Federers bad year…

Another tournament and yet another loss. This time Roger lost to up and coming American player Mardy Fish who beat him 3 and 2 at the Pacific Open at Indian Wells.

Earlier this year Federer had said that the virus he was suffering from going into the Australian Open had upset his preparation for that tournament.

It would appear that its actually ruined the first three months of the year. Amazingly Federer is still number one in the rankings but surely he must begin to win tournaments soon or he will lose the coveted number one slot.  Mr BH

Bad injury

Well its finally happened I’ve picked up an injury which will keep me out for a few weeks – well up to 6 my GP says.

What happened was I was trying to hit a forehand down the line when I felt a sharp pain like a tear in the forearm near my elbow.

So now I’m off for some physio to hopefully start the healing process again. Mr BH

Strings part 4

Recently I’ve posted about the Wilson  Sensation strings that I had in my new Volkl racquet.

Well because those broke very quickly and believe me I dont break strings very often I had to get the frame restrung.

I chose to go with some Pacific PMX strings which “should” give you a nice feel if you hit with a quite flat shot which suits me.

So far so good but watch out for a comparitive review spreadsheet which I feel is going to be published later this year. Mr BH

Latest Surreys result

Last Sunday we played the third game of this seasons Surreys league.

It was home against a team from Southwark and they ran out comprehensive winners with a scoreline of 4 – 0.

Its fair to point out that our team didn’t play badly but we were up against a second team and we are after all a fifth team.

The reason they were in the same division as us? They have only entered this tournament in the last two years.

Anyway they basically outplayed us and it was just like playing our second team which would result in a similar score.

Out seasons record is now P 3, W2, L1 and we have a last game to play in March. More on that in a while. Mr BH

First away win

Today our team reached a milestone as we won our first ever Away game 4 – 0  our opponents didn’t manage to win a single rubber.  In the Surreys Tennis doubles league a rubber is a best of 3 set game with the first two sets being up to 6 with a normal tie break at 6 – 6 and a deciding championship tie break which goes up to 10.

Interestingly both doubles pairs won their first rubber in straight sets but lost the first set of the second rubber and had to win on the third set tie break.

If winning feels great then winning away is MUCH better.

So far this season we have played two and won two. That’s already better than last season.

Mr BH

Strings part 3

In a previous post see here I commented that I had bought a new frame and decided to try out some new strings. The strings were Wilson Sensations.

So how do they compare to the Volkl strings I am used to playing with?

Firstly they are thinner which I gather gives you more spin. I’m not sure I really felt evidence of that.

Secondly they feel different as you do get more “feel” when you hit the ball.

Thirdly they don’t last very long. I broke them on saturday which meant that I had only played 8 times with them at the most.

Thats all on strings for now. MR BH

Australian Open

Well boys and girls the Australian Open starts Monday next which of course means that the professional tour is really up and running.

I don’t have any predictions at the moment but I may post over the weekend. Mr BH

Australian Open on the BBC

Good news people living in the UK.  Once again the BBC is showing the Australian Open on BBC i get the shedule here. Mr BH

New Year New Strings

Having recently acquired a new racquet – yet another Volkl I have plumbed for some strings that I haven’t tried before – Wilson sensations in order to try something new.

So far I have played with Volkl’s own dura drive and also some Pacific space power. I found the latter to generate too much power and its possible that the sensations may do as well but watch this space. Mr BH

The Tennis Arms Race

As an ex history student I sometimes feel as if I am involved in an arms race at my club.

What do I mean? Well the people who make the tennis racquet’s obviously make their money our of repeat purchases and consequently they seem to change the style and design of the racquet’s every 18 months or so.

Looking around the courts at my club you can easily spot the players who have bought a new frame and you can feel the effect. Mostly it seems to me as if members are buying new racquet’s which generate more power and consequently if the person you are playing can keep the ball in play during a rally you can certainly feel the effect of their new racquet and new found power.

That said I will shortly need to replace one of my frames which was damaged due to a bit of infantile behaviour on my part. I am interested in testing the new version of my frame but unfortunately the manufacturer Volkl appears not to permit testing of its DNX 10 frames and consequently I will either have to buy a DNX 10 or just buy another of my current racquet the previous release so to speak.

At the end of the day irrespective of my personal decision the arms race wil no doubt continue. Watch this space. MR BH