3200
139x:d
209x:c
3300
156d
26•c
237d
240x•d
222d
18xd
66x•c
195xd
200x•c
111x:c
213:b
2400
83•d
131•c
56x•d
12x•c
2200
72xc
20d
68c
90c
129xb
119c
168c
TennisIndustry 33
144a
202a
235xa
(721)
255x•a
183•a
181a
(1387)
182a
(23/108)
40b
244b
1500
Control
1600
Center of the Racquet Universe: half to each side and half above and below
Stable Control
116b
141a
270b
Stable Power
226c
249b
140a
184a
188a
145a
146a
172a
203b
69b
121a
147a
171b
233b
67b
86a
245b
268a
1700
Quick Control
246c
28b
97c
247c
215b
218c
248c
75b
148b
250b
76b
73b
243c
4b 17b 142a
143b 219xa
252c 253b
260b
24b 101b
107b 220b
269xa
14b 59b 80a
108c
92b
109c
128b 227c
52c
27xb
193c
242xb
276c
54c
167c
254c
204c
1800
Quick Power
155c
99c
272c
5c
125c
32c 37c 61•a
70•b 81c 82c
95c
187c
216c
229xc
62•b
64c
205c
231d
180xc
103c
100c
1900
43b
16b
117c 152b
186b
217b 271c
74b
34c 42c 47c 23b
78c
51c
102c
89c
138c 173c 174c 259b
6•a
25b
13b
35c 98•b
79b
251c
266c
31xc
44c
94c
96c
93c
115c 122c 133x•b
120•c
160c
150c
163d 170c
159c
201c
45d 48c 50c
65x•c
84c
158d
178c
206xc
239c 267d
46d
149c
257c
127•b
230c
38c
39b
106c 154c
198c
273c 277xc
2000
41c
33c
192xc
55c
165d
258x•b
261c
262c
19•c
87d 105c 110c 166c
130c
114•c 176d 169c 196c
225xc 232c 199b
177•d 224d
241xb
274d
10d 15d 21d
53c
77b
49c
104•c 126x•b
161c 118b 134•b
175d
112c
191x•c 197d
151c
275c
179xc
11•c
2100
36x•b
153d
Racquet
Quadrants
164xc
157xd
8d
29d
194d
221d
57x•c
9d
137x•d
71d
256x•c
264•d 236d
162d
63e
113•c
263d
132x•d
207x•c
228x•d
238d
88x•d
2300
Power Rating (headsize x length index* x flex x swingweight : 1000) *
315
310
305
300
295
290
285
280
275
3400
Power
USRSA Racquet Map Selection Guide: 2014 Performance Racquets (as of 3/2/2014)
••
Quick
270
QUICK POWER
KEY
QUICK CONTROL
S TA B L E C O N T R O L
For a complete list of all current frames on
the map, go to TennisIndustryMag.com.
Newest Racquets on the Market
Racquet
Swing
Head
size Length Weight Weight Balance Balance Flex weight Power Retail
(gm)
(oz)
(in) (RDC) (km x Formula Price
(cm)
(in2) (in)
cm2)
Racquet
Babolat
13 E Sense Comp
100 27.00 286 10.09 34.50 13.58 61
320
1952 $129
(Full Graphite)
14 E Sense Lite
148 Tour Pro 98
98
60
320
149 Warrior 100
100 27.00 319 11.25 33.30
27.00 320 11.29 33.20
13.11 66
13.07
319
1882 $200
2105 $200
150 Warrior 100 ESP
100 27.00 305 10.76 33.70
13.27 66
310
2046 $210
1987 $210
35.80 14.09 61
300
1830 $109
151 Warrior 100L ESP
100 27.00 268 9.45
14.45 66
301
15 Play Pure Drive
100 27.00 313 11.04 33.00 12.99 72
303
2182 $399
152 Warrior Pro 100
100 27.00 318 11.22 32.90 12.95 63
313
1972 $190
16 Pure Control
98
27.00 313 11.04 33.30
13.11 64
311
1951 $179
153 White LS 100
100 27.00 320 11.29 33.20
316
2212 $130
17 Pure Control Tour
98
27.00 332 11.71 31.60 12.44 62
304
1847 $179
160
Protocol 285
10027.0030610.7932.4012.7667311 2084$180
23 Pure Strike (18x20)
