By Luke Jensen, French Open Doubles Champion
Tennis fans, I hope this finds you all hitting winners! The season is heating up. The pros finished the American swing and are now in Europe on the French Open run on the red clay. This looks like Nadal’s last run after winning 14 Roland Garros titles. Hopefully, he will be healthy enough to battle for one more title.
There are so many fun players to watch on the tour, and it really feels like the youth are gently pushing the older generation to the side. Djokovic had a lackluster start to the year and has fired his coach Goran Ivanisevic. Experts suggest Sinner and Alcaraz will be favorites for the Roland Garros trophy. On the WTA side, Iga Swiatek is playing up to her standard and Coco Gauff continues to improve her talents. There are many extraordinary veterans in pursuit such as Osaka, Wozniacki, Kerber, Halep, and Azarenka — all with display cases filled with major trophies.
The clay court season that jumps right into the grass court season will be so much fun to follow. One of the areas of the game that the tour players fully understand is tweaking their gear for the various conditions. I’ve mentioned this over the years, but if you are a player that plays on hard courts and clay courts, make sure you have the right gear to play your best.
Make sure to ask your stringer if there any new string technologies that can help your game. Ask about a solid string tension and describe your style of play to the stringer. Remember, a faster hard court requires a string tension that is a little higher to give you more control. Clay courts are slower, so a lower tension will give you more power for the heavier conditions. Always look for more performance from your equipment. Even a quick restringing will help your racquet perform better. I use a simple formula on restringing a frame: If you play once per week, then string your frame one time a year. If you play three times a week, then restring three times a year. Give the stringer as much information as possible with your style of play and what you’re looking for in performance from your equipment.
Finally, look at your shoes. If you are a player that plays on both hard and clay courts, I highly recommend having a hard-court shoe and a clay-court shoe. Your local pro shop will have many options in popular brands for a shoe with support and tread that will grip those surfaces better. The player that wears a worn-out hard-court shoe on clay is basically wearing skates on the slippery clay.
I’m so excited for a warm and super-fun tennis season! Find more tennis friends and have more tennis FUN!
