Doubles positions for club players
Attack and defence formations, and the simple habit that wins most club games.
Behind the stringing desk
Three hours, one machine and a card for every racket: how a restring is done.
The stringing desk sits by the entrance, and on a busy day Imran strings twenty to twenty-five rackets on it. Here is what happens to yours after you hand it in.
First he cuts out the old string carefully, from the centre outward, so the frame is not stressed unevenly. Then he checks the frame under a lamp for hairline cracks, especially near the shaft and at the top of the head, and looks at every grommet. Split grommets get replaced; we tell you before charging for it.
The racket is clamped on the machine at six points. Imran strings the main strings first, from the centre outward, pulling each one to the set tension with the electronic tensioner and clamping it. Then the cross strings, woven over and under. A standard restring takes about twenty-five minutes of hands-on work.
After knotting, he checks the string bed by hand, writes the date, tension and string type on your racket’s card and stencils the face if you ask. Rackets handed in before 4 pm are ready by 7. In the week before a tournament, we suggest dropping your racket a day early, as the desk fills up fast.
