Six Points

It’s September 15, 2018 and I’m in Pontiac, Michigan at the Wessen Lawn Tennis Club, playing the men’s doubles final of the U.S. National Men’s 55 Grass Court Championships. It’s 5 games all in the third set, and we are serving at 30-all…just six points from winning a national championship and the coveted gold ball. My right wrist is heavily taped and pretty much any movement brings sharp pain shooting up my arm, but all of my focus is on the next point. But before the next point is played, thoughts pass through my mind on how I happen to be at this place, at this time. I think of my dad.

“Yes Mom, I will definitely bring my racquet down to Santa Barbara over the Thanksgiving holiday.” I remember mentioning this to my mom in preparation for our trip to see my parents over the 2016 holidays. It had been five years since I had last played, but this may be my final opportunity to hit with my dad, who was in declining health. Each visit over the previous 5 years were the first without any tennis played. After a life full of tennis, I knew that this caused some sadness in my dad. He was always more interested in my tennis adventures than his own…which were considerable. My dad has won more national championships(125) than any man to ever play the sport. That’s 125 gold balls!

Each day during our Thanksgiving visit, I was able to get out on court with my dad and some of his tennis buddies. Sometimes my dad just sat courtside to watch, as the rust on my game was slowly peeled away. It sure did feel good to hit the ball again! I decided then, that I would look into playing tennis again upon returning home to our new home of Portland, Oregon. Sadly, my dad passed away on December 23, 2016.

Fast forward to December 2017, and I’m in Phoenix, Arizona for the Category 2 national Fiesta Bowl tournament. In the past year, my tennis play has progressed to the point where I accepted an invite to play doubles at this prestigious senior tournament. My old college teammate and lifelong doubles partner, Steve Schultz, on a whim had reached out about playing again after 12 years off the senior tennis circuit. In the 40 and over division, we had been ranked #1 in the country and had twice won the Fiesta Bowl tournament. I would keep my expectations low for this return to tournament play, but looked forward to the challenge, and to hanging out with my old friend again.

To my surprise, Steve and I worked our way through 4 tough matches, to take home the men’s 55+ doubles title. Two of the teams were top nationally ranked teams, including the nations #1 Leo Young, who was partnering Michael Megale. We were able to sneak out a 7-5 in the third set victory in the final. What a week!

In April, we had another impressive showing, this time at the Men’s 55+ National Hard Court Championships, in Atlanta, Georgia. Playing well, we found ourselves in the semi-finals, playing US #1 Leo Young and Stuart Saiki. The hotly contested and entertaining match came down to an acrobatic lunging volley by Saiki at 4-5 in the third set to seal the victory for Young and Saiki 6-4 in the final set. For the third place/bronze ball match, from 4-5, love-30 down, we were able to win 12 out of the final 13 points to win the match and steal the bronze ball away from our opponents. It felt great jumping on the plane home, with the bronze prize carefully stashed away in the overhead compartment.

Stealing the bronze ball

A month later, we are in Boise, Idaho for the Men’s 55+ National Indoor Championships. After another tough loss in the semi-finals, our third place luck has run out, as a strained calf muscle has us retire in the third place match. Next up…grass courts in September!

Arriving in rainy Michigan, we only get one day of practice on the grass prior to our first match. The conditions are wet and heavy, and sometime during our practice, I feel some pain in my playing hand(right) wrist. I don’t give it much thought, as I’m focused on our first match, which will be my first competitive match on a grass court, ever.

We get through our first match in two close sets, with a steady pain in my wrist. Fortunately the adrenaline has kicked in and the prize too important for me to not continue. We work our way into the semi-final. Each pre-match warm-up starting with a short court hit, that allows me to get used to the pain in my wrist. Down an early break in the first set, the rain begins to fall and the match is halted until the following day. My only hope at the time is that I will be able to play the following day.

Lawn tennis at its best

The next day brings plenty of sunshine, and we quickly break back and continue on to win the first set, but then drop the second. This time, everything goes our way in the final set, and we roll into the finals. This will be my first final at a Tier 1 National Championship. With at least a Silver ball in the bag, I knew that this would be my best chance for gold. Our opponents in the final will be US #1 Leo Young and Stuart Saiki…our old friends!