98
27.00 318 11.22 32.80 12.91 64
317
1988 $189
161 Protocol 300
100 27.00 313 11.04 31.40 12.36 66
303
2000 $180
24 Pure Strike 100
100 27.00 299 10.55 33.00 12.99 63
295
1859 $185
162 Protocol 325
100 27.00 335 11.82 31.10 12.24 72
310
2232 $180
25 Pure Strike Tour
98
320
2007 $195
Tecnifibre
100 27.00 277 9.77
Swing
Head
size Length Weight Weight Balance Balance Flex weight Power Retail
(gm)
(oz)
(in) (RDC) (km x Formula Price
(cm)
(in2) (in)
cm2)
(Full Graphite)
36.70
13.07
70
Solinco
(with GT & Flex Carbon)
27.00 340 11.99 32.30
12.72 64
Dunlop
175 T Flash 300 ATP
100 27.00 313 11.04 32.70
70
301
2107 $199
40 Apex Tour
176 T Flash 315 ATP
100 27.00 327 11.53 31.80 12.52 73
296
2161 $209
100 27.00 267 9.42
272
1659
44 Biomimetic F 4.0 Tour 100 27.00 323 11.39 32.60 12.83 68
312
2122 $210
Vantage
48 Biomimetic M 4.0
100 27.00 309 10.90 33.40 13.15 69
305
2105 $210
181BC20
95 27.00 328 11.57 31.10 12.24 50 292 1387 $199
52 Biomimetic S 2.0 Lite
95
294
1871 $210
182BC30
100 27.00 326 11.50 33.30 13.11 47
13.11 65
281
1827 $210
183BC40
105 27.00 320 11.29 33.20 13.07 49 306 1574 $219
35.30 13.90 67
305
2304 $210
Volkl
27.00 306 10.79 33.50 13.19 67
54 Biomimetic S 4.0 Lite 100 27.00 284 10.02 33.30
57 Biomimetic S 7.0 Lite 110 27.25 280 9.88
$99
12.87
34.40 13.54 61
23
108 $209
191 Organix 4 Super G
105 27.60 286 10.09 34.70
13.66 65
301
2178 $250
100 27.00 314 11.08 32.90 12.95 69
320
2208 $200
100 27.00 282 9.95
34.50 13.58 65
290
1885 $230
69 RZR 98 M
98
300
1764 $180
100 27.00 306 10.79 33.00 12.99 67
299
2003 $230
71 Intrepid
100 27.00329 11.61 32.90 12.95 72 309 2225 $170
100 27.00 321 11.32 32.50 12.80 71
302
2144 $230
98
27.00 328 11.57 32.50 12.80 67
305
2003 $240
99.5 27.00 311 10.97 33.40 13.15 67
311
2073 $250
314
1694 $230
Gamma
64 RZR 100 M
27.00 322 11.36 31.70
12.48 60
(300g)
Head
73 Prestige MP
(315g)
1890 $225
98
27.00 326 11.50 32.50 12.80 64
318
1994 $225
201 Organix V1 Pro
202 PB 10 mid
93
27.00 339 11.96 31.70
12.48 58
93
27.00 313 11.04 33.00 12.99 60
324
1808 $225
Wilson
215 Blade 98 S (ninety eight)98 27.00 317 11.18 34.00 13.39 64
329
98
27.00 319 11.25 33.30
319
1876 $225
233 Envy 100 L
100 27.00 289 10.19 34.80
13.70 60
299
1794 $130
234 Envy 110 UL
110 27.50 267 9.42
38.80 15.28 73
325
2740 $130
(Graphene in throat)
76 Prestige S
311
75 Prestige REV PRO
27.00 326 11.50 32.00 12.60 62
74 Prestige PRO
98
13.11 60
2063 $240
235 Five BLX
103 27.13 277 9.77
36.80 14.49 22
314
721
236 Juice 100
100 27.00 316 11.15 32.60 12.83 72
308
2218 $220
237 Juice 100 L
100 27.00 292 10.30 35.90 14.13 73
330
2409 $220
238 Juice 100 S
100 27.00 315 11.11 33.20
72
314
2261 $230
239 Juice 100 UL
100 27.00 274
35.50 13.98 69
307
2118 $210
240 Juice 108
108 27.13 297 10.48 34.70
325
2489 $220
241 Pro Staff 100 L
100 27.25 301 10.62 33.80 13.31 64
297
1948 $240
242 Pro Staff 100 LS
