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Jeremy Plumley is a certified Master Racquet Technician (MRT) by the United States Racquet Stringers Association, a designation that is only given to service professionals who demonstrate superior technical competence and product knowledge in racquet sports. In addition he is also a certified teaching professional at one of the most prestigious country clubs in the United States, where he also is the pro shop manager for racquets, shoes and accessories. His knowledge of tennis equipment and teaching background give him the ability to recommend the proper equipment for the type of player he is working with.
Information On The "New" Pure Drive!!
 Just a quick post to update everyone on the staus on the new Babolat Pure Drive that is rumored to be coming... To recap, there have been several pictures floating around the internet of Andy Roddick using a new racquet. The specualation has been that Babolat will introduce the new version some time this year. Today I heard from my territory representative from Babolat that there will be a new Pure Drive that will be released this summer. He did not have much to say about it except that he believed that it would be a mainly cosmetic change. So it sounds like there will be no new technology to it (maybe a couple of upgrades), and the Cortex system will still be there. It looks a lot to me that Babolat is trying to stir up new sales by introducing a new look to an old racquet. Will this "new" Pure Drive be enough to get Andy a second Grand Slam title? I guess we'll just have to wait and see...
  Check back often for more breaking news!
Rumors, Rumors, Rumors...
You gotta love the off-season, as short as it is! I thought that I would write a quick message today talking about some of the "hot" rumors floating around cyberspace regarding racquets.
Djokovic to Head...
This one came up last year around this time as well. Rumor has it that Nole will be returning to his roots, by switching back to Head racquets. This season he used the Wilson [K] Blade Tour, but many skeptics will tell you that his frame is just painted to look like it. They will tell you that his Wilson racquet is based on an older Head frame he used a few years back, the Liquidmetal Radical MP. This year's version of the rumor has Djokovic switching to the Microgel Prestige Pro. The specs of the new frame make sense, but not the stringing pattern. The Prestige Pro is a 16x19, Novak has been using an 18x20. This leads some to think that there will be a new Head frame on the market soon. This makes the most sense to me. IF Djokovic is making a move to Head you can bet that he got a signature frame deal, maybe not right away, but it will be coming soon. We'll just have to wait a couple of weeks to find out.
A new Pure Drive for Andy?
Pictures (see below) have shown up online of Andy with a new updated Pure Drive. The new racquet has a lighter blue paintjob, and some new accents at the yoke of the frame. Is this the new Roddick Pure Drive? Will it have the hotly debated Cortex technology, or something new? This rumor seems logical to me. Up to this point Babolat has not introduced any new frames for 2009, and they have not had anything new since summer. They did just introduce the Cortex Pure Drive two years ago, that would be a quick technology turnaround, especially for Babolat who didn't change the original Pure Drive for six years! What I think i more likely is that they have updated the cosmetics on the Roddick signature Pure Drive to make it stand out more from the standard Pure Drive. I might be wrong, but it seems that if they were going to make a change to their flagship frame in 2009, we would have heard about it by now.
Pete's new stick
One thing that we do know for sure is that Wilson is introducing a new Pete Sampras signature frame in January. This rumor started heating up back in the spring when Pete was sporting a blacked out frame in his Madison Square Garden exhibition with Roger Federer. Word had it that Wilson had made a new prototype frame to bring back the classic feel of the old Pro Staff 6.0. Enter the [k] Pro Staff... This bad boy is 88 square inches, and almost 13 ounces of classic goodness. Wilson dropped a lot of coin to resign Sampras so they could cash in on what they think will be the year Fed passes Pete on the all time grand slam list. Look for a lot of commercial media if Roger wins the Aussie and ties the record. In the meantime, demo this racquet. If you have the game...
New Strings By Prince!
Hello to everyone! After a long absence I am back and ready to share some new stuff with you. Over the last several weeks I have been meeting with all of the manufacturer's reps and seeing all of the new products for 2009. In the next several weeks I'll be going through aof them and what they will be offering, but today I'm going to stick with Prince, and their new string offering for 2009.
On a personal note, a friend of mine, who was a former rep of mine is now in charge of designing the new strings for Prince, and these are his first offerings to the public! I was very excited to see what new things his expertise would bring to Prince, and how he would improve their strings. I have not had a chance to hit with any of these yet, so this will be a strictly informational post, but rest assured that I will let you know what I think once I get them in my sticks and have a hit!
 Premier LT16/17:
This string falls into the playability series. The new concept for this string is "linear technology." What that means is that the multifilaments are aligned in a parallel pattern, as opposed to other multifilaments that are twisted together. This allows for maximum dwell time, increasing comfort power and playability. It is available in both 16 and 17 gauge. I would guess that this string plays similar to Wilson NXT, and it should do well both as a full string job or as a hybrid. which we will get to later on.
 Poly EXP 16/17/18:
This strings falls into the endurance string category. Looking to gain a share of the "softer poly" market they have introduced Poly EXP. prince says that this string is "a crisp feeling polyester with plenty of power and durability." They have added 8 strands of softer poly to the core of this string to give it a softer feel (50% softer), for players who find traditional polys too harsh. This will compete with Luxilon ALU Power, Gamma Zo Tour, and will come in a bright Optic Yellow color (think tennis balls). It should also do well in a stand along set-up, or as a hybrid. This string is available in individual sets(16g, 17g, 18g) or 660' reels (16g and 17g).
 Twisted 16L
This string is also in the endurance series. I see this string as a purely cosmetic choice for poly users. What Prince has done is combine two different colors of poly (black/yellow, black/white, or blue/white) into one continuous string. I would imagine that this will play like a traditional poly, without many bells and whistles. Prince claims it will offer a softer feel and a cool look. I did see it strung in one of the new Prince demos, and it has a crazy look to it!
