Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Tennis and its tools

By Kevin Gillett

Tennis has always inspired us. It has given a lot of delegated pleasure. When open era began, rod laver charmed us with his magic. Then the floodgates opened. Since then, there has been Bjorg, Connors, McEnroe, Lendl, Sampras, Federer and Nadal. Each has been classy with their various shades. Few had great muscle power; others had those subtle from-the-death shots. Still others defined their play with magical backline game, fluid backhand and forehand strokes and a lot more. All of this made tennis the great sport that it is today; liked by many and admired by still many.

We have been so much charmed by their magic that the instruments have largely been at the backstage. Their role in making the game what it is cannot be seen in lesser light. Think of the players playing in vacuum without the tennis racquets and balls. Did you know that a tennis racquet which seems so unassuming in the hand of a player is full of specifications? Professional racquets have a slim beam width. It gives high range and flexibility to a player. It even betters his drop shot. Such racquets are ergonomic and hence provide with a comfortable grip.

Speaking of balance, the racquets are either heavier from the head or lighter from the head or evenly balanced out. In terms of length, they are divided over 5 sizes. They can be of 27 inches, 27.25 inches, 27.50 inches, 27.75 inches and 28 inches. Today, tennis is being avidly followed by the youngsters. This means that there is a lot of junior racquets floating in the markets as well. They have feather grips and come in relatively smaller sizes. Used racquets is in itself an industry and is sold at different offline and online stores at reasonable prices.

The racquet strings are made out of animal gut. It has a laminated wooden frame. In present times, the wooden laminations are not used in general for lack of stiffness. They are being replaced by titanium, fiberglass, ceramic or some other alloy. The gut uses nylon today. The racquet head is adequately bent to provide the players with more comfort while playing low shots and shots from the corner of the court.

Tennis balls role cant be belittled either. It is 6.7 centimeters in size. It comes in yellow color. The professionally used balls use 15-18 chemical to get the required consistency. Rubber is the chief ingredient. This is why Southeast Asia is the top producer as rubber is found abundantly over there. Felt of a tennis ball is most important feature. It is steamed to give higher wind resistance and relatively low bounce.

Tennis bags also come in many sizes. They can be 3 racquet, 6 racquet, 8-12 racquet holders; they can also be duffle gears or wheeled tour accessory bags. Companies like Wilson, Head, Dunlop, Nike and Adidas are producing high quality bags that can hold a lot and yet be a non-bulky friend of tennis players. - 15438

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