100 27.25 297 10.48 33.40 13.15 63
287
1853 $250
Prince
243 Pro Staff 90
90
27.00 345 12.17 31.70
12.48 66
310
1841 $240
126 Blue LS 110
110 27.50 279
1670 $240
127 Graphite 107
107 27.00 343 12.10 32.40
77 Radical MP
78 Radical Pro
12.72 64
303
1900 $210
98
27.00 317 11.18 32.30
12.72 66
316
2044 $210
98
27.00 272
9.59
36.60 14.41 61
322
1925 $210
80 Radical S
27.00 303 10.69 32.30
79 Radical Rev 98
102 27.00 294 10.37 33.20
13.07
59
304
1829 $210
9.67
13.07
13.66 70
$260
300
2183 $150
244 Pro Staff 95
95
27.00 327 11.53 32.00 12.60 60
293
12.76 64
327
2239 $170
245 Pro Staff 95 S
95
27.00 325 11.46 32.30
12.72 62
293
1726 $250
128 Graphite Midplus 100 100 27.00 331 11.68 32.10 12.64 60
308
1848 $170
246 Six One 95 (16x18)
95
27.00 350 12.35 32.00 12.60 65
338
2087 $190
129 Graphite Midplus
338
2231 $170
247 Six One 95 (18x20)
95
9.84
34.50 13.58 63
100 28.00 329 11.61 33.20
13.07
60
LB 100 (68 Holes)
27.00 349 12.31 32.00 12.60 65
330
2038 $190
248 Six One 95 16x18 (BLX) 95 26.93 347 12.24 31.80 12.52 65
327
2005 $190
130 Hornet ES 100
100 27.00 285 10.05 34.70
13.66 65
299
1944 $110
249 Six One 95 18x20 (BLX) 95 26.90 346 12.20 31.70
12.48 64
325
1956 $190
131 Hornet ES 110
110 27.00 290 10.23 35.30 13.90 67
303
2233 $110
250 Six One 95 L
95
27.00 306 10.79 34.20 13.46 62
320
1885 $180
132 Pink LS 105
105 27.25 294 10.37 34.20 13.46 71
310
2369 $130
251 Six One 95 L 16x18
95
26.97 305 10.76 34.10 13.43 65
322
1982 $190
133 Premier 105 ESP
105 27.25 296 10.44 34.30 13.50 61
310
2035 $230
(BLX)
134 Premier 105L ESP
105 27.00 287 10.12 34.80
13.70 61
302
1934 $230
252 Six One 95 S
95
27.00 324 11.43 32.60 12.83 65
305
1883 $200
135 Premier 115 ESP
115 27.00 282 9.95
36.50
14.37
72
310
2567 $230
253 Six One 95 S (BLX)
95
26.97 323 11.39 32.70
12.87 63
308
1838 $200
136 Premier 115L ESP
115 27.00 277 9.77
37.50
14.76
70
319
2568 $230
254 Steam 99 LS
99 26.90 287 10.12 33.50 13.19 65
284
1809 $230
137 Red LS 105
105 27.25 291 10.26 34.00 13.39 71
305
2331 $130
Yonex
138 Response 97
97
317
2091 $170
257 Ezone Ai 100
100 27.00 311 10.97 33.20
13.07
68
316
2149 $250
139 Silver LS 118
118 27.75 274
317
2935 $150
258 Ezone Ai 108
108 27.25 271
13.70 64
291
2062 $250
27.00 338 11.92 32.50 12.80 68
9.67
37.10
14.61 73
9.56
34.80
140 Tour 100 (16x18)
100 27.00 327 11.53 32.00 12.60 54
321
1733 $200
259 Ezone Ai 98
98
27.00 325 11.46 32.50 12.80 63
317
1957 $250
141 Tour 100 (18x20)
100 27.00 328 11.57 32.40
12.76 55
328
1804 $200
260 Ezone Ai 98 (Lite)
98
27.00 286 10.09 34.00 13.39 63
305
1883 $250
142 Tour 100T
100 27.00 300 10.58 34.00 13.39 59
306
1805 $200
261 EZone Ai Feel
102 27.00 264 9.31
67
294
2009 $190
143 Tour 100T ESP
100 27.00 317 11.18 32.80 12.91 60
307
1842 $210
262 Ezone Ai Lite
100 27.00 290 10.23 33.40 13.15 66
293
1934 $250
144 Tour 95
95
27.00 337 11.89 31.70
12.48 56