 Hybrid Spin EXPHybrid Power EXP
To take the trouble out of picking strings to hybrid together Prince has prepackaged two specialized hybrids to suit your needs. The first is Hybrid Spin EXP, which is a half set of Poly EXP (18g) and a half set of Premier LT (17g). The thinner poly strings that are meant for the mains will give you more bite on the ball, and since it is poly, you should have some decent durability. Hybrid Power EXP is the same two strings with 17g poly EXP and 16g Premier LT. The thicker strings will give you more durability, but not a noticeable jump in power.
In the next couple of weeks I will post a full review on these new strings from Prince, but I thought that I would wet your appetite by showing you what was coming down the pike.
My plan is to make about two posts a week over the next couple of weeks to cover all of the new stuff that will be coming in the new year, so check back often, and don't forget to come by the Essential Tennis Forums to discuss all of it!
Wilson Hollow Core Playtest!
OK, I finally got a chance to go out and really run the new string wide open! As I mentioned in my previous post, this string has surprised me in many ways. This trend continued on the court. Playability/Control: This is a huge consideration for me. My game, especially when I am playing doubles, relys heavily on touch and feely shots. I was worried that the surprising stiffness of this string would hinder these shots. I was wrong. While not as good as Natural Gut or soft m ulti-filaments like Wilson NXT, it does perform well on soft shots. I was able to hit drop shots and short soft angles without hesitation. The strings also felt good on my slice backhand, which has an important part in my return of serve game. Power:For those of you who have visited Wilson's website ( www.wilson.com/newstring) you see that they advertise Hollow Core as "Ultimate Comfort, Control, and Power." I did not find this string to be powerful. I strung my Babolat Pure Storm (98 sq. inches) at 63 pounds, which is a little on the tight side, but in comparison to other strings at the same tension, I did not notice any added power. I would rate the power level as average. Spin Potential:This was the aspect I was most curious about after I put the strings in my racquet. Since they measured so high on stiffness, I wondered if they would perform like a poly in this department. As it turns out, they do not. I did not feel like there was an increase in spin when I really whipped through the ball, like there is when I use Luxilon ALU Power for example. Like poly, there was very little to no movement of the strings during play. We will see if this continues as I play more with it. Ball fuzz does stick to the strings like it does with most non poly synthetics. For spin potential I felt they performed well, but not outstanding. All in all I am pretty impressed with Wilson Hollow Core. It strung and performed completely different than I would have predicted by the technology. What I have found is that when Wilson rolls out a new product in this manner it is usually a good product. For them to be willing to send out free sets to dealers, and then offer up more free sets to customers makes me think they are pretty confident in the technology. I would not be surprised if they roll out some other types of Hollow Core (maybe Hollow Core Spin...) strings in the future. The only thing that would make me nervous about getting too attached to this string before it hits the market is that I imagine that with the manufacturing processes that this string goes through, it will be expensive. My recommendation is that if you can get a free set from the website go for it! I also feel that it would perform well in a hybrid with a good polyester like Luxilon or Gamma Zo Tour. The added poly in the mains would help with the spin potential. I would also recommend trying it in the mains with a poly for added feel and touch. There are still some things that we will have to see about this string... Durability and how well it holds tension. So far the tension has held very well. After 24 hours there has been very little tension creep to speak of. To see how this string holds up, or to ask any questions, come by the Essential Tennis Forums and drop us a line in the Gear Review section. See you there!
New String From Wilson!
 Today I arrived at the club to find a small black box from Wilson waiting in my mailbox. Like a giddy kid on Christmas I grabbed it with great expectations! Upon opening the box I found a set of string in a very unusual package. There was no literature that came with it, only an imprint on the inside of the box that gave a website (www.wilson.com/newstring) to "fill in the hole."
After visiting the site I learned that the new string was called Hollow Core, and it offered the ultimate in Control, Power and Playability. Wilson has p[roduced a string that is in fact hollow on the inside. The core appears to be triangular, and it is wrapped with several multi-filaments, then it is coated to protect the fibers. Interesting... I saw that you could also register for a free set of the string while supplies last, so I had one sent to my house for further testing. Completely intrigued by this new string, I cut the strings out of my Babolat Pure Storm and replaced them with the new Hollow Core.
First Impressions: The string is crystal colored and felt stiffer to the touch than I thought it would be. With a hollow core I figured it would be very elastic, and soft. This thought was quickly put aside when I made the first pull. The string did not strech nearly as far as I thought it would. It pulled about as far as a normal solid core synthetic would, and it felt stiffer than I thought it would.
Ease of Stringing: The coating on the outside of the strings made the string smooth but not slippery. There was good grip and the strings slid through the grommetts and main strings with ease. There was no friction burn to make mention of. I also thought that a hollow core string would be more fragile. There was very little marking from the clamps, and no indentions were made.
After stringing the Pure Storm at 63 pounds, I put the racquet on the Diagnostic Center to check what the stringbed stiffness would be measured at. I was amazed when the result was 69/100. This is the kind of stringbed stiffness that you would expect from a polyester stringjob, not what appears to be a basic synthetic gut, much less with a hollow core! Wondering whet type of tension creep there would be I set the racquet aside for an hour and checked the stringbed stiffness again... 65/100 a slight drop, but we'll keep an eye on it throughout the day.
Thusfar these strings have defied my initial thoughts... I am really looking forward to getting out on the court this afternoon to give them a good playtest!
More to come soon!
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