The morning of the final, the wrist is not good. The plan will be to go heavy on the adhesive tape, ibuprofen, and plan the pre-match warm up for right before we go on court for the match. The first few hits of short-court hitting are excruciating. But after a bit, I’m able to push the pain aside and know that I will be able to play the final.

We jump out to a great start, and end up taking the first set 7-6. One set to go. The tennis from both sides is at a high level. We seem to bring out the best tennis in each other. The afternoon turns hot, and you can feel the moisture trapped in the grass from earlier in the week being pulled up into the atmosphere. All four players are soaked in sweat.

A service break late in the second set, gives the set to Leo and Stu 6-4. Now it’s down to one set for the title. An early break of service in the set gives the edge to our opponents, but we continue to battle and try to stay close. With Leo serving for the match at 5-4, we come up with some of our best tennis of the tournament, including a game winning short slice backhand on break point that I was able to negotiate into a shot that just cleared the net and produced an error that evened the match at 5 games all. We are back in this!

So here we are, Steve serving at 5-all, 30-30. Six points to win the title. I look to the sky, with thoughts of my dad, trying to draw inspiration knowing that he has been in this position many times. I also feel his presence, knowing that he is cheering us on and proud of the way we are competing, but mostly just happy that I once again discovered my love for tennis.

Competitors & Friends. Leo, Me, Stuart & Steve (left to right)

With only six points from the title, the unthinkable happens. We lose the next six points, and thus the match 7-5 in the final set. Leo and Stu raised their games during this important stretch in the match to close things out. And while it was difficult to lose the match, we played our best and just lost to a better team that day.

It would be another 10 weeks before I’m able to play tennis again, thus ending my season. Upon returning home, an MRI revealed a sprained wrist and a healthy dose of physical therapy and rest to follow.

I often think back on that match and those six points. I so desperately want to win a national title and a gold ball, but know that I still have some time to do so. Having been that close and not making it to the finish, gives me extra motivation to keep working towards that goal. And when it does happen, it will be especially satisfying. But if it doesn’t, I know just by playing, I know that my dad is happy…and that is what is most important to me.

Adventures with Larry: Bats & Night Markets

There is nothing like the excitement of the Taiwan street markets.

In the early 1990’s, I held the position of Product Manager for Mizuno Tennis. The world’s largest sporting goods manufacturer, had its US headquarters in Norcross, Georgia…a suburb of Atlanta. At this point, I was still fairly early in my tennis industry career, but had been around it long enough to feel like I knew a thing or two about tennis equipment. My days at Mizuno were some of the most rewarding in my career, as I was allowed a lot of freedom and resources to develop some pretty innovative products.

In those days, we sourced most of our products from Taiwan, as well as some from Japan and Hong Kong. Taiwan was the capital of the tennis industry back then, with most larger brands sourcing from the hub of Taichung, Taiwan.

I would typically make the swing through Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong(our bag supplier) about 3 to 4 times per year. Most of the time, I would travel alone, or meet up with my European counterpart. But on a couple occasions, I had the pleasure of traveling with our General Manager, Larry Collins. Larry, an amazing tennis player(played Wimbledon in his day), in his time at Mizuno was one of the most fun-loving people I’ve ever known. He was a young child in a 50+ year old body. And as much as he tried, Larry just couldn’t keep his dress shirts tucked in. In the dictionary under Man-Child, is a photo of Larry. I mean this description of Larry in the best possible way. I absolutely loved working with him, and wished more people would be like Larry, who never took himself too seriously.

Being with Larry was always fun. Traveling with Larry was an adventure. He took every opportunity to get into some mischief. In Taiwan, there was always something that would provide him with the chance to show the young kid(me) something new, or experience some interesting food item that could only be found from one of the Taiwanese street vendors. Snake blood and other disgusting foods just had to be tried!

