Click here to buy Tennis thing on Amazon

Category: Tennis technology

  • A Tt Interview with El Jefe of Cancha, Jack Oswald

    Tt: When did you start playing tennis and who got you into the game?

      Jack Oswald: I started playing tennis when I was about five years old, first in the UK. My dad got me into tennis. He was big into tennis, both watching and he played a little bit as well. All of my family played a little bit of tennis at one point for a little while, but I was the one that really stuck at it.

      My parents moved to the US when I was five years old, and I really got into it there. There were so many more courts, so many more players around. The weather was better for tennis, to be honest, and I just really got into it. However, it was around about 10 or 11 years old that I became obsessed with tennis, and I really wanted to make it pro. It became basically my mission in life for the next 15 years, I think.

      Tt: I was going to ask you Why Bags but instead I’m going to tell you what I think—pretty much all tennis bags suck, even though I’m sure you already know that. First, most tennis bags are made poorly. When it comes to style it’s whatever makes the logo the biggest wins. It’s one area where golf beats tennis hands down. A golfer can buy a golf bag that’s designed to be carried by the player, carried by a caddie, put on the back of a golf cart or the kind of golf cart you push or pull. I cannot figure out why tennis bags are so bad. Help me out here, Jack!

      Jack Oswald: I know, I feel the same way. I saw so much innovation in the bag space in so many different industries, like the outdoors space and golf, which is probably the closest thing to tennis. I believed there could be something better we could be doing here.

      Also, as I was traveling as a pro tennis player, I felt firsthand, or came across firsthand, the issues of traveling with tennis rackets from country to country on planes, on trains, buses, from hotel room to hotel room. I wanted something that could be better, really, for myself. It was quite a selfish thing to begin with, and I became more aware as it went along that the industry, the tennis industry specifically, needed some innovation.

      I have felt like this for a while with tennis that some of the areas of tennis are quite antiquated, and it’s caught up a little bit, I think, over the last few years. Especially when I was playing seriously, the tennis world was quite antiquated and the way it was set up really needed some innovation.

      Tennis bags were something that I had an experience firsthand with, more from the usability side of things, from using bags. I really wanted to first of all make it easy for myself and then for everyone else, honestly, to travel with tennis rackets and to make it easy for people to play tennis on it during their daily routine, on a daily basis, whether that’s from work travel and anything like that.

      I also wanted to make things that really were suited to the player and the person in their daily routine and not just, like you said, big logos and bright colors and things that really have no performance or practical impact.

      Tt: What did playing professional tennis teach you about what a traveling tennis player needs to have, right at hand?

      Jack Oswald: Honestly, it was the constant traveling as a professional tennis player that really taught me a lot about what could be made easier for people when they are traveling for tennis. I mean, I came across it first hand and had a lot of experiences carrying gear around.

      The most tiring part of the whole process of being a tennis player was traveling. I really felt, by making it easier for myself, I could eventually make it easier for others. If there were an easier way to travel as a tennis player, I believed that could affect everybody, not just professional players but people who are trying to fit tennis into their daily routine.

      My goal was to make a difference there and, in some way, help people be more active and carry their passions with them. Yeah, I think it was the constant going from place to place that really helped me understand how traveling for tennis could be made easier with the right gear.

      Tt: How long did Cancha’s prototyping stage last? Did you evaluate all of the photos or did you reach out to other tennis players?

      Jack Oswald: Honestly, too long. I started designing the bags in 2018, knowing nothing about soft goods design, product design in general. I really went into the deep end, but we didn’t know much about it. I spent a lot of time traveling to trade shows, speaking to designers, taking samples with me to employment tournament from 2018 until 2020, even 2021. It was a long time, three or four years of design and no sales coming in, which was difficult because I didn’t have much money to play with to do this.

      We ended up doing a Kickstarter campaign and raising some money to begin with from friends and family that really helped me to get things off the ground. It was a huge learning experience. I learned so much about product design and the soft goods world, making bags, and also the practicality of traveling with bags and what you actually needed.

      I went through many, many prototypes. Many of them broke on me during my travels, which was really frustrating at the time. There’s nothing worse than a bag breaking on you when you’re mid-trip, but it was a really humbling experience. It was a really enlightening experience. I learned a tremendous amount, and I still have all those prototypes saved. They remind me of how far we’ve come.

      Tt: What about materials? How many did you have to evaluate before you settled on the final Cancha material?

