Oz Down Under – Are you sure this isn’t Kansas?

By Vince Chiarelli, PTR, MRT and Owner of String Along With Vince in Largo

Stringing At the Australian Open

You saw plenty of news about the players at the Australian Open in the press and on television, but how about those green bags covering the freshly strung racquets? Those green bags were from TOPSERVE TENNIS, the official stringing service of the AO for 2006. I was one of the stringers filling those green bags. The team of world-renown tournament stringers had three Americans, one Japanese, one Czech, one English, and the rest Australian. A special feature of this team was the fourteen languages spoken by stringers or support staff, making players from around the world feel at ease and assured that their stringing instructions were clear.

All but a handful of players used the official service, so the team was extremely busy. 3000 racquets went out in those green bags. We worked at a hectic pace from early morning until late at night. During the first few days of the main draw, the team processed over 600 racquets. We got little sleep and a couple of the stringers just stretched out on the floor for a few hours to save time. The work days “shortened” to 12 or 14 hours after the third round of the main draw, but the pressure was still intense to get the racquets out on schedule. The stringers took turns on the “hot seat” standing by for racquets coming from court during a match.

Since the weather in Melbourne varied from cool to warm and back again, and the balls were changed this year to a different brand, many players experimented with different tensions on multiple racquets. The sponsoring manufacturers gave players new models to try which also led to experimentation with stringing. All of this added up to lots of green bags!

At many tournaments the stringers are stuffed away in some obscure corner. At the AO we had a crowded but well-lit and organized workroom convenient to the players. Besides the stringers, the team included support staff who received, cleaned, stenciled, bagged, and distributed the racquets. The outstanding performance of the stringing team attracted steady media attention. A series of photographers, reporters, and videographers visited the stringing room. The stringing operation also was a stop on the corporate tours of the Melbourne Park facility.

A lot of my friends and customers have said they thought it would be wonderful to get an opportunity to string at the Australian Open or NASDAQ or China Open. They don’t consider that it is work with a capital “W”. The long hours and intense effort took a toll on the stringers—aching shoulders, backs, legs, and feet; numb, swollen hands and fingers; severe fatigue. Few stringers can meet the mental and physical demands of tournament stringing, especially at the Grand Slams.

One thing that’s very important when visiting “Oz” is getting familiar with the language. A typical greeting would be, “How you goin’?” Where we say,”No problem” in Oz it’s,”No worries, mate (pronounced, ‘mite’)”. If you have finished a job or fixed a problem, “you’re laughin’ now”. Oh and they drive and walk on the left. The people were great, the country was interesting, but even at five weeks, the time was short. –G’day mate! (pronounced G’die mite!)

Copyright 2006-Vince Chiarelli
By Vince Chiarelli, MRT, PTR, Owner of String Along With Vince in Largo