316
1681 $200
268 EZone Xi Team 102 27.00 274
34.60 13.62 59
290
1745 $190
145 Tour 98
98
27.00 312 11.01 33.50 13.19 58
312
1773 $200
269 EZone Xi Team +
102 27.40 283 9.98
33.20
58
295
1815 $190
146 Tour 98 ESP
98
27.00 327 11.53 31.90 12.56 58
306
1739 $210
271 V Core Tour 97
97
27.00 326 11.50 32.20 12.68 66
310
1985 $240
147 Tour Pro 100
100 27.00 313 11.04 32.50 12.80 56
304
1702 $190
34 TennisIndustry
April 2014
9.67
36.00
14.17
13.07
(310 Grams)
Distinguished Facility-of-the-Year Awards
Soft Focus
These outdoor facility winners are
excellent examples of soft-court
construction.
Players Club & Spa at Lely Resort
Naples, Fla.
(Nominated by Fast-Dry Courts Inc., Pompano Beach, Fla.)
Architect/Engineer/Contractor: Fast-Dry Courts Inc.
No. of Courts: 13
Surface: Har-Tru Sports HydroBlend
Lights: LSI Courtsider
Court Accessories: Fast-Dry Courts Inc. and 10-S Tennis Supply
For details on the 2014 Outstanding Facility-of-the-Year Awards, contact the ASBA
at 866-501-ASBA or [email protected], or visit www.sportsbuilders.org.
36 TennisIndustry
April 2014
T
here were 14 outdoor tennis facilities
that took honors in the Tennis Industry/
American Sports Builders Association Distinguished Facility-of-the-Year
Awards for 2013, and six of those are softcourt projects. Unlike in previous years, which have been
dominated by soft-court facilities located in Florida, this
year, only two of the six are in the Sunshine State—the
mix includes projects in Virginia, New Hampshire, North
Carolina and Tennessee.
The Belmont Recreation Center in Henrico County,
Va., involved tearing out six clay courts and two asphalt
courts, reconfiguring the layout, then installing six new
Hydrocourts and two new Decoturf cushioned courts.
The contractor had to stabilize bad soil with fabric and
additional stone, then adjust a stone retaining wall to
a higher elevation to allow proper drainage around the
project.
The four-court project at the European Tennis Academy at Parkland (Fla.) Golf & Country Club included
building two new HydroGrid sub-irrigated courts and one
asphalt court, and installation of lighting and fencing on
all courts, along with the construction of two 10-foot by
20-foot shade shelters.
The Executive Health and Sports Center in Manchester, N.H., has four new, sub-irrigated, lighted courts.
Half of the area was an old parking lot, which was pulverized and used as fill in deep areas; the rest of the excavation included tree and organic soil removal.
Lake Jeanette Swim and Tennis Club in Greensboro, N.C., converted two existing clay courts to Hydrocourts and added two new Hydrocourts. Because of the
minimal amount of space available, the contractor had to
move the two existing courts, add upper and lower retaining walls, remove a parking lot and some trees, add dirt to
fill, and reshape a grass swale.