Business did take place on these trips, as the long days were spent working with our various suppliers, ironing out the details of the new product line. The days work would often yield some new products to playtest that evening. On one trip to finalize the new Reactor series racquets, we were driven to the local public tennis courts of Taichung. These courts were a hotbed of activity, and known by the locals as the spot to play…especially in the evening hours, when the best players came out. The tennis center had several red clay courts and some of the worst lights I’ve ever played under. The place had a very odd vibe(think Bladerunner)to it, but to this day remains one of the most interesting places I’ve ever played.

Soon after our playtest session began that evening, word had circulated around the tennis complex that some American hotshots from Mizuno were on site…one a former Wimbledon player. We were soon approached about playing some doubles. We accepted and made quick work of the challengers, only to find the next team waiting to take us on for another set! This continued for several rounds, as Larry and I faced stiffening competition each time, but prevailing in the end. But before we could make our exit, I was approached for a set of singles by the father of one of Taiwan’s top teenage female players. While hoping to decline the offer, Larry stepped in to accept the challenge for me. He was going to enjoy watching me get run around by the teenager! And enjoy he did, with a steady stream of heckling aimed my way. I think the entire tennis complex had gathered around to witness our set of tennis. Somehow, I found enough game to withstand the final challenge and finally put an end to the nights tennis session.

Before leaving the tennis complex, I asked our host about the birds that were flying over the courts..just above the dim lights. During our hours on court, there was a steady stream of birds flying low enough for you to see. Our host laughed and suggested that those weren’t birds. They were bats! Apparently they fly over the city by the thousands each night.

On our way back to the hotel, a quick stop at a street market for some dinner…it was probably around 11pm by then. Oh, let’s stop here, says Larry…they have some really big snakes!! As hungry as I was, I had to pass on the snake, but ended up eating some kind of meat on a stick.

The next day was our final day at the racquet factory, with just some final adjustments to the racquets from the evenings playtest session. Later that day, with new racquets in hand, we were once again taken to some courts to test the racquets. It was a rainy day, so they took us to the local university, which had indoor courts. To our relief, we were the only people at the indoor courts, but that only lasted a short time. Word had spread from the previous evening that the American’s were a formidable team and must not leave Taichung without losing a doubles match!

A couple of young hired guns were sent to the university courts to take down the Americans. Fortunately the fast indoor hardcourts suited our games, and we were able to hold off the final challenge of our trip. With glowing reviews, we signed off on the new Reactor racquets and quickly headed for the door, before someone else showed up to challenge us!

Over the years, I made a few visits to the playtest courts in Taichung, but that time with Larry and the bats will stick in my memory, as one of the most memorable tennis nights of my life.

1957

It was the summer of 1957, and kids are out playing with the new high-tech flying devise from Wham-O called the Frisbee! Chevrolet is trying to keep up with production of its latest release…the 57' Chevy, and Elvis is settling into his new home at Graceland. But all eyes turn toward England in late June to see if the worlds #1 tennis player can capture the title at the All England Club, and become the first black tennis player to hoist the Wimbledon trophy.

In 1956, Althea Gibson had become the first African American tennis player to win a Grand Slam title, by winning the French Open in Paris. Althea’s graceful style and athleticism make her the one to watch at the 1957 Wimbledon Championships. The energy surrounding the tournament is electric, as this years tournament is destined to be remembered for many years to come.

While Althea was getting the headlines in her quest for tennis’ most coveted title, there were many other players at the Championships, fulfilling their dreams of playing on the historic lawns just southwest of London. One of those players is Robert Vincent Sherman, an American from Alhambra, California, who at the age of 37 is making his Wimbledon debut. Sherman, an extremely talented athlete, who had been a track and field star, and former professional basketball player, had just picked up tennis at the advanced age of 30. Now just 7 years later, he is playing on the sports biggest stage. But with the big names of tennis filling the main show courts, Sherman is locked into a battle on one of the outer courts, with British hopeful, and future International Tennis Hall of Fame member, John Barrett.

