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  • The Doubles Conundrum

    It was Pro To Go, aka Chris Phelan who laid down the truth for me.

    “For guys our age, doubles is our future.”

    Now, PTG might be 50 but he sure as hell isn’t 65, like I am. My natural response was, “Yeah, fuck you, buddy.”

    Thing is, I really like PTG. He spoke a good deal of truth to me about my tennis game. I’m not sure when, but I know I will make it back to visit him next time and I’m in the desert.

    But, what he said implied I was rapidly getting too old to play singles. That’s what generated my somewhat tongue-in-cheek FU.

    Right or wrong, I still believe I can play singles. I know there are guys at my club who are 65 or older who persist in playing singles. But, when the opportunity to join a Tuesday mixed-doubles group was presented, I jumped at it. The experience would be good for my game.

    It’s fun and unconventionally challenging. The other guy doesn’t hit the ball real hard either on his serve or with his ground strokes. I can hit pretty hard on both fronts and occasionally do. But hitting consistently hard is a horrible idea when it comes to mixed. Male players have to constantly judge just how hard they want to hit a given shot while visually scanning the other side of the next.

    If a female player accidentally (or purposefully) hits an opponent with the ball, she might offer a smiling apology, but she probably won’t mean it. If a male player accidentally grenades a female he will instantly apologize and swear to all manner of excuses.

    I’m so sorry — I totally missed that. It was supposed to be between the two of you! My Bad. Won’t happen again. I’ll be more careful. I promise.

    For the record, I am completely OK with this double standard. Still, it is an ongoing challenge to judge exactly how hard to hit the ball and at whom when playing mixed doubles.

    Last weekend, the females of our group played in a doubles tournament down in Orange County. When I asked how the tournament was, they turned sad. Turns out they lost in a tiebreak. In my mind, this was a big success. Forcing a tiebreak means they were competitive throughout the match. Whether or not they came out on top at the end of the 7-point tiebreaker was far less meaningful in my mind.

    We sometimes finish our hour and a half session with a few games of the men versus women. But, most of our time is spent playing mixed. But, since the women had worked so hard prepping for their tournament, they decided they wanted to play against the men from the get-go. And this was fine by me. It wasn’t like I expected the men to win or that I expected the women to win. It was enough to be confident things were unlikely to end with another heartbreaking tiebreak.

    1-0 Men

    2-1 Men

    2-2 Men

    4-3 Men

    In between games my guy comes up to me and says, “I’m not hitting my returns hard enough.” I nodded and told him it could be a tricky balance. But, I thought it was Ok for him to hit with a bit more pace. As I said before, he is not a hard hitter.

    5-5

    6-5 Men

    Then my guy lost his serve, by overhitting as you might have guessed.

    Tiebreak.

    During the tiebreak, I was hoping the women would find a way to pull it out while trying not to hit obviously stupid shots. The tiebreak sea-sawed back and forth, just like the rest of the set but it ended 7-5 men. Ouch. My guy and I tapped rackets in muted appreciation for our play. For the women it was an obvious reminder of the USTA tiebreaker they lost over the weekend. I hoped they could find a way to be happy for the way they played if not the outcome they had hoped for. Tt

  • My summer re-strings.

    I have been playing a lot more (5-6 times a week) since summer hit. I decided to experiment with a hybrid synthetic gut and poly. I usually play a full bed of RPM Blast, Restring Zero or Luxilon 4G at 52. My new summer hybrid setup is Head syn gut blue 16 GA in the mains at 52 and Solinco Confidential 16 GA in the crosses at 50. I am super happy. It feels easy on the elbow and the subtle loss of spin is easily offset by exceptional pocketing, control and a sound that is free from excessive twanginess. Whatever is smoothing out the sound is more than Ok by me. Power might be slightly greater than my full poly beds but overall I am very impressed with how this combo plays in my Shift 99.

    My initial hope was the square shape of the Solinco string wouldn’t notch the syn gut too rapidly. But, when I had him string my backup racket identically my stringer quickly commented about the possibility of the Confidential going all cheese grater on the syn gut. I told him not to worry, that I was happy to experiment. If the syn gut really takes a beating I will try the Head syn gut with Tru Pro Ghostwire.