The eight courts at the Memphis (Tenn.) Country
Club were upgraded to HydroGrid sub-irrigated courts,
and arranged as two three-court batteries and one twocourt battery, all with new fencing. Flooding conditions
required temporary drainage during construction.
The largest project of this group is the 13-court Players Club & Spa at Lely Resort in Naples, Fla. After the
owner completed the site work, the contractor had to
adjust for the very rocky sub-base by bringing in additional fill and grading to allow for proper installation of
the subsurface irrigation system. The new construction,
which included lighting, was part of a major renovation
at the club designed to build more courts for the growing
membership. A custom-designed fence system for the
stadium court can be retracted to open up the court for
spectator events.
—Peter Francesconi
April 2014
TennisIndustry 37
Distinguished Facility-of-the-Year Awards
Belmont Recreation Center
Henrico County, Va.
(Nominated by Tennis Courts Inc., Aylett, Va.)
General Contractor: Tennis Courts Inc.
No. of Courts: 8 (6 Hydrocourt & 2 Decoturf)
Surface: Tennis Courts Inc.
Nets: Har-Tru Sports
Posts: Edwards
European Tennis Academy at Parkland Golf & Country Club
Parkland, Fla.
(Nominated by Welch Tennis Courts Inc., Sun City, Fla.)
Contractor: Welch Tennis Courts Inc.
No. of Courts: 4
Surface: Har-Tru Sports
Subsurface Irrigation: Welch Tennis Courts HydroGrid
Nets, Posts, Windscreens: Welch Tennis Courts Inc.
Executive Health and Sports Center
Manchester, N.H.
(Nominated by Boston Tennis Court Construction Co.,
Hanover, Mass.)
No. of Courts: 4
Surface: Har-Tru Sports Hydrocourt
Lights: Har-Tru Sports
Nets, Posts, Anchors, Line Tapes: J.A. Cissel
Lake Jeanette Swim and Tennis Club
Greensboro, N.C.
(Nominated by Court One, Youngsville, N.C.)
No. of Courts: 8
Memphis Country Club
Memphis, Tenn.
(Nominated by Welch Tennis Courts Inc., Sun City, Fla.)
No. of Courts: 8
38 TennisIndustry
April 2014
Ask the Experts
Your Equipment Hotline
Q
Testing Dynamic Tension
What is your opinion of
the Gamma ATS ERT 300 as
a tool for providing dynamic tension?
Do you believe this to be a useful
tool in assessing the condition of a
player's strings?
A
Yes, the ERT 300 is a useful
tool. In fact, a few players on
the pro tour use the ERT 300
to check the work of tour stringers!
In informal testing, the ERT 300 returns results similar to those obtained
by its bigger siblings, the ERT 700 and
ERT 1000.
As with most tension testers, the
ERT 300 is
most useful
when monitoring tension and
tension loss
when you are
familiar with
40 TennisIndustry
April 2014
both the racquet and the string being
used. That is, taking any two random
racquets and checking the tension is not
going to be as accurate as checking your
own racquets that are each equipped
with the same string.
One nice advantage to the ERT
300/700/1000 is that they can be used
in noisy environments, unlike tension
testing techniques that “listen” to the
racquet ping using a microphone, even
though both methods work on basically
the same principle.
Q
Source For Pro Racquets
I have started collecting pro
racquets. I haven't found too
many good sources on professional
players actual racquets.
A
There is no good source for pro
racquets, unless you know the
pros, or happen to be in the
right place at the right time. Some pro
racquets—such as those used by Roger
Federer—are sometimes auctioned off,
but prices can be quite high.
One irony about pro racquets is
that there are actually many more in
existence than ever become available.
This is because companies who modify
racquets for the pros often have stockpiles of racquets to cover future needs.
If the model or even the graphics change
on the racquet used by a pro, all of those
stockpiled racquets are destroyed after
the new racquets arrive.
Q
Pro Racquets vs. Retail
Racquets
I have recently seen pro
racquets that are supposed to be better than retail versions and wondered
how to get more information.
