String tension. String bed. String pattern. Nylon string and natural gut.
All things string 鈥� measured in kilograms or pounds 鈥� is being handled by the official stringers of the Odlum Brown VanOpen, who will string nearly 500 tennis racquets over the nine-day tournament.
Named the official stringer for the 14th annual , which continues at Hollyburn Country Club until Aug. 23, Vancouver鈥檚 Rackets and Runners is responsible for meeting the personal and precise preferences of the most competitive field in the history of the West Van tennis tournament.
That includes former World No. 4 Francesca Schiavone who has career victories over powerhouse players like Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki. Now ranked 88th, the Italian won the French Open in 2010, and the VanOpen women鈥檚 field includes six players top-100, plus 15 who advanced to the main draw at Wimbledon this summer. The cut off is more 125 ranking spots higher than last year.
Prize money reached $200,000US this year.聽
Because of the level of competition, the three stringers will be busier than previous years. Each player will string her racquet, typically the night before playing, and most will have multiple racquets, said Rackets and Runners general manager Kevin Christensen.
鈥淎s a tournament goes along, the players start dropping out. Half win, half lose,鈥� he said. 鈥淕enerally what will happen, in theory, the higher calibre the player, usually the more racquets they will string. Top players will have four racquets strung for them. As a tournament goes on, even though the number of players will drop down, you will typically get the guys who string the most racquets left playing.鈥�
The quickest job will take as few as 10 minutes, but that knuckle-cracking speed can鈥檛 be maintained from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., which is when Bryan Mihic, Hernan Chaves Posse and Matt deSouza are working three machines in the players鈥� lounge during the VanOpen. On average, each stringer will complete three to five racquets an hour and those same racquets will be strung each day by the same stringer on the same machine.
鈥淭hat will keep it as consistent as possible and takes any doubt out a player鈥檚 mind,鈥� said Christensen, who has worked the tournament in the past when Rackets and Runners provided staff for the official Babolat stringing team.
The unmeasurable factor of likeability also counts.
By comparison, a Grand Slam like the French Open will have 29 stringing machines and will string approximately 3,500 racquets during the 14-day tournament, said David D'Arge, also with Rackets and Runners. Many top-level players keep a dedicated stringer on staff.
Players request a particular string tension, which they typically relay to stringers in kilograms if they鈥檙e European and pounds if they鈥檙e North American. Tension, the weight or pull applied to the string, is reaching new heights above 50 pounds and can even drop to 38 pounds (though the expert considers that 鈥渞idiculously low鈥�).
鈥淭hese players know what they want,鈥� said Christensen.
Stringers use a motorized machine to clamp the racquet and pull 40 feet of string through the holes. The holes, of course, vary in placement and the racquet heads vary in size and shape to create a string pattern. Different combinations create looser or tighter string beds and, like a trampoline, provide varying degrees of control, speed and accuracy.
鈥淕enerally speaking, a smaller head will get more control and a tighter string pattern more control. With a larger head as well as a more open pattern, you鈥檒l get more power,鈥� said Christensen, who started working at the 37-year-old Oak Street business 18 years ago.
The Rackets and Runners stringers are each averaging 45 racquets a day, he added. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the pace that they will need to keep up.鈥�
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