My son was playing his ukulele tonight. I couldn’t help but notice that his sound was fuller, his tone about perfect. I admit that I’m a proud parent. With a uke in my boy’s hands, Slash would be impressed. Still, the sound was almost too perfect. After a little digging, I discovered he had changed his strings out.
I used to be a fairly decent tennis player. No, I wasn’t a 5.0 player, but I had a free-flowing swing. I went for the lines. Hit big, at least for me. I used to play in this lunchtime clinic. Five courts. Two players at the net. Two at the baseline. The pro feeds a ball. Play to twenty.
Winning team graduates.
The losing team gets demoted.
Then, I quit playing for about eighteen months. And what happened? Well, I returned and couldn’t find my way out of the bottom court. It could have been rust. I don’t have a mechanical swing, rhythm matters for me. Weeks went by, and I was still at the bottom. I was getting blasted off the court. Finally, I asked a pro. It’s always good to get advice. And what did he say? “It’s your strings.”
Timing-wise, this was the evolution of Luxilon Strings. The era of Nadal. If only Federer had evolved sooner, what could have been? When I changed the strings out, amazing things happened. I could literally hold the ball on my racquet.
Always push for an edge. Game on.
Notes:
- One could debate fairness in sports. But, is evolution fair and equal?
- Racquets captured in the picture are a Wilson ProStaff Classic, which is an offshoot of what Pete Sampress leveraged for commercial purposes, and a Babolat.
- And, wow, the Prostaff Classic is magic in marketing. Professional players augment and change their equipment frequently. What one buys off the shelf is never the same.