A
The pro racquets aren't better;
they're just different in some
cases. This is typically due to
modifications made by the sponsoring company or by a private firm, to
match the racquet’s characteristics to
the player’s style. Usually, this involves
adding more weight to the racquet, especially swing weight.
In many cases you could take a com-
parable retail racquet and modify it to
be like the pro racquet, if you knew what
modifications to make. This isn’t done
very often for the recreational or club
player because they would not be able to
play with the result.
There are a few sources on the Internet that purport to show the measured
weight, balance, and swing weight for
racquets used by professionals, but
while interesting, these measurements
are really most useful if you’re building
a shrine to a player, because modifying
a racquet to be just like a pro’s racquet
won’t make the owner play like the pro:
Each player has to figure out what works
for him or her.
Q
Website Issues
I’m having problems with
some of the forms on the
USRSA website. For example, I tried
to look up the string directions for a
racquet using the Digest online, but
that page shows three blank fields. I
had to guess what to type into each of
the fields. I’ve found some other pages
on the site that are like this, too.
A
We have recently
made some changes
to the code underlying the USRSA website to make
the site more accessible to
members with mobile devices.
Now, the site presents pages
to mobile devices much more elegantly
than before, but one of the trade-offs
was that we lost some compatibility with
older browsers.
This situation seems especially acute
with older Internet Explorer, such as
those running under Windows XT. We
have added code on a few pages to mitigate problems with Internet Explorer,
but unfortunately this “patch” isn’t appropriate on every affected page.
Fortunately, there is an easy workaround, and that is to download a more
standards-compliant browser such as
Firefox.
—Greg Raven •
We welcome your questions. Please
send them to Tennis Industry, PO Box
3392, Duluth, GA 30096; fax: 760-5361171; email: [email protected].
April 2014
TennisIndustry 41
Grip Playtest
By Greg Raven
Mega Tac stretches nicely to avoid
puckering in the transition from the butt
cap to the grip, and we didn’t notice any
narrowing as we pulled it into place. The
length was sufficient for a normal-length
grip in 4-5/8 inches, although five playtesters reported that they needed more.
The finishing tape adhered well and we
had no problems with overgrips unraveling at the top.
Five playtesters reported problems
wrapping Mega Tac.
Finally, even as tacky as it is, Mega Tac
separated from itself and the replacement grip with no drama or residue
during removal after the test.
On the Court
Tourna Mega Tac
Overgrip
According to Tourna, Mega Tac is the tackiest overgrip ever made,
period. An exclusive polyurethane coating creates an ultra tacky
surface that literally clings to your hand. Tourna also promises a
very long tack time, with Tourna reporting tackiness for up to 14
hours.
Tourna designed Mega Tac for players who prefer a durable,
tacky grip, that works even in cold weather.
Mega Tac is available in Tourna’s trademarked light blue color,
white, and black. The length is listed as XL (100 cm x 2.9 cm). The
grips come in packs that include finishing tape. The 3-pack retails
for $6.25, and the 10-pack retails for $17.95. For more information
or to order, contact Tourna at 800-554-3707, or visit uniquesports.
com. Read the conclusion for Tourna’s special offer on Mega Tac.
The Testers
Tested by 30 USRSA playtesters (28 men, two women), with NTRP
ratings from 3.5 to 6.0. Average number of hours playtested was
22.3. Prior to testing, we asked about grip preferences: 28 said they
preferred a tacky grip; two said they preferred a dry grip. Testers
were sent unmarked grips, so they were not aware of the brand or
model of the overgrip.
Installation
Installing Mega Tac is straightforward. Neither end is tapered, so
if you go for that look, you need to trim it yourself. There is also no
adhesive starter tab, but if you start with a square end, it’s easy to
hold the grip in place for the first wrap.
