Tennis !

[Hidious 0]

We have to admit that hockey isn't that fun. Personally it's just a sport i like to play in the winter since other sports are pretty much burried under the snow. I'm happy tennis season has finally started.

Just kidding here. Seriously, i'm a big time recreational tennis player and i'm sure there's a bunch of us on MSH.

So how often do you guys play, against who, on what surface? What gear do you have? String type, string tension? Grip type? Anybody have a one-handed backhand Federer style? Strengths and weakness'? Anybody string their own raquets?

I play 3-4 times a weak against a couple of friends in the summer. Public courts, mostly asphalt. I'm a big time toe-dragger and i used to destroy running shoes in 2-3 weeks and spend a lot of money before actually buying real tennis shoes. Adidas Barricade IV, i'm in love. I use a Head liquid metal radical with Wilson's synthetic gut extreme, about 60lbs of tension. I use a wilson overgrip directly on the wood; sounds weird but i've tried many things and i like that. I'm a baseline hitter, my net skills aren't really good. Decent first serve by my second serve is a real joke. A gift... Anybody throws his racquet in the fence on bad days? I do <_<

Maybe you guys couldn't care less about all this stuff :o but i felt like sharing and i'm interested in your infos!

[The Stranger 0]

Back in the day (grade school) I used to play a lot, and took lessons for years. But I got bored and quit and picked up hockey a little while later, it was all over after that. I have picked up a racket one time since and I was garbage. I blame it on the borrowed racket :P. I am going to see if I can dig up my old racket, all i remember is it was ceramic and the strings were super soft. Like Brett Hull soft.

And yes even as a kid I had a one-handed backhand. B)

[godiogo 0]

I played from 13-16, because my parents thought it would be a good sport to take up. I used a Wilson racket with tight strings and wore proper footwear.

There was only one problem. Despite bi-weekly lessons and weekend games, I was horrible at the sport. I would play in co-ed tournaments and lose to girls of my age. Eventually my parents heard my pleas to stop 'investing' in my tennis career.

[ktang 34]

Racket: Head Radical OS, thin Prince synthetic strings with extra bite for spin, 60lbs tension, original grips covered with light blue Tournagrip. Inexpensive New Balance tennis shoes.

I'm a pretty good volleyer and have decent first and second serves. Backhand is pretty good because of hockey (it's 2-handed from the baseline, 1-handed at the net unless I want to hit underspin from the baseline), but the forehand is unorthodox and inconsistent. I play a lot of doubles, so I can serve-and-volley as well as play from the baseline. My movement and defense are my strengths, and I get free points from the serve because I can slice, kick, and hit it straight. If I'm returning against a server who can bomb it I have to chip it back and scramble.

We used to have a company membership in an indoor bubble with a painted concrete surface. But, I also play outdoors on asphalt and concrete in the summer.

I have played on clay and gravel a few times, and I like the sliding around. Skating and hockey helps me here.

[forsberg91 0]

I play a little bit in the summer and I'm not too bad. I'm using a Head Flexpoint Radical. Love it. Not sure about the string tension or anything though...

[pat19 0]

high school exhibition, i'm dirrtyyy.

[TheSnake22 0]

my family is big into tennis, they've always belonged to a tennis/racquet club near where i live... oh how i would have preferred a golf club, but alas i've grown up playing tennis and didn't pick up golf until recently... i don't really play that often any more but when i do i always make sure to remind the guys i play with who take it pretty seriously that it's no higher than my third, maybe even my fourth best sport after hockey, golf, and skiing if you count that...

i've always used nike shoes and prince racquets with prince strings. i have a pair of tour nxg racquets that i mostly use and also a couple older prince models that i always pull out every now and then...

[ambro 0]

I'm a pretty big tennis fan. I'm #1 singles at my high school, although my record was a bit under .500, so I'm about an avg. player. Nothing special.

I play against whoever wants to play, and during the season I play nearly every day except Sundays. I play generally on hard courts exculsively.

I use Wilson nBlade MP and Dunlop Aerogel 200s, both strung with a Klip Excellerator/Topspin Cyberflash hybrid. I have leather grips on them with Wilson Pro Overgrips. I do string my own racquets--I have a Gamma X-6 FC machine. As you can see, I am as interested in my tennis equipment as I am about hockey.

I do use the one handed backhand, and play a serve and volley game. I play this because it is most fun for me, as it is my best chance for success playing against baseline bashers that are among most of the other #1 singles players.

[Hidious 0]

Interesting, a serve and volley game. Pretty boring to watch, very frustrating to play against but i guess it's effective. How often do you restring you racquets?

I don't really like tennis clubs in my area, they are full of rich, old, retired people. Unpleasant people, most of them.