      Jack Oswald: To be honest, materials are an ongoing thing. We’re constantly refining materials. It’s something that never really ends. We have gone through many different versions of the materials we’re using. A bag has over a hundred components, so we’re constantly evaluating and looking at new innovations in the material space. I think there’s a whole lot more we can be doing there as well.

      It was really through testing and seeing what was out there and all the different changes that were going on in the space, and seeing what worked for us and retesting it out that helped us arrive at a starting point. From there on, we’re just constantly evolving.

      Our bags have new materials all the time. Sometimes people don’t notice them because it’s been a slight improvement that is just a quality of life improvement, and other times it’s a big change that people really notice. I think it makes all the difference. I think that constant drive to improve our products, existing products as well as new products, has helped us a lot over the years.

      Tt: I’m lucky enough to have both the Cancha Racket Bag Pro and the Original Cancha Tennis Bag. I love them both but if I could wish for one thing it would be more and bigger zippered pockets. Do you feel my pain or am I crazy?

      Jack Oswald: I agree, and feedback is a thing that we take extremely seriously. I’m constantly hearing from people about what they love about the bag, but also what they don’t love about the bag they’re using. One thing is we can’t please everybody, and you have to pick a side on some things and what we feel is best. I agree there’s certainly improvements that can be made, and we’re constantly making those improvements.

      We get feedback all the time, like I said, from customers, and we take it seriously. I am constantly working with my team on new improvements, new designs, constantly traveling to visit our manufacturing partners and material suppliers. It’s an ongoing, never-ending process; that’s what’s so great about it.

      I think if you look at where we’ve come from there until now, I think there’s been a huge amount of improvement. I appreciate your feedback because that it’s something that we can certainly do better, and I think that’s what this is all about

      Tt: Every time I drop by the Cancha website I see another cool product that I need, Need, NEED. If we hit the Fast Forward button forward to 2030 will Cancha still be a tennis brand, a lifestyle brand, or both?

      Jack Oswald: That’s interesting. I wouldn’t even necessarily consider ourselves a tennis brand specifically. I think that we have a really cool niche in the tennis space, but people who play racket sports of all kinds buy our bags, and people who don’t as well buy our bags. Everyday carry bags are part of our line-up now, and we’re constantly building out because we want to be part of people’s daily routine, helping them be active in all areas. I think my experience as a tennis player, as a traveling tennis player, has helped us really innovate in that space, but I think there’s a lot more we can do.

      I want us to be both. I think we can talk in a very niche way to tennis players and meet their needs, but I think we can also be something for other people as well. I really appreciate what you say about the new products and the innovation. I think that that really means a lot to me because I’m trying my absolute best as a founder of a very young company to come up with things that I really feel proud about.

      I don’t go into product categories or even product lines without feeling like I can really make a difference in the space. I have a lot of ideas for things that we can be doing. Sometimes I have more ideas than resources to do them, which is probably a good thing; it keeps me focused. I can’t say exactly where we’ll be, but I think there’s a whole lot of cool stuff in the pipeline that I’m just so excited to share.

      Tt: Thank you, Jack, for taking the time and for being a good friend to tennis players everywhere.

    1. Long Term Follow-up: The Cancha Racket Bag Pro is a Year Old!

      Time flies!

      MIB, ready to be, well, MIB!

      MIB has been using the Cancha Racket Bag Pro for a year. I know because I shipped the bag to him last February. He’s been using it as his one and only bag ever since.

      Now, MIB is not your typical recreational player. No, he’s a three to four day a week doubles warrior. He not only admits to being hard on tennis gear, he occasionally celebrates the fact. Tennis racket blood sacrifices into trash cans and the like—you get the idea. When MIB told me he had shipped the back back to me I was expecting the worst. Instead, the Cancha Racket Bag Pro looked new.

      Have a look.

      MIB used the hell out of the Cancha Racket Bag Pro but you could not tell by how the bag looks after a full year.

      Zippers are perfect.

      MOLLE points are perfect.

      Fabric is perfect.

      Straps and handle the same.

