The hours are long, starting as early as 9am and finishing well after play and carrying into the early hours of the next
day''
-------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------Therace for ATP points began in Qatar with 20-year-old Andy Murray
winning the Qatar Open title in style. But he might not have tasted
glory on Centre Court at the Khalifa Tennis Stadium had it not been for
the humble racket stringer.Tucked
away, out of sight of the public, were three men busy at work at the
Khalifa Stadium, for the one-week long tournament working odd hours.
Mark Holldorf, Michael Ettenberger both of Germany and Ronald Griffon
of France are the unsung heroes who worked overtime to get the right
tension in the tennis rackets for Murray and company at the Exxonmobbil
Qatar Open.The trio are part of the Technifibre company who
have their presence at tennis tournaments in Moscow, Roland Garros,
Berlin, Monte-Carlo and Barcelona. And they work amazingly long hours
to get the tennis rackets in shape for all the star players for the
next day''s action.For them the task is not just getting the
right tension in the straight and main
strings of the racket but fixing
the snapped strings as well. The hours are long, starting as early as
9am and finishing well after play and carrying into the early hours of
the next day.On the second day in Qatar alone they handled 70
rackets, and it takes anything from 20 to 30minutes to deal with a
specific request. “A majority of the job requests are for snapped
strings which were unusual, One reason may be because of the new
surface they have been using this year” explains Mark Holldorf.There
are two types of strings used by the players - natural gut and
synthetic fibre. Synthetic further comes in two different fibres -
monofibre and multifilament fibre. The job demands a high level of
technical skills, certification level, previous tournament experience
and ability to work as part of a close-knit team.Holldorf
started the job as a 17-year-old and is now in his fourteenth year.He
says most professional players use the synthetic monofibre quality
strings and prefer to have the same stringer throughout a tournament,
removing any variation in the way the racket is strung.Of
the top players at the Qatar Open Holldorf said: “Andy Murray uses a
mixture of synthetic and gut strings. Gut for the across string and
Synthetic for the main strings. Davydenko uses a complete synthetic
fibre, while Ivan Ljubicic uses natural gut for the mains and synthetic
for the across.”Getting the right tension in the strings is a
constant process for both the players and the racket stringers.
Holldorf likens it to a guitarist who gets pleasure in getting the
perfect tension in his guitar strings.One things is for certain. The stringers will be in for a tough fortnight at the Australian Open which starts this