As can be expected, the largely partisan crowd is overflowing the area surrounding the court and letting it be known that they want to see the British #5 player advance to the second round. But what unfolds that afternoon is not exactly what the crowd had expected. It seems that this older bloke from the colonies is holding his own against the 25 year old Barrett. This is not going to be a walk in the park!

Sherman, who had made his way through the qualifying tournament, is off to a good start by winning the first set 6-4. Once described as a Gazelle with tennis shoes and a racquet, the nimble Sherman is all over the net with his serve and volley assault. The pro-Barrett crowd is perplexed, as they witness the events unfolding on court. This Sherman guy is not the villain they had hoped for. He seems to relish the opportunity to interact with the crowd, and seems to carry on a continuous dialogue with both himself and anyone in attendance who is willing to take up the conversation.

The second set is a topsy-turvy affair, as both players dig in for a battle. With the score knotted at 10 games all in the set, Sherman catches Barrett off guard with his patented “popcorn” shot, which is similar to today’s “tweener”, hit with back towards the net. In this case, the miracle shot produces the only break of the set, which allows Sherman to hold serve in the following game to take the set 12-10. Sherman now leads 2 sets to love, but nobody is moving from their seats. In fact, more seem to be filling in any space available.

A somewhat dejected Barrett, continues to hope that he will find a way past the hard charging Sherman. Lifted by the supportive crowd, Barrett finds his chance with Sherman serving at 5-6. On break point, the tennis gods seem to smile down on the British player as his service return clips the top of the soft net, and rolls over on Sherman’s side without a reply. Barrett claims the third set 7 games to 5. Word has spread around the grounds that an epic battle is taking place. The crowd gets even bigger and louder!

Early in the fourth set, Barrett, now brimming with confidence, begins to show why he is one of Britain’s top hopes for going deep into the event. He breaks Sherman’s serve early on in the set and holds out to win the fourth set 6-3, to even the match at 2 sets all. The hour is now late, even by London summer standards. So most spectators remaining on the grounds have huddled around the Sherman v Barrett match in the fading light.

The famous Wimbledon Queue, as spectators wait to be allowed on the grounds.

Meanwhile, Althea Gibson is resting comfortably, preparing for her upcoming match the next day. Trying to stay fresh and focused on the task in front of her, she isn’t aware of the epic struggle still taking place on the outer courts of Wimbledon. She always makes a point to follow the results of her fellow Americans, so will check the draw closely the next morning.

As the fifth and final set gets underway, it is clear that Sherman is struggling. This 37 year old Gazelle is now beginning to show his age against the much younger Brit. But adversity is not something that Robert V. Sherman has shied away from during his life. In fact, he has found a way to deal with the most difficult situations with a smile and a sense of humor.

Robert was the youngest of three children in the Sherman household, living in the Los Angeles area. His father was a rug maker, who was a strict task master when it came to dealing with his children. Young Robert, seemed to be impervious to the pressures of growing up during this challenging time. The Great Depression hit when Sherman was just 9 years old. Without a “pot to piss in”, the Sherman family made due with what they had, with the youngest member of the family spending most of his time playing any sport he could.

The conversation with himself and the British crowd has now been going on for nearly 5 hours, as play continues into the fifth set. The once lopsided crowd is now remarkably cheering on both players! It is clear at this point that the American has given everything he has to this point, so the crowd is showing their respect in the only way they can. They now see that the nearly forty year old is living out his dream of competing in the most important tournament in the sport. And compete he surely did!

Both the remaining daylight and the final set go fairly quick, as it’s nearly dark by the time Barrett prevails 6-1. As the players embrace at the net and the crowd stands in full appreciation of both athletes, Robert V. Sherman is already planning his next move. Never one to focus on a loss, he is thinking about the summer ahead. As a school teacher, his summers are now spent traveling the planet in search of tennis tournaments. His young tennis career is just beginning.

As June stretches into July the once green grass courts, have now turned brown. Althea Gibson makes history by besting Darlene Hard for the Women’s Championship. The very next day, in an all-Australian men’s final, Lew Hoad beats Ashley Cooper for the title. That same day, July 6, 1957 in nearby Liverpool, Paul McCartney meets John Lennon for the first time. But that’s another story...

John Barrett could not recover from his first round battle, and lost his next match to future legend Roy Emerson. In total, John competed at Wimbledon for 18 years and became the sports top historian, entering the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2014.

The Sherm’s white sideburns! Circa 1970’s

As for Robert V. Sherman, he qualified again for the Wimbledon main draw 2 years later at the age of 39, this time losing yet another epic battle of over 5 hours, losing to Alan Bailey of Australia 8-6 in the fifth set! But once again, Sherman was looking to the future. And what a bright future it would be. Before his tennis career was over, The Sherm would end up winning more National Championships than any male tennis player ever…EVER! 125 national titles. Not bad for a track running, basketball scoring school teacher who took up tennis at 30.

Ten years after his epic battle with John Barrett, Robert V. Sherman married my mom…I was 5 years old. Many of the details of their match reported in this story are based upon watching the Sherm play tennis for many years. He was never one to talk about past matches…always moving forward. So, we never really talked about the match. If he were alive today, I would love to hear him talk about his match and his life back in the summer of 1957.

This past month would have been the Sherm’s 100th birthday. He passed away a few weeks shy of his 97th birthday, but was still on the tennis court up to the very end. We had our last hit just a month before he died, during our Thanksgiving holiday visit. As always, he was still enjoying his time on the court. Still encouraging my own play, and wanting to know about my next tournament. Typical…always looking forward!

The teacher and the student!

Blendology 101

If you’ve had a chance to browse through the menu of string options available at Portland Racquet Works you’ve no doubt been curious about the many custom string blends offered. To help you understand a bit more about these mysterious string blends, we offer this post to help explain our philosophy of Blendology.

Portland Racquet Works is always testing new blends to find the perfect match to our customers needs

As both playing style and tennis equipment evolve, there has been a need to discover new ways of matching the perfect equipment to a players style and the desired results of the player. With the introduction and growing popularity of monofilament Polyester strings, an entirely new player was introduced to the tennis world. Many players of the current generation quickly adopted this new string that would allow them to control the more powerful racquets in their hands, while at the same time generating ferocious spin and jaw dropping power.

Unfortunately, not all of the desired results were achieved by this shift to Poly strings. So this is where things started to get interesting. First off, many of the Polyester string suppliers started developing different versions of their popular strings. Luxilon was grabbing a huge share of the string market with the introduction of their Original Big Banger string. But for some, the string didn’t give them the bite or comfort they wanted. So, the string engineers went to work on strings like Alu Power, Alu Power Rough, 4G, etc, etc. Other string suppliers also got into the act by introducing their own versions of Poly. But what really changed things, was when players started to mix multifilament strings with the Polyester strings. Roger Federer was one of the pioneers in this growing trend. Having switched to a slightly larger racquet head, he wanted to find a string that would allow him to harness the power, but also take advantage of the new spin possibilities of his new racquet. Having been a natural gut player during the early parts of his career, he wasn’t comfortable going to an all Poly string bed. With some extensive testing, he finally settled on a mix of Wilson Natural Gut for the main strings and Luxilon Alu Power Rough for the cross. This was that perfect blend that would give him what he needed to compete at the highest level. In the years since Roger started playing with this new Hybrid Blend, many of the worlds top players have made the switch to similar set ups.

So what does this Blending of strings mean for the average recreational player? This question has several answers. The blending of strings can provide performance enhancements like added spin and control of a powerful racquet. It can also provide more comfort, as compared to a full poly string bed. It can even provide an opportunity to save a few bucks. But like an experienced bartender in the art of Mixology, it takes an experienced racquet stringer to advice a player in the art of Blendology. And sometimes you can expect the process of finding the perfect blend to take a few trials before settling on the best one.

If you feel you are missing something in your game, perhaps it’s time to look at your strings and talk to a good blendologist to see if they can find what you are missing.

With a switch to a larger racquet head, Roger Federer went with a Natural Gut/Poly hybrid string bed.

Saint Vincent & Gold Taxi Cabs!

If I were to write a book of short stories about the tennis industry, I would include the story of tiny Saint Vincent Island and the Gold Taxi Cabs! This is a story that was told to me by several reliable sources…so I’m considering it to be mostly true!

Saint Vincent Island

Not that long ago, the giant of the tennis industry, Wilson Racquet Sports, had some of their tennis racquet models manufactured on the tiny Caribbean Island of Saint Vincent. Among the models made here, were the game changing Profile and the original Pro Staff 6.0 85…better known as the racquet of choice of Pete Sampras, Jim Courier and other world class players.

During my years working for Wilson, I heard about some of the strange happenings at the factory on Saint Vincent. Apparently, after working on the original plans to launch the Profile racquet, which became one of the most iconic game changing racquets in tennis history, the product team from Wilson took a trip to the plant. Upon arrival at the airport, they made their way through baggage claim and customs to hail a taxi to the nearby hotel. To their amazement, they were greeted by an odd site upon reaching the taxi stand. It seems that nearly all of the taxi cabs were freshly painted gold. Now that isn’t exactly odd, except they were all painted the same gold color that was featured on the Profile racquet!

During meetings at the plant later that day, one of the product managers from Wilson inquired about the gold taxi cabs. Quickly, the owner of the plant proudly stated that the local taxi service was owned by his brother. The plant owner then went on to explain that he wasn’t sure that this crazy looking Profile racquet would sell…so in order to use up the gold paint, he offered that his brother could use it to paint his taxi cabs!

Well, as it turns out, the plant manager was somewhat right in his fears. The Profile became so popular, as did some of the other Wilson racquets, that they moved all production out of Saint Vincent to Taiwan.

Pete Sampras and his Saint Vincent Pro Staff

As a side note to this story, the moving of production from Saint Vincent to Taiwan became a bit of a big headache for Wilson and their rising star players Pete Sampras and Jim Courier. Apparently, the new models produced in Taiwan didn’t feel the same! So, quickly the players and Wilson grabbed every Saint Vincent Pro Staff they could get their hands on and set them aside for Pete and Jim. While Courier eventually was able to switch to a slightly different painted model, Sampras played his entire career with the Saint Vincent racquets. This may explain why you never saw Pete smash any racquets!!

Product Review: Long Live The King!

One of the regular topics on PRW News will be product reviews. I will do my best to review products without any bias. I do not receive any payment or free product from any of the product brands that I review. So now that that’s out of the way…where to start?

Pete Sampras and his Tourna Grip

In today’s age of “new and improved” we sometimes forget some of the original products that started the trend. Maybe the original never needed to be new and improved! Thus is the case of the OG overgrip…Tourna Grip. I once was a big fan of this overgrip, but fell under the influence of marketing and other road blocks in my way that directed me down the road of new and improved. After years away from Tourna Grip, I decided to throw it on one of my racquets. Wait..what!!! This stuff is great!! In fact, if possible, even better than I remember.

Now I will confirm that I fall into the dry/soft camp of overgrip users, as opposed to the tacky overgrip camp of such models as Wilson Pro Overgrip or Yonex Supergrap. Let me tell you, the good old Tourna Grip with its old school packaging, still stands up to all of the overgrips that have been introduced in the many years since the beautiful blue grip first hit the market in the 1970’s.

This review is being written during the hot outdoor season here in Portland, so the grip is getting its share of heavy perspiration. While never a grip that lasts forever, the grip stays firmly attached to my hand even during the longest points under the hottest conditions. Apparently the original plan was to develop a chamois cloth for drying cars after washing. In the development, they were finding that the material was almost too absorbent and was sticking to the cars! Fortunately for tennis players around the globe, the idea was hatched to cut it into strips and try it on a tennis racquet handle. The rest, as they say is history!

For me, I’m now stuck…literally…to Tourna Grip. If you haven’t tried it in a while or never had the chance, I think you too will enjoy the light blue grip that doesn’t slip.

The Johnny Mac Encounter

My first job in the tennis industry was with the legendary Belgian tennis brand, DONNAY. The same brand made famous by supplying racquets to Bjorn Borg, and later Andre Agassi, to name a few. I was the sales rep for Southern California, Arizona and Las Vegas. Don’t laugh…Las Vegas was a booming tennis market back in those days of large tennis retailers Nevada Bob’s and Las Vegas Discount Golf & Tennis!

Sometime during one of my first years with the company, I was asked to take care of a “special” project. During the end of one of my tours of Arizona, which was a descent hike from my home in So Cal, I called into DONNAY headquarters. It was a Friday around noon and I was making my final call into the office before they closed for the weekend(they were located on the east coast). This was back in the day before cell phones, so I often found a quiet payphone to call in periodically. They were super excited to hear from me…Oh great, it’s Chris calling! Dave (Director of Marketing) wants to talk with you!

Hey Chris, I need you to drop everything and head back to LA to pick up an engineer from Belgium. He’s flying into LAX tomorrow night. But Dave, I still have a couple of appointments here before heading home. Dave says, here’s the deal…we have a playtest scheduled with John McEnroe in Malibu at noon on Sunday. We need you to track down the same string Mac uses and get to the airport to pick up the engineer. He is coming with about 12 racquets. You will need to string them and have them ready in time for the playtest. But Dave, I don’t have a stringing machine. Well you are going to need to figure something out! No problem Dave, just give me the details.

So I hit the road and make it home just before midnight. On the way, I stop and call my good buddy who often let me use his stringing machine. Sure, I can use the machine, but we won’t be home. We will leave a key under the mat, but you will need to find a way to get into the building…how hard could that be? I make another couple of calls trying to locate at least 12 sets of uncoated US natural gut string…Mac’s string of choice! It turns out, I will need to drive all over Los Angeles on Saturday to get enough string for the job.

Saturday night, I’m off to LAX to pickup the DONNAY engineer whose flight is due in around 10pm. Sure enough, he shows up with a bag of 12 racquets…each one a slight variation of the same model. I drop the engineer at his hotel and am off with stringing instructions and a promise that I will pick him up around 10 am Sunday morning for our drive out to Malibu. All along I’m doing the math and know that it will be an all-nighter of stringing and hopefully I can get them all done for the big playtest.

During this time in John’s career, he was finding that the guys with the new graphite racquets were hitting the ball with much more power than he could generate with his trusty old DUNLOP wood racquet. He needed to make a change, and do it quick. Turns out he calls his buddy Bjorn Borg, who had retired early from the game and asked him for advice. Borg tells him to contact DONNAY! So, Mac’s agent gets on the phone and a playtest is scheduled.

I finally get settled into my buddy’s apartment shortly after midnight. Twelve hours til playtest!! Stringing with uncoated natural gut is no picnic and always takes some extra time to make sure everything goes well. As the night wears on, I keep looking at the nearby sofa, but know that there simply isn’t enough time for a nap.

With not a minute to spare, all 12 racquets are strung and I’m out the door. A quick stop at the hotel for the engineer and we are off to Malibu to visit John at his house.

I remember walking up to John’s house on the beach in Malibu. Mac and his wife, Tatum O’Neal had purchased the house from Johnny Carson. I had no sleep and very little food, but suddenly I’m standing in front of an open door with a bikini-clad Tatum welcoming me into their home. John and Tatum’s young children are running around the beachfront home…it was madness! John and his agent Sergio are happy to greet us, as we provide an opportunity to escape the madness.

John tells us that we will go hit on the courts in Malibu Canyon. Apparently only the locals know about the courts, so we are to follow them in our car. I’m sure I broke several laws just trying to stay with John as he is flying down Pacific Coast Highway in his Mercedes couple…with New York plates.

At the courts, we take a few minutes to tell John about the racquets. He is very excited and notes his admiration for the brand, solely because of his respect for Borg and all the matches he lost to him while Borg was wielding his DONNAY Borg Pro.

Sergio and I on one side of the net, while John takes the other. The engineer feeds John a racquet and several shots are hit back and forth. Some racquets get only a few shots before being tossed aside, while others get more play…some even get John excited, as he tests the limits of the racquets power and feel.

After an hour or so, we’ve gone through all 12 test racquets. John is encouraged by the results and mentions that he really likes a few of them. It’s decided that the engineer will make some revisions based upon his feedback and get the next round of racquets back to me, so I can coordinate another playtest.

Before we leave the court, I ask John what he thought of the stringing of the test racquets…just so we can get them right for the next round of testing. John mentions that they were strung perfectly. Whoever we had string them, did a fantastic job! Apparently John must not have noticed the dark circles under my eyes from lack of sleep, but I was most relieved to have past the test. I must admit that I was a little bummed that some racquets hardly got any play…all of that work to get them strung!!

A few weeks later, word comes from Belgium that the racquets are ready and that I am to deliver them to John at the upcoming Davis Cup match in San Diego. With luck, I find a retailer in San Diego who has John’s favorite string and is willing to string them for me. I make arrangements with Sergio and schedule a time to drop off the racquets at John’s hotel once the racquets are strung. This time it’s a quick visit with John and Sergio as I explain the revisions to the racquets. John will test the racquets after the Davis Cup tie. He thanks me and I’m out the door.

A few months pass before I hear anything more about John and the test racquets. Apparently, while really liking the racquets, his current brand DUNLOP has produced a new graphite model that he likes a little better. That racquet, the 300G turns into one of DUNLOP’s best selling racquet models of all time. As for the DONNAY models that came out of the playtest, they too were pretty sweet! So I guess all was not lost.

While the experience of getting everything sorted out for the playtest was a bit crazy, to say the least, it was a great opportunity for me to be a part of it all. I mostly enjoyed the conversations with John about the racquets and to feel the admiration and respect he held for his old rival, Bjorn Borg…who happened to be my favorite player when I was growing up. And little did I know then, but my work on this project would lead me to run an even larger project…the Andre Agassi project! But that’s another story for another time...

John and his DUNLOP 300G

In the beginning...

As a 10 year old, our family began a journey into the unknown.  Both my parents gave up their careers and moved the family of four to Claremont, California, where we would be opening a new tennis club.  My father would be the Director of Tennis, with mom taking on duties as membership sales and pro shop manager.  My brother and I...well, we mostly just hung out and played lots of tennis!  

During that first summer, we actually lived in the clubhouse(a very cool old stone house) while the club was being completed.  As our first players started coming out, I noticed several players with the letter "L" stenciled on their strings.  Wonder what that is, I thought.  After repeatedly seeing this mysterious L, I quizzed one player about the logo emblazoned on his racquet.  His reply wasn't exactly what I had expected.  " That my young friend is the signature of the wizard himself"...wait, what?  A real wizard??  "Yes, he is a racquet stringing wizard who is quite legendary in these parts."  

Having just started my career as the clubs new racquet stringer, I had to find out more about this legendary wizard.  Surely he couldn't be as amazing as everyone said.  Maybe I could start stenciling the letter "C" on my racquets and I could consider myself a wizard?  

Little did I know, that this was my first real introduction to someone who was a master craftsman.  I learned from some of his customers that this wizard was the most precise stringer and paid attention to every detail.  Remarkably, he tuned each racquet with the help of his piano!

How was I going to compete with that?  I didn't know how to play a piano!  

Flash forward these 40+ years later...  I never did learn how to play the piano, but what I did learn from this mysterious racquet stringing wizard, was that details matter and to never stop learning and perfecting your craft.  And while I still don't feel confident enough to stencil a "C" on the racquets I string, after stringing over 10,000 racquets, I still feel that I am learning...and will never stop.  For this life lesson, I am forever indebted to the wizard.  Who by the way was actually a gentleman by the name of Gaylord Linden...that's where the "L" came from!  This wizard holds several racquet stringing patents and was most surely the only stringer to use a piano to tune racquets.

With this new beginning of Portland Racquet Works, I feel that I have been working on this project since I was a 10 year old.  I feel that the wizard would be pleased that in some way, I am doing my best to live up to his high standards.

I look forward to tuning your racquets.

Chris Merrill ~ Portland Racquet Works