I see more and more Babolat racquets. Great looking but how good are they?

[Edge 0]

Yes, I play.

I played on my school's varsity team last year, and decided not to play competatively this year because of hockey. I'm a pretty solid player.

one handed backhand federer style ;)

I use a Wilson nBlade MP...no idea of the tension...i'm not near as into tennis gear specifics as hockey haha.

[thejackal 46]

i was captain of my high school's varsity team this season. i think we're ranked something like #6 in northern california (we went into the 2nd round at sectionals and i lost in sectional finals in singles). i'm moving back to montreal for college so i'll be playing some tournaments over the summer.

oh yeah, gear time:

wilson n6-1 95

signum megaforce 18g/gosen micro 16g @ 62lb

wilson pro overgrips

fila torneo II and New Balance 1001 shoes

like ambro i string my own rackets, and those of teammates (good way to make some pocket change)

i play a bit like federer, 1 handed backhand, all-court style. since i'm in rh in both hockey and tennis i never bothered to try a 2 handed backhand, but my lefty 2 hander is pretty decent. i hit it for fun once in a while in practice.

[gman 0]

Jackal,

Where in Norcal are you? (I may have already asked you this, if so I'm sorry... I'm going prematurely senile I think) I played for Sonoma State from '87 through 90' or 91'. I quit playing after college due to burn out and injuries. I was sponsored by Yamaha for a few years while they were still in North America. My dad started playing with the Prince Graphite when it came out in the 70's. I always made fun of that racket as an "old man's racket". I played with a sponsored Prince Comp 90 in high school then another short lived Prince model.

I played Head Director and Head Graphite Pro in the early 80's. Now after all my teasing of dad I play with the same Prince Graphite using 17 guage string. I usually use Prince string as I have found it easiest on my arm. I have strung my own rackets since 1984 with the same Eketelon Model H floor machine. Stringing rackets was one of the many ways I helped put food on the table during college. I used to break at least one set every day so I spent alot of time stringing. I got to where I could crank out one of my rackets in about 20 minutes from clamping the frame to the last knot. Again in college we got free string so I didn't have to worry about it much. We were supplied Wilson Pro Staff shoes in college and I still like them. They are pretty cheap and last forever.

I had a two handed backhand until I got to college. My coach said I was too fat and slow for that and I need to switch to one handed. I got no instruction or coaching, just a command to do it. Needless to say it sucked. My serve was huge though so I got alot of free points, and eventually became a doubles "specialist" where I could blast or kick my serve and not have to worry much about groundies.

I took up playing again a few years ago and decided to go back to two hands on the backhand and just love it. I have to get into better position so I get a better workout. I really do not compete anymore so it is all for the workout. I am completely sold on the Prince Graphite Classic 110". The most perfect racqet ever invented :D . My youth heros were Bjorn Borg, Ivan Lendl, Miloslav Mecir, and Boris Becker. Now my favorite and perhaps of all time is Federer. He is simply amazing...

[Hazard14 0]

i played, for 7 years

my coach was a dick made it boring, so it quit for hockey...Good decision, really good

my brother currently plays, real good

hes ranked like 20th in the country, and just got a full raquet sponsorship from wilson

[thejackal 46]

gman: im near sacramento. btw the prince graphite is a pretty good racket, just not my cup of tea. i actually used to have a prince spectrum comp 90 (}the white ceramic one) but gave that away to a relative. she never uses it and i might be able to get it back though. kinda looking forward to hitting with it again. tennis-warehouse.com has a pretty good message board, kinda like the modsquad of tennis. you might want to check it out.

i have to say, i'm not THAT good. i highly doubt any company would want to sponsor me (maybe if i start coaching or something). i picked up tennis pretty late (12-13) since i playee hockey before that mostly. i'm moving back to montreal in a week and i think i'll keep focusing on tennis since honestly, it's a lot easier carrying a tennis bag around than lugging a crapload of hockey stuff in the subway and CLEANING IT (especially since i'll be the one doing the cleaning from now on). i'll be working with my old coach and playing in some leagues and stuff. maybe if i keep developing my game i can get to around #50 in quebec or something like that.

[gman 0]

gman: tennis-warehouse.com has a pretty good message board, kinda like the modsquad of tennis. you might want to check it out.

I live about 30 minutes from tennis warehouse. Tenniswarehouse, inlinewarehouse, icewarehouse, golfwarehouse, and runningwarehouse are all owned by the same guy. They are all within about a block of each other. I did not know about the message board though. I really don't have the pasion for it anymore like I used to.

[Alias81 0]

Love to play but afraid I can't serve very well at all, and I have no idea what raquet I use either some sort of Slazenger I permenentley bowwored off a nieghbour, does anybody use those rubber things I've seen people with in the middle of thier raquet to stop vibration? Do they work?

[gman 0]

The vibration things do work. But you can tie a rubber band in a knot and it will do the same. ALso wrapping tape around the middle mains at the base of the head does the same thing. The vibration things are expensive and gimicky. You should also tape them in so they don't fly out.

[thejackal 46]

ya i get all my stuff from there. i think the only reason that i even go to local tennis shops is to buy balls. every 3 or 4 weeks i show up and buy 5 or 6 cans of dunlop grand prixs and that's about it. stringing ive been doing in house for 2 years now and i havnt bought racquets in 2 years.

The vibration things do work. But you can tie a rubber band in a knot and it will do the same. ALso wrapping tape around the middle mains at the base of the head does the same thing. The vibration things are expensive and gimicky. You should also tape them in so they don't fly out.

ive never seen anyone use tape as a dampener. i imagine it would look kinda weird. personally i used to use rubber bands, but they dried out pretty quickly under the sun and tended to snap. my coach got me to play without one since he claims that they take away from the sound of ball contact, which is something that could help ur game if u kept track of how cleanly you were hitting.

[Hazard14 0]

the vibration dampners do make a difference, they absorb vibrations which not only have the ability to make your shots harder, but potentially have more control. ive never seen tape used a a vibration dampner, but they deff. arent a gimick, plus theyre not that expensive

[thejackal 46]

dampeners definitely don't make your shots harder. the smaller ones (like the simley face or the wilson "w") raises the tension on the center mains by about 2lb, so you should hit with a bit less depth, if anything. all in all it's PP, like tape jobs on hockey blades. i like to play without one because it sounds better and because its more convenient.

[PH_Hockey2 4]

Im an avid tennis player myself. Played for my school's varsity team for 3 years and I'm still playing. This yaer I was the JV head coach and had a blast.

My gear

Racket- Yonex RDS001 Mid strung with Wilson NXT 17g

Shoes- Prince Roadster

[gman 0]

ive never seen tape used a a vibration dampner, but they deff. arent a gimick, plus theyre not that expensive

They are only a gimick in that you don't have to spend eight dollars to get the same affect. Tape is very cheap and you can change rubberbands with every string job. Like I mentioned I used to break daily so I never had to worry about the rubber rotting. They do take away the high frequency vibration and thus alot of the sound. It is a different feel completely. Some folks really like it, others not so much. I do not think they help much with tennis elbow like they are advertised. I actually learned the rubber band thing from Agassi. I played in the Intermountain regionals with him. He was in the age group below mine although he always played up at least one tier He was from Las Vegas and I was from Wyoming. And before anyone asks, NO I NEVER BEAT HIM

[Hazard14 0]

ive never seen tape used a a vibration dampner, but they deff. arent a gimick, plus theyre not that expensive

They are only a gimick in that you don't have to spend eight dollars to get the same affect. Tape is very cheap and you can change rubberbands with every string job. Like I mentioned I used to break daily so I never had to worry about the rubber rotting. They do take away the high frequency vibration and thus alot of the sound. It is a different feel completely. Some folks really like it, others not so much. I do not think they help much with tennis elbow like they are advertised. I actually learned the rubber band thing from Agassi. I played in the Intermountain regionals with him. He was in the age group below mine although he always played up at least one tier He was from Las Vegas and I was from Wyoming. And before anyone asks, NO I NEVER BEAT HIM

dampners dont cost that much their like $2, i used the rubberband before, then i stayed away from them, my bad saying they make your shots harder, i just asked my bro he sayed no their not supposed to, so yea

[gman 0]

dampners dont cost that much their like $2, i used the rubberband before, then i stayed away from them, my bad saying they make your shots harder, i just asked my bro he sayed no their not supposed to, so yea

what?!?!?!?

I think I can make out your first statement and address it.

If you like, I can try to figure out how to scan an add from my local Big-5 sporting goods store that will give the prices on them. I have not seen one for two dollars American in 20 years. I don't think Big -5 will let me take photos in their store so that will have to do. I admit I have not shopped online for them since I started using rubber bands and tape.

EDIT:

I just checked tennis-warehouse and they do sell dampers for anywhere between $2 and $8. So "my bad". However tape and rubberbands are still way less expensive. I guess I am still in my starving college student mentality on this stuff.

[Hidious 0]

maybe if i keep developing my game i can get to around #50 in quebec or something like that.

I don't know how old you are or how good you are but playing competitivly to be in the top x is really something else. There's a big step, an obvious difference. If you haven't spent your life improving your tennis i wouldn't count on it honestly. But go for it!

Never heard about tape either but rubber bands work just like dampeners do. Agassi was using rubber bands.

To me, playing without a dampener is like playing without tape on your stick. Bad feeling but PP.