      I am quite certain the bag could pass for new. Ok, so my trusty California patch would give it away but otherwise the bag looks like new. So, now it’s my turn with the Cancha Racket Bag Pro. It swallows up my rackets and two pair of shoes and everything else that needs to be inside. I am really looking forward to traveling with the bag on a tennis trip later this month and for my birthday getaway in April. I will report back once I get the Cancha Racket Bag Pro out on court. But if I were you, I would cut to the chase and expect me to be even more impressed with this fantastic bag once I have had the chance to use it myself. Well done, Cancha! Tt

    2. Tennis thing review of the Kimony Quake Buster string dampener.

      Kimony could be my favorite tennis accessory brand. There’s just something about companies like Kimony with just the right vibe (no pun intended). Plus, tennis accessories like grips, tools and dampeners can be so engaging on a personal level. As someone who has done a lot of business in Japan, both in my previous marketing life in high-end audio and later in golf, I appreciate the ethos of Japanese companies, especially small ones like Kimony.

      They know what they’re about.

      They know what matters to them and they know how to make it.

      I think I’ve used most of Kimony’s replacement and overgrips and each has been excellent, at least on par with offerings from much larger companies with more familiar names. But, this is my first experience with their dampener, The Quake Buster (or how I wish I could use the iOS Text Effects to make the letters in Quake explode!). As usual, I was first attracted to the available colors (I chose clear and black). But I had another motive respective to trying the Quake Buster and that was the way it attaches to the racket at the top and sides and the fact that it’s basically square (so as to maximize string contact) and also the fact that the experience of others who wrote about their experience with the Quake Buster state that the dampener is quite soft.

      The words quite soft translate to a thermoplastic that has a fairly low durometer (the lower the durometer the softer and more maleable a material). Harder dampeners (like Head’s)lack significant compliance to dampen much of anything. That said, the design of a dampener like the RTP Shocksorb may have gone too far, with a durometer that’s simply too squishy (and heavy). The question is whether the Kimony Quake Buster gets it just right.

      The Kimony Quake Buster in my Head Instinct MP

      The Kimony packaging has some copy on the back so I had a buddy of mine in Japan translate for me:

      Before impact, the mushroom, which was in a stationary state relative to the Quake Buster main body, moves its head in the direction of the ball due to inertia at the moment of impact.

      After impact, while interfering with vibrations from the strings and other sources, it absorbs (dampens) vibrations in all 360-degree directions.

      In other words, the mushroom works in a truly magical way.

      Come on, a magic mushroom! This is obviously the very best quality ever when it comes to a tennis string dampener. Seriously, I think the Quake Buster is a very well-executed product. The way it attaches to the strings, its shape and perhaps most importantly the durometer of its thermoplastic make it an excellent dampener. The sound isn’t dull but retains a slightly resonant thunk that is quite pleasing.

      Well done, again, Kimony! Tt

    3. The art and science of warming up to serve.

      This has been bothering me for a while. How should a club player warm up to serve? My main problem is this: I tend to hit too fast too early. What’s strange to me is that the speed seems to come automatically. In other words, I am not trying to hit my serves fast or hard. Compare this to my baseball career where I found it very easy to warm up gradually. I enjoyed playing short toss before moving up to long toss before refocusing on pitching at full speed from 60 feet 6 inches. For me, properly warming up to serve would take a little more thought. At first I tried to work it out by myself but I continued to find myself at 75% with two or three serves.

      That can’t be good.

      Lexie, My tennis coach!

      So, I decided to reach out to two trusted experts. Coach Lexie is one of my favorite tennis coaches at Instagram. Every time she says, “I’m Lexie, your tennis coach.” I smile. It’s nice to think that I’m actually Lexie’s student and her posts always make it feel that way. When I asked her about warm up to serve she was generous enough to write this for me.

      “When I warm up the serve, I start by preparing the body and shoulder before hitting balls. I use light dynamic movements like arm circles, shoulder rolls, torso rotations, and wrist prep to open up my range of motion.

      On court, I add shadow swings and light throwing to groove the service motion and rhythm without tension. From there, I move into a progressive serving routine—starting easy to find feel, then gradually adding direction, different targets, and serve types (flat, slice, kick), always focusing on a consistent toss.

      A good serve warm-up is about rhythm and feel first—speed comes last.”

      All of that make sense to me but it’s not easy. I have tried to formalize the process as much as I can. I start by tossing along the fence (another technique Lexie shared on Instagram). My toss tends to creep lower and lower as I hit my serves faster but a fence-high toss allows me body more time to impact the ball with a nice sense of flow.

      Then, I move to the baseline and I toss and catch, another bit of advice from Lexie. This is very helpful because it gives me instant feedback about whether my toss is even in the ballpark. Sometimes it’s not.

      Then, I finally make contact with the ball. My goal for the first ball is to hit the ball as slowly as possible for at least five balls. That’s not easy for me, but I am trying. I promise. In fact, my practice goal is not to exceed 30% when I am hitting serve after serve. Hey, I’m gonna be 65 in April. Sixty–fucking–five!

      Another Instagram coach who has helped with my warm up is Coach Kirsche. As soon as I started to follow him he came out with a warm up guide for the shoulder. Talk about timing!

      Me? I love this dynamic resistance band stuff but I have to admit that I have a hard time implementing it. Why? Did I mention I was going to be 65 in April? Thing is, every time I’ve tried any resistance band work, even light stuff, I have ended up with a shoulder that’s more sore than it would be after thirty serves. Still, I am going to dedicate myself to doing more of this. I just need to find the sweet spot between overdoing it (my style) and not doing it at all (also my style. You figure that out.

      I’d like to extend my sincere thanks and gratitude to Lexie and Kirsche. Just the feeling of having two great coaches out there who want me to improve makes me want to improve even more.

      Tt

    4. Tourna Ballport Deluxe Hopper; that’s right…Deluxe!

      I dig the Tourna Ballport Deluxe. It’s light, holds plenty of balls (I will leave its exact capacity for my esteemed colleagues at YouTube) and has wheels. In fact, Deluxe means wheels, funky two-piece wheels to be precise. Check ‘em out:

      See the little slit in the wheel?
      Yeah, that should work!

      I cannot imagine making this hopper more efficiently than they have, when you consider that it’s nearly free. That said, the screws that hold it together grip only to plastic. Even the legs rely on plastic to lock open and closed.

      Have a look:

      Yeah, man; those legs are locked, that’s for sure!

      It’s super light duty and made with cheapness firmly in front of mind, but it works as intended.

      I love that phrase and it applies perfectly here. Oh wait. I do have one more niggling complaint. Every time I take the Ballport Deluxe out of the trunk one or more balls have gone rogue and made a break for it!

      There goes another one! Grab it!

      Two-piece wheels, all-plastic construction and escape-prone balls notwithstanding, I just loves my Ballport Deluxe.

      Tt

    5. Are these sunglasses good for tennis? A quick review of the Nike Trainer and Tifosi Centus.

      It took a while before I decided I wanted to wear sunglasses when I played tennis. On one hand it’s not like i”m out there forever but my eyes aren’t getting any younger either. Light weight is good, as is visual coverage. I was interested in getting a bit more contrast while still maintaining decently accurate rendering of color.

      First up were the Nike Trainers.

      Nike Trainer: Let down by odd fit and flimsy build.

      These has the blue reflective lenses and were fine optically. But, the Nike’s were let down by their exceptionally flimsy construction and the fact that they rode so high on my nose they created a coverage problem under the lenses. In decades of sunglass use I have never had that issue before.

      Well done for a little cash. Good work, Tifosi!

      I’ve had pretty good luck with Tifosi. They make a lot of different sunglasses at significantly different price points. The Tifosi Optics Centus are one of their less expensive designs but have been impressive to me so far. The Centus are actually a gram lighter than the Nikes but somehow feel sigificantly more durable than the swoosh shades. I’ve never had a pair of sunglasses with brown lenses unless you count the brown-lensed Vuarnet’s I borrowed from my roommate at UCLA from time to time. The Centus’ brown worked great with the yellow of the ball and the blue of the court to keep everything as visible as possible. They fit much better than the Nikes and left no odd coverage gap in any direction. The only commnt on fit I’d like to make is that the centus could be better suited to medium to wide faces rather than narrow to medium. With their design and light weight they have no tendency to shift or slide around during play. Well done for a little cash. Good work, Tifosi! Tt

    6. Impacting Tennis is ready to improve your game.

      Until I began playing tennis in 2023, my sports were baseball and golf. Baseball (and I gather Cricket) may be the two most elementally unchanged ball sports. Sure, we’ve been living in baseball’s live-ball era since the time of Babe Ruth but other than that, little has changed between the baseball and the bat over the last century.

      Golf is totally different story with technical advancements in ball and club (especially driver) construction that has fundamentally changed the game forever if not for better. The impact of multilayer balls and max-COR drivers is inarguable and these improvements have been augmented by the practice of data-based club and shaft fitting. Today, the average recreational players can avail themselves of most of the tech a touring pro can. Of course, the tour pro doesn’t pay.

      I see tennis somewhere between those extremes. Until recently, my favorite racket was a borrowed 2014 Head Prestige Pro. It’s still my favorite racket but my advancing years have suggested that lighter may be better for my game if not my ego. Still, the fact that a twelve year old frame could still be useful to a player at my level gives me great respect for what a great racket Head could build all those years ago and a little less respect for their 2025 offerings which I am sure they describe as far more advanced than my old Prestige.

      What all this means is I can easily imagine a day when a tennis player, pro or amateur, can have their tennis racket (and strings) evaluated by measured data. Golf has already done this and more. Golf tour pros, with their unimaginably consistent swings, can tune their clubs to their ball of choice, chasing their ideal of ball speed, spin and feel. I would be surprised if players on the WTA and ATP can’t do something similar right now. And, if they can, you and I will be able to soon. Whether this will help the game of mere mortals like me is anyone’s guess.

      I am so glad anyone seeking beneficial alteration of their tennis racket can reach out to Miha Flisek of Impacting tennis. Even tbough my skills were still in their infancy when I first started playing tennis I  knew and could feel that details mattered. In fact, everything mattered. The marriage of string, racket velocity, racket weight, weight distribution, racket flex (on multiple axes) and swing shape are a fascinating combination of variables and destined to confuse most players, leading to a great deal of misunderstanding.

      I sought to learn all I could, sometimes surprised by how such complicated issues were spoken of with such a cavalier attitude. I was lucky my early searches pointed me toward Miha and his excellent videos. HIs clarity did a lot to demystify that which could easily be mystifying. I’m grateful Miha was generous enough to contribute his time to answering my questions about him and Impacting Tennis.

      Tennis thing: Tell me a little about your own history playing tennis? How old were you when you started?

      Miha Flisek: I started playing tennis very early, but at the same time I was also into archery and basketball. It wasn’t until an injury took contact sports off the table that I really began focusing on tennis. From the beginning, I was very sensitive to equipment. In archery, even the smallest change can completely alter your shot, and I brought that same mindset into tennis. I was honestly surprised how little attention most tennis players gave to their rackets.

      Later in college, I started combining my background in engineering with my growing understanding of tennis equipment. That’s when things really started to click. I began connecting the dots between player movement, stroke mechanics, and racket behavior. That’s how Impacting Tennis was born, from the idea that tennis gear shouldn’t be treated as an afterthought but as a core part of performance.

      Tennis thing: How long did it take for you to begin customizing your own rackets? What were some of your early modifications?

      Miha Flisek: I started modifying my rackets almost immediately, experimenting with strings, shifting balance points, and later adding lead tape. At the very beginning, I didn’t even have proper materials. I remember finding some old lead pipes and literally hammering them flat to make my own thin strips of lead, that was my first version of lead tape. It was very DIY, but it gave me a hands-on feel for how mass placement affects the racket.

      The real transformation came later when I gained the technical knowledge to calculate what I was doing. Instead of just feeling the difference, I could measure swingweight, balance, MGR/I, twistweight, and understand what each change was actually doing. That’s when customization stopped being trial and error and started becoming engineering and that’s really what laid the groundwork for everything I do now.

      Tennis thing: When players come to you for customization, do they usually have a specific goal in mind, or do they rely on your guidance to help them improve?

      Miha Flisek: Players usually come in with a clear goal in mind, whether it’s more spin, more control, or more stability, and I help them move toward it. But we never start with the racket. First, we look at where the player is in their career, what’s limiting their game, what they’re trying to improve. We take into account their technique, movement patterns, and overall development.

      Only after that do we adapt the equipment. The racket becomes a tool that supports their goals. When you get it right, it’s not just a better racket, it’s a better version of their game.

      Tennis thing: One of the most interesting aspects of tennis for me are the significance of audible cues. The Octo damper is designed to reduce unwanted vibrations while keeping the higher-frequency feedback that’s important for feel, timing, and contact cues. What led you to choose the thermoplastic elastomer PEBA (Polyether block amide) and were there other materials you considered?

      Octo damper

      Miha Flisek: I was already working with PEBA on a different project and found the material really interesting. It was being used in high-performance running shoes for its energy return properties, and it had just started to become available for 3D printing.