Compared against some of the iconic
overgrips on the market, Mega Tac really
impressed our playtest team. They rated
Mega Tac first overall in the Durability,
Proper Tackiness, Retains Tackiness, and
Tacky and Absorbent categories. Mega
Tac also gained a second-place rating in
the Absorption category, and third-place
Playtester Ratings
Tackiness
(compared to other grips)
Too Tacky
About Right
Not Tacky Enough
9
20
1
Length
0
25
5
Too Long
About Right
Not Long Enough
Width
0
30
0
Too Wide
About Right
Too Narrow
Compression
Too Much Compression0
About Right29
Not Enough Compression1
Stretch
Too Stretchy
About Right
Not Stretchy Enough
0
24
6
Absorbency
Too Absorbent0
About Right26
Not Absorbent Enough4
Thickness
Too Thick5
About Right23
Not Thick Enough2
Rating Averages
Durability (1st overall)4.0
Initial Feel (3rd — tie)3.8
Feel Over Time (3rd overall)3.6
Proper Tackiness (1st overall)4.0
Absorption (2nd overall)3.5
Retains Tackiness (1st overall)3.7
Tacky and Absorbent (1st overall)3.9
KEY: Respondents ranked overgrip from a possible low of
1 to a high of 5. Values represent rating averages.
42 TennisIndustry
April 2014
Playtester
Comments
“Felt great immediately and never lost
that feel. If you want
a tacky grip, this is
the one. Superb!”
—4.5 male all-court
player using Prince Tour
100T ESP (Prince Resi
Pro)
“This is a wonderful overgrip. I don’t
know what the price
is and would love to
test it on a lot of my
players.”
—3.5 female all-court
player using Prince
Scream (Wilson Pro
Tour Overgrip)
“I definitely prefer
a more tacky grip.
I think this will be
a good summer
product.”
player using Wilson
Juice 100 (Wilson Pro
Overgrip)
“I have never had a
grip or overgrip with
this extreme degree
of tackiness. I normally like tacky, but this
is too much of a good
thing.”
—4.0 male baseliner
with moderate spin using Wilson BLX Steam
(Prince Pro +)
“Super tackiness that
lasts. Really grips
your hand without
being sticky. Would
like a tapered/adhesive starting end. A
winner!”
player using Prince
Premier ESP (Babolat
Pro Tour Traction)
“Felt great and
looked good. I would
definitely stock for
sale and possibly
switch for personal
use depending on
price point.”
—4.5 male touch player
using Head MicroGel
Extreme S 2.0 (Genesis
Supra 50)
(Grips normally used
by testers are indicated
in parentheses. For
the rest of the tester
comments, visit www.
tennisindustrymag.
com.)
ratings in both the Initial Feel and Feel
Over Time categories. As a result, Tourna
Mega Tac is the highest-rated overgrip
we’ve tested, by a large margin.
When you first start playing with
Mega Tac, you may have to focus more
on changing your grip position; it’s that
tacky. After a few hours, though, Mega
Tac seems to settle in to an easily manageable (but still high) level of tackiness,
and remains that way for hours. Compared to a conventional white grip, Mega
Tac seemed cleaner, less worn, and much
tackier after many hours of play. Despite
its tackiness, you don’t feel as if any of the
grip has transferred to your hand during
play.
Not surprisingly, nine playtesters told
us Mega Tac was too tacky. Eighteen
reported that overall they prefer the
overgrip they currently use. Otherwise, a
clear majority reported satisfaction with
Mega Tac’s length, width, compression,
stretch, absorbency, and thickness.
Conclusion
When we say Tourna Mega Tac is a really
tacky grip, we mean that as a compliment. Tourna acknowledges that a
product this extreme can be polarizing
to players, and we saw some of that in the
playtest results, but the amazing characteristics of Mega Tac obviously impressed
the members of our playtest team.
Tourna says Mega Tac grips you back,
but really, you have to try it to believe it.
If you think Mega Tac may be for you,
Tourna is making USRSA members a
special offer: Buy one three-pack of Mega
Tac, and get one free.
—Greg Raven
Specifications
Length – 40 inches (102 cm)
Width - 1.125 inches (2.85 cm)
Weight - 6 grams
Thickness - Added 3/32 inches (.09375
inches) to a 4¼-inch grip
April 2014
TennisIndustry 43
Your Serve
Why Do You Love This Game?
Our original “40 Under 40” from 14 years ago explain
what they (still) find appealing about the tennis business.
