By Kyle Revall

Every tennis club director wants a racquet stringer to do a quality job. Ideally that means doing a technically correct job quickly to meet or exceed your customer's expectation.

However, in the race to return a newly strung racquet to a player, the 'correct' factor can be compromised through sloppy shortcuts to beat the clock.

I learned the difference during my freshman year in Ferris State University's Professional Tennis Management program. I had never strung a racquet in my life, though I had watched a buddy string my racquet for me once. That changed when Ferris State alum David Bone , who is executive director of the U.S. Racquet Stringers Association, visited campus. Every fall, David takes time out of his busy schedule as head of the USRSA and co-publisher of Racquet Sports Industry magazine to go through every intricacy of stringing. His goal is to teach PTM students how to be proper, smart racquet stringers, and offer the USRSA certification test.

David gave each of us a DVD on stringing and presented a seminar that covered every detail on how to properly string a racquet. I was surprised to learn that there are so many different things a stringer can do to compromise the frame being strung.  Pulling tension equally on both sides of the mains (vertical strings) and pulling one string at a time are considered to be the proper steps in creating tension. Starting the crosses (horizontal strings) from the top when stringing with two separate pieces of string is much easier on the frame and doesn’t exert unnecessary pressures on the frame that could cause it to crack. 

These details are very tedious and make the process much longer than it should be, which creates an ethical challenge:
When your boss asks you to string a racquet for a player who broke a string mid-match and wants it for the second set, what do you do?

TAKE THE SPEED=MONEY ROUTE?  It is very easy to double-pull the mains and string all of the mains on one side in order to increase your speed and get that racquet into the customer’s hands ASAP.  But, the stringer must be very careful doing this.  I was handed a racquet recently that had a substantial crack in the throat, just above the grip.  In order to string the racquet, I made sure we had permission from the owner because it is very easy to shatter a racquet when it has a slight crack; however, I took my time and strung the racquet with as little unnecessary pressure as possible and kept the frame intact. 

If the frame is in pristine condition, it may be okay to cut a couple of corners in order for Club Championship Carl to get his racquet in time before the match ends, but I wouldn’t do it.  I took my time with this racquet and by the end of the match, Club Championship Carl wanted to purchase the demo he borrowed from the pro shop. 

TAKE THE ETHICAL ROUTE?  Take your time!  Speed stringing only gets you in trouble.  Being an "experienced mistake-maker," I’ve found that sprinting through a string job creates mistakes.  I’ve strung a racquet to the machine carelessly, clipped a main when trimming extra string, and I’ve even mismounted a racquet that made stringing the stick impossible because I tried to hurry up and get it done. 

By taking your time, you ensure that the racquet is strung properly without compromising the frame and that you didn’t misweave any crosses--or make any other careless errors that a club player may or may not pick up on. 

Remember to take your time stringing racquets and don’t jeopardize someone else’s frame to save a little time or make an extra buck.