Category Archives: Inspiration
A New Logo!
After all these years of the old “RQ” it is time for a new look!
Please ket us know if you like the new look!
Keep it Up!
I am talking about our String Frequency Calculator tool. As of right now, as far as I know, WordPress does not support “interactive” spreadsheets, so our calculator is far, far, away running on One Drive!
Each time you enter user information it goes to the “cloud” and the calculation is made, then returned to racqeutquest.com, and you. It seems like a long way around but for now, that is what we have.
Here is how you can help. One Drive puts the application to “sleep” if the spreadsheet is not “active” for a short period. Then it has to be “jump started” which causes the blank display you may see. The fix is to keep it active! So every five (5) minutes or so do a calculation!
We think the information is fun and meaningful so please continue to use the Stringing Frequency Calculator!
Jack Anthrop Scores Big in Nassau!
Congratulations to Jack for his Finalist finish in the Junkanoo Bowl in Nassau!
Jack has been playing ITF events and was a qualifier for this tournament. Not only did he qualify, Jack went on the finals where he put in a great three (3) set effort against Harrison Gold, 6-7,6-2,5-7!
Jack Anthrop & Harrison Gold
Junkanoo Bowl
Well done, Jack! Congratulations
Brittany Goes to Washington!
Our good friend Brittany Tagliareni went to Washington recently and proceeded to win the Championship! Brittany travels to play tennis and has worked her way to one of the top players in the world and has represented the USA at some events.
Congratulations, Brittany!
Meet Jennifer
Jennifer walked into the World Headquarters of Racquet Quest the other day and asked to have her racquets strung. Nothing unusual about that, of course.
I looked a the racquets in her hand and thought to myself…” Well, where are they?”
In her hands were two (2) Head You Tek IG Prestige Mid racquets! If you don’t remember these, they are the pinnacle of the Head Performace series racquets. The head size is 93 square inches; the weight is 350 grams (12.35 ounces), with a swing weight of 309 kg/cm2 (10.9 ounces), and a racquet flex of 64 RDC units.
This is a great racquet for sure, but I don’t see many anymore in the good condition as these are. One needed a grommet set, but that was all.
The reason I mention this is to reassure tennis players that they are capable of using racquets they normally scoff at including a comment “I am not good enough to use that!” A lot depends on what you want to do with the racquet. In Jennifer’s case, she wants to get to the net as quickly as possible, and the nice recoil weight of 146.1 makes this a good racquet at the net! The low swing weight enhances the “mobility” of the racquet which also means this is not a particularly “powerful” racquet.
The new Head Graphene Touch Prestige Mid is still 93 square inches but now has a 16×19 string pattern.
If you are interested in hitting with a Head Graphene Touch Prestige Mid, our demo is strung with Babolat VS Touch natural gut which represents the purest combination I can think of!
Thank you, Jennifer, for giving me an example of what tennis players are capable of!
What is Pointy?
Briefly, Pointy is a program that allows shoppers to enter a barcode, or Google product search online, to see if that product is available locally.
As a long time user of Square as the POS in the shop, we engaged with Pointy as a service through Square so our clients can quickly see what we have in stock. A link to our Pointy shop is below so you can take a look around and let me know what it needs to be a valuable resource for you.
Every product you see on the page was input by Racquet Quest so it is in stock at the time the shop was opened, however, the images are supplied by the software so some may not be exactly updated packaging.
Just click here and browse the store!
If you have any questions or would like to hear about any “special offers” please call or text!
Our Standard Stringing Process
After seeing “After the String is Strung” some of you wanted to see a “While the String is Being Strung” video. I have several videos of the stringing process but I use them for my own review and to see if there is anything that can be done better.
So, the video(s) will not be “professional” videos and are intended for fun and maybe some understanding of what