    In fact, the Head syn gut got notched up pretty fast but the syn gut / Confidential hybrid still feels great. Since blue is part of what I’m looking for I bought a couple sets of Head Velocity MLT 16 GA, in blue of course. Since I now have two Wilson Shift 99 (more on Son of El Shifto later) rackets I will have the original Shift (codename: El Shifto) to be restrung with MLT at 50 pounds. Tt

  • Losing a tennis partner is never fun.

    One of my tennis partners blew up at a coach from the court next to ours. I had arrived early — along with the coach who would be teaching on the adjoining court. The coach asked me (since I got there first) if he could put some of his gear on half of our bench since he would be moving to our court when we were done, more than an hour and a half later. 

    That was fine by me. But when my partner arrived a few minutes later he demanded that the coach move his gear even though I had said it was Ok. Eventually, things calmed down and we finished hitting, mostly in silence. As I walked off court I handed the coach my business card and asked him to text me when he had a minute. I wanted to apologize for my partner again. As we approached our cars my partner demanded to know why I gave the coach my card. I told him he failed to show respect to me — since I had granted the coach permission and failed to show respect for the coach — who was trying to earn his living and to the student who was actually paying for her coach’s time. My partner got in his car and drove off. Fin.

    Local hitting partners have been hard to come by. Tomorrow I’m going to post a Looking for Hitting Partner sign at my nearby park. I’m not likely to find anyone worse. My departed partner’s behavior had worsened over time. He always trended toward the irascible but I was usually able to beat him back into line with a little chiding humor. 

    The penultimate time we hit my partner uttered a racial slur loudly enough to make me cringe. That was unsettling enough but yesterday was more worrying since his anger was directed at the unfortunate coach. And, I did expect, or at least hope my partner could have admitted — for his own sake — that he had been out of line. 

    It’s a bummer when someone brings their bad day onto the court — the exact place and time I look to make a good day even better.

  • You knew I was a winner and now ADV has confirmed it!

    A contest winner that is…

    A few days ago I was one of the winners of a drawing sponsored by premium bag maker ADV. Me? I seldom enter and never win contests but I did this time.

    My loot from ADV!

    The package from ADV includes a really nice court towel made from organic cotton, some bamboo wristbands and 12 ADV over grips, six in black which is less tacky but thicker (.75mm) and six in white which is thinner (.60mm) and tackier although not as tacky as the mint green over grips from Toroline which I have decided are actually too tacky for my tastes.

    ADV calls the black Felt Tac and the texture is excellent. I wish it, too, was .6mm but perhaps its thickness is a function of the material. My problem is that I use two over grips rather than a replacement grip on my racket that cries out for a black grip. I know — complicated.

    The white has a very pleasing texture and I am cool with its level of tackiness. Like all thin over grips it requires care while wrapping since any wrapping sloppiness results in puckering.

    Let’s face it — I am beyond picky when it comes to grips. It all started with golf and my relentless search for the perfect grip. By the way, it was Golf Pride 50th Anniversary. For some reason, GP used a proprietary and never-again-used rubber compound for that grip. In the decades before I left golf behind I hoarded dozens and dozens. Yup. Crazy. The ADV Felt Tac is the best feeling over grip I’ve used but I need to figure out a combination that allows me to get the grip size I need.

    The last item is perhaps the most versatile. Ostensibly, it’s an expandable packing cube. But when I look at it I see a hold everything bag for my current tennis bag. I like to pack light when I play and that means using a 3-racket bag. The bag is Ok but is very short on what I call zippered storage. Since I use the bag to carry two rackets it leaves plenty of space for the ADV packing cube whether it’s expanded or not.

    I am hoping that someday ADV will make a bag that falls between its Tennis Bag PRO V3 and its backpack-style bags. I like the idea of the backpack solution until I want to travel with my tennis gear (at least several times a year) and that’s when I need a conventional tennis bag. My wishlist includes a new bag from ADV designed for 4-6 rackets — kind of scaled-down version of the PRO V3.

    But hey, I am not complaining (again). Before I close I want to thank ADV for holding the drawing and the tennis gods for making sure I finally won something other than a tennis match.

    Thanks, ADV (and the tennis gods).

  • Toroline Mint Overgrip

    Man, this stuff is tacky.

    Mint is the tackiest of the three Toroline colors, along with Lavender. Neon Pink is aparently less tacky but it’s Neon Pink, which doesn’t work with any of my rackets or Kimony dampeners. Toroline, being a clever group of folks does things a little different. Their overgrips are tapered on both ends so, in a better world than this, you wouldn’t have to trim the top part before you put on the finishing tape. But, reality intrudes and I ended up having to trim mine anyway.

    I prefer two overgrips to any replaacement grip, grip. Toroline does not spec their overgrip’s thickness but I would say it’s on the thin side side two of them render my 4 3/8 grip comfy but firm and the bevels easily felt.

    Did I mention this stuff is tacky? Who knows how long it will stay tacky or how durable it is or even, at this point, if it’s too tacky. We will see. Thing is, in golf I was grip obsessed, always trying to find the perfect combination of durometer, compound, texture and tackiness (or smoothness in some cases). I guess it should come as no surprise I’m the same with tennis, always happy to try something new and different. If you’re at all like me give these Torolines a try. Oh, a couple final notes. First, the inner plastic is extremely thin. How thin? I almost accidentally wrapped the grip with it in place. I would love it if someone would come up with a grip that had less plastic. Of course, I am sadly doubtful the grip material itself is exactly Earth Friendly. Tt

  • Sorry. FitMyFoot sucks.

    If you want to cut to the chase and try another insole instead of reading further, I get it. FitMyFoot totally sucks.

    The word custom usually gets my attention as does approved for HSA and FSA. So, I took a drive to my local Costco to check out the FitMyFoot roadshow. The show consisted of a person sitting at a table with shopworn insole samples strewn about.

    I grabbed one of the full-length models and found the heel section to be overly soft and squishy. The rear-foot bracing plastic was passable but nowhere near as substantial as what you’ll see in Protalus or SuperFeet. Let’s just agree, right now, not to mince words — the FitMyFoot insole looked like something you might see from Dr. Scholls in terms of build and materials.

    So, I figured there had to be more available FMF models. At first the woman at the table looked happy, thinking that when I said more models I meant more designs and colors for the top of the insoles.

    Nope. I wanted to know if there were more models in terms of arch support, stiffness, materials, thickness the answer again was nope.

    I have to say I was a little suspicious of the FMF concept from the get go. You see, I buy insoles to fit my specific tennis shoes as well as my feet. So, my snug fitting tennis shoes have thinner, softer insoles while my roomier shoes (Babolat — I’m looking at you!) have thicker and firmer insoles. My sense (and feel free to correct me if I am wrong) is that FitMyFoot scan feet to create an “exact fit” based upon on the outline of the foot, rather than taking into account how a person will be using the insole, their arch or any other specific anatomical details that are unique to the buyer.

    For me, FMF is a Hard Pass at $79.99. Wait, it’s a Hard Pass with my FSA / HSA cash, too. Tt

  • The Head Radical MP Graphene Touch

    Thing is, I don’t get many warm fuzzys from new rackets. No, for some reason I get the biggest charge out of rackets that are a few years old but still in great shape. That accounts for the appeal of my first (as in first racket purchased by me) racket, a Wilson Six.One 100, codename: Battle Ax in Tennis thing the audiobook. There’s a graphics sweet spot I like and it’s exemplified by my latest purchase, a Head Radical MP Graphene Touch. I snagged it for $50 at the Tennis Warehouse Store in SLO and had it strung today with Toroline K-Pop. Check it out:

    I mean, come on, Daddy-O, that thing is damn sexy! The racket itself is in amazing condition considering it’s eight years old. I was a little worried if my stringer, Jason, would say the grommets are done but they’re just dandy. The label on the throat shows a restring date of December 2018, so there’s that. The white Head Hydrosorb grip appears original with the white Head finishing tape applied in a neat & tidy way usually confined to original grips. Initial results are quite positive. If there’s anything worth adding about Toroline K-Pop I will comment in a separate post. Tt

  • Sometimes a one-off tennis lesson comes with a dose of just plain weird and that’s OK.

    I really enjoy taking one-off tennis lessons. I like to see how I will respond and I also like to see how a tennis pro facing the challenge of helping a student they are unlikely ever to see again faces the challenge. This time the fun took place during an unusual heatwave that made it all the way to California’s Central Coast where we have had a four-day getaway planned for months.

    The pro was a lefty and even older than me, if you can imagine. I was quite upfront that I was looking for someone to rally with but that instructive comment was always welcome. The rally lasted all but five minutes before the question, “Can you slice your forehand?” I said I could but found the shot less than common. Sure, it’s fun but it’s seldom needed or effective. But, I was game so I hit a few to show the shot was no problem for me

    Here’s where things got weird. The coach wanted to talk about the split step. It seems that a lot of his students land flat footed when asked to split step. He then asked if I knew about split step and float? I confessed that I did not. The coach went on to say that split step and float means the player lands on one foot, so as to aid their ability to move in that direction.

    No.

    That’s what I said, for a couple reasons. First, how is the player supposed to know which direction they need to know at the moment they split step? Second, the idea of hopping off both feet and landing on one seems like an unwise practice.

    Sorry.

    After the lesson I really felt badly. You see, the coach had hit on two genuinely good points. The first was a more level driving motion on high bouncing one-handed backhands. The second was to use the ball point to rotate the off arm toward the striking arm to aid in spacing. Both of those thoughts worked great.

    Yup, I would take another lesson from this guy.

    Yes, I think he was dead-wrong about the split step.

    Yes, I learned something during the lesson and I enjoyed myself.

  • Tumble on down

    About a month ago, I was playing with Pasadena Steve when he lobbed me—successfully, as it turned out. I say as it turned out because I got to the ball in plenty of time. The problem was that I was still going back, well beyond the baseline, waiting for the ball’s first bounce to finally be in the zone for an overhead. It was the first time we’d ever played on this court and there was a lot going on. The adjacent court was full of kids taking a group lesson. A couple parents were using our court’s bench to watch their kid.

    Worse, as I moved back for the ball I had the sense I was getting close to the fence. I was, but I wasn’t so close that my next step would have me crashing into it. At the moment I was slowing down and raising my racket above my head, I lost my footing.

    It was a classic case of tanglefoot.

    I knew I was going down, but there was little I could do about it other than try to roll into my right side as gently as possible. I hit with the right front of my right knee, then the outer part of my right knee and then my right hip before settling onto my back to appraise the damage. My hip hurt and my knee started to sting. Then I realized I was bleeding from another abrasion on my right elbow. But, overall I felt Ok, so I got back on my feet. By then I could hear Pasadena Steve—three years older than me—calling out to see if I was Ok.

    In the moment, I considered asking him if I looked like a big fucking baby. Instead, I picked up the ball and fed him a forehand.

    “Right back on the horse,” Steve called.

    Yup.

    Steve’s a nice guy. He’d just finished reading my first novel and had pages marked with Post-its so he could remember his questions. As I drove him home, I felt just a little shocky, like I had just been in a fender bender.

    My elbow was still bleeding but Pasadena Steve went on asking questions:

    Now, was Ally based on a little girl you knew?

    Me: “Yeah, she was based on a kid my ex-wife taught, second grade, as I recall. Her name was Daisy and she had terrible asthma yet her idiot parents both smoked at home in their tiny two-bedroom apartment.“

    And what about the name, Gerry Garcia?

    Me: “I wanted a name that was a little odd, Gerry with a G, and Garcia, vaguely Spanish sounding yet the guy’s a pale-skinned redhead. So, nothing really fits Gerry Garcia, not even his name.”

    Steve’s what I call a kindly and gentle reader. Even though he reads a great deal (he’s in three book clubs) he’s not jaded. He’s still ready to enjoy a new book on its own terms.

    When I pulled up in front of his condo, Steve asked me to sign both copies of the books I’d given him. I pulled out my trusty N°BK92 All-weather pocket pen and composed inscriptions while my elbow oozed blood. I’m really sorry I didn’t manage to sign my name in blood. As I drove toward home, I was especially thankful we would be in time for the end of happy hour at our beloved T. Boyle. In my book, a tumble on a hard court earns a bourbon. And if one is good, two are better.

    I was very grateful I hadn’t hurt myself. I couldn’t remember the last time I fell on something as hard and unforgiving as a tennis court. Decades, for sure. As much as I don’t want to do it again, I was impressed that I’d gotten away with it even once. The abrasions are pretty much healed now. I still have a bit of tenderness in my right hip. The strangest part is the stubborn pain in my right side. At first I thought my right elbow had been driven into my ribs but the pain wasn’t exactly in my ribs. It’s still hard to sleep on my right side. No matter where it was, I was very happy I didn’t have to sneeze a single time over the next couple weeks. It would have hurt.

    Which brings me back to gratitude. And to the fundamental constant in tennis: uncertainty. Lord willing, as my father would say, I will be 65 in a couple months. As much as I hope to avoid another unplanned trip to the court’s surface, I am undeterred. Tennis and I are good. We’re both worth it, come what may. Tt

  • 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