D
.A. Abrams, Chief Diversity &
Inclusion Officer, USTA: “Making a living doing something
you love is incredible. I am charged with
making tennis look like America. This is
the ultimate give-back to the sport that
has given so much to me.”
Jennifer (Kenas) Arianas, Executive Director–Tennis Industry Relations, Tennis Channel: “I’ve always had a passion
for our sport. Our industry is a group of
unusually passionate and interesting
people.”
Steve Bellamy, Founder and former
President, Tennis Channel: “The reason
that I love tennis is really because of the
benefits associated with the sport. It's
fitness for life. It's gender neutral. It is
so reasonably priced. Tennis is the best
sport and an incredibly easy product to
sell.”
Larry Dillon, Manager–10 and Under
Tennis, USTA Eastern: “Tennis is like
a lifestyle and not a job. I can positively
impact the lives of others. I can work in
a field that is inherently healthy physically, mentally and emotionally.”
Rodney Harmon, Head Coach, Women’s
Tennis Team at Georgia Tech: “I love
working with my team and seeing the
players develop as people and as players.”
David Higdon, former Senior Editor at Tennis magazine and former
VP–Corporate Communications at
ATP: “Whether playing it or promoting
it, tennis has helped define who I am
as a professional, father, competitor,
teacher… you name it. ”
Liza Horan, Head of Brand Strategy
& Engagement, Hop-a-Razzi: “People
60 TennisIndustry
April 2014
are working in tennis because they are
passionate about it. Tennis is unique
because it’s a global industry that feels
local. It’s a small community with little
churn… that affords us the institutional
knowledge and earned trust necessary
to work together to move the sport
forward.”
Timothy Liptrap, formerly with USTA
New England, USTA National and WTT:
“Tennis has created lifelong friends. I
have appreciated the health benefits,
along with the sportsmanship and camaraderie which the game teaches.”
Todd Martin, CEO-Designate, International Tennis Hall of Fame: “To be
able to work in the sport that I have
loved since childhood is a true privilege.
Helping kids with aspirations in tennis
is gratifying.”
Drew Munster, CEO, Tennis Warehouse: “The most satisfying thing to me
is that tennis is still fun to play and fun
to watch.”
Tracy Nickerson Schaefer, formerly
with the Georgia Tennis Association:
“My family has moved several times
and I am always delighted by how many
people I meet who have a passion for the
sport; it instantly connects us.”
Larry Scott, Commissioner, Pac-12
Conference: “[It was most satisfying]
working with great people who are very
passionate, creative and collaborative.”
Pat Shields, Owner & CEO, Fromuth
Tennis: “I am lucky that my business
helps coaches and clubs. The best part
of being in tennis are the tournaments
and conferences. I know it’s for work,
but it sure feels like a party.”
Pam Shriver, Tennis Broadcaster,
former pro: “Working in tennis means
I try to promote the greatest lifetime
family sport on the planet! I love the
great workout and fun you can have
on the court. At the end of my days, if I
have given more back to tennis than I
received, I will consider myself a better
person.”
David Sparrow, former Deputy Editor,
Tennis magazine: “Getting to watch
and play tennis (two things I'd be doing anyway), and to call that my job,
was a remarkable experience.”
Kathleen Stroia, Senior VP–Sport
Sciences & Medicine and Transitions,
WTA: “It has been inspirational to
watch the world unite through common passion and love for the game,
providing great entertainment, exciting competition, and creating lifelong
friendships.”
Fred Viancos, Director of Professional
Development, USPTA: “It's a small
community of people and companies,
so you can establish long-term relationships. This means companies work
as a group much better than in other
industries. It seems we push in the
same direction more often than not.”
Anne Worcester, Tournament Director, New Haven Open at Yale: “Tennis
embodies so many great attributes—
hard work, creativity, competitiveness,
sportsmanship, kindness, friendship
and loyalty—that I have seen impact
my life. [Most satisfying is] the chance
to make a difference in the lives of
inner-city youth.” •
We welcome your opinions. Please email
comments to [email protected].

The Dead Zone - Professional Tennis Registry

Transcription

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