      The Octo damper actually came out of working with the material. I realized it had the ideal combination of characteristics, soft enough to reduce unwanted low-frequency vibration, but responsive enough to preserve the high-frequency feedback that’s so important for timing and feel. It wasn’t something I set out to create, it just made perfect sense once I started using the material.

      Tennis thing:  I am really fascinated that you actually 3D printed a tennis racket! Without getting too deep into the technical weeds, how many separate pieces were needed to create TO Stardust and what adhesive did you use? Also, I found your use of rounded string transitions rather than traditional grommets to be exceptionally clever. What was the total print time?

      Miha Flisek:TO Stardust was printed as a single solid frame. No adhesives, no bonding. Just one continuous piece. That required a very large and advanced 3D printer along with specialized materials. The handle pallets and buttcap were added afterward, like with a standard racket.

      The total print time was about 12 hours. One of the standout features is the integrated rounded string holes, which replace traditional grommets. That not only reduces unnecessary components but also gives the stringbed a more consistent response. The project was a way to test what happens when you throw out legacy design assumptions and build a racket from the ground up using modern tools.

      Tennis thing: Many ATP players still use racket designs that are more than a decade old, often under new paint jobs. Do you think racket technology has plateaued or do you see meaningful trends in design or construction that could still benefit players?

      Miha Flisek: I don’t see any real leaps in racket technology happening right now. The core materials, like carbon fiber laminates, have been around for a long time, and most of the available geometries and design concepts have already been explored or exhausted. There’s not much on the horizon in terms of radically different materials that would offer meaningful improvements.

      What we are seeing today, like the shift toward lighter and more powerful rackets, isn’t so much about technological progress as it is about adjusting to external changes, especially the balls. Balls have become lighter and less consistent, which makes it harder to get penetration through the court, so players are shifting toward rackets that help generate more pace and spin.

      TO Stardust on court and ready for play.

      The next real shift in racket design will probably come with the maturation of 3D printing technology, particularly once continuous carbon fiber printing becomes viable. That’s when we’ll finally be able to explore forms, layups, and mass distributions that are simply impossible to achieve with traditional molding techniques.

      Tennis thing : What’s next for Impacting Tennis? What enhancements can we expect to see in TO Stardust v2?

      Miha Flisek:That ties directly into the future of TO Stardust. Right now, with the current 3D printing materials and processes, it’s not quite at the performance level I want, at least not for professional-level play. The design itself showed what’s possible in terms of rethinking racket construction, like grommetless string transitions and integrated frame geometry, but to move to the next stage, we’re waiting for the technology to catch up, especially in terms of continuous fiber reinforcement.

      When I saw TO Stardust’s grommetless construction, I knew Impacting Tennis was serious about innovation.

      In the meantime, my focus is on consulting and helping players unlock performance through better equipment understanding and customization. I’m also exploring string design using a novel material that hasn’t been used in tennis yet. The long-term goal remains the same: use engineering and first principles to push tennis forward, not just follow trends.

      Tennis thing: Thanks for participating, Miha. I will be posting my review of the Octo damper soon. I’ve been evaluating along with a trusted pro at my club. So far, I am really liking it, especially its amazingly light weight. 

    7. A step closer to the right racket for me?

      I’ve only been playing tennis since late July 2023. But, since then I’ve owned a good number of rackets. Two of them came from the MIB (the 2013 Head Prestige Pro and more recently a Wilson Shift 99). The others I bought used, some on Ebay and a few on Craigslist.

      The first variable to be considered was grip size. My first racket was codenamed Battle Axe. It was a Wilson Six One 100 and I really liked it but its grip was 4 1/2 and everyone thought it was just too big. It was, but I enjoyed playing with that racket anyway. I still miss it.

      I made the move first to 4 1/4 and later to 4 1/8 to make it easier to use overgrips. Later I drifted back to 4 1/4 by way of a couple Tecnifibres (a TFight 300 and a 305). Overall, the racket that worked best and felt best was my 2018 Head Graphene Touch Prestige Tour. That’s the worst racket name I’ve come across but, all things considered, it’s the racket that has best fit my game and aesthetic.

      Then I tried MIB’s Wilson Shift 99 and I was surprised at how easy it was to swing while still feeling solid on impact. At first, I was under the mistaken idea it was a Wilson Shift 99L which weighs 10.1 ounces (286.3G) but once I got it home I realized that when MIB identified it as the lighter one, he meant it was the 10.6 ounce (300.5G) version. Strung, and with my usual Sampras dampener, El Shifto weighs 316G, fully ten grams less than my Head Graphene Touch Prestige Tour. Months earlier, MIB had told me how much difference five grams can matter and here I was finding that eleven grams obviously means even more.

      I do enjoy hitting with a heavier racket. It’s not unlike putting with a modern 350G putter as opposed to an 80s Ping putter that typically weighed less that 300G. Mass is your friend when you don’t need much absolute velocity or your don’t need to change directions quickly. I like to think my time playing tennis has made me stronger but I know it hasn’t. When I got started in tennis I was 62 and now I’m 64. I don’t want to deceive myself into thinking I’m defeating the effects of gravity or age.

      So, the Wilson Shift has been instructive though I’m not wild about the 16×20 string pattern, plus, its grip is 4 3/8 which is a bit large, even without an overgrip. So, I’ve spent a few days looking for a racket that aligns with the Shift’s basic specs before I found the Head 2022 Instinct MP. It’s very close in terms of weight (the Wilson is a little more head light) and flex though while the Instinct’s head measures 100 sq in as opposed to the Head’s 99 sq in.

      Once I get the Instinct, I will have the Head Prestige at 327G and the Head Instinct and the Wilson Shift at right around 315G. I’m pretty sure the 315G rackets will work better for my game. I’m not sure I’ll like them quite as much as the Head Prestige but I still feel a few steps closer to playing with the right racket for me,

    8. Technical Tennis: Racquets, Strings, Balls, Courts, Spin And Bounce By Rod Cross & Crawford Lindsey

      I bought this book solely to take advantage of free shipping at Tennis Warehouse. Remember readers, you have to spend money to save money. The book is superb, though perhaps mostly of interest to people like me who are intrigued by the technology, or what’s represented as technology, in tennis. I’ve spent my first year and a half in tennis trying different rackets and strings (not to mention grips and overgrips). At no time have I gotten the sense a given racket made or kept me from being a better player.

      I have developed preferences that remain fairly consistent. The first is for a racket with a head size of 98 square inches. The second is for polys that are not strung too tight, always less than 50 pounds. Finally, I trend away from rackets designed to aid in power because, for all of my faults and weaknesses in tennis, I do not suffer from a lack of power.

      Back to Cross & Lindsey’s book. Check out this quote:

      TENSION AND PLAYER PERCEPTIVENESS
      Virtually every player assumes that he can tell the difference between different tensions. Some claim to be able to identify a difference of a pound or two. Tests have been performed that bring that claim into question. In a test of 41 advanced recreational players, only 11 (27 percent) could determine a difference of 11 pounds or less. In fact, 15 (37 percent) couldn’t correctly identify the difference even when the tension between two racquets varied by 22 pounds. A small number were able to discern a two-pound difference, however. Players were not allowed to touch the strings or vibrate them to guess tension, and each racquet had a vibration dampener to take away auditory cues.

      Using earplugs to further dampen auditory cues lowered the success rates even more. Players were only allowed four hits with each racquet, so the only data the player was interpreting was feel, not an accumulated history of location of ball placement that could be used to deduce string tension. Some players said that they noticed a difference, but then incorrectly chose which racquet had a higher tension.

      Auditory cues are huge but they’re not often a subject of conversation with most players so quick and confident to identify what they feel about string tension. I recall a similar test relating to golf. Many players reported that they prefered the feel of putters made from this material or that. But, when they wore earplugs they couldn’t differentiate even the most dissimilar materials or even construction techniques.

      For me the question is this: Thinking of the average player is it beneficial to believe in the benefit of this string over that string, this tension over that or this racket over another? To jump ahead, I think using the correct racket (correct as regards weight, head size, stiffness) is very important for new, especially young, players. What I’m asking concerns average adult players. My experience leads me to conclude that it can be entertaining but is largely a waste of time for recreational players to believe that the right (or wrong) racket or string will relevantly affect their games.

      With that said, identifying preferences is fine but I contend that mine have little affect on my game, and that’s Ok. I still like what I like. As they saying goes, you can either use the racket you like or the racket someone else likes. Just make sure to keep your focus on your game and not your strings and racket. By the way, I’m not done writing about this book. It’s much too interesting so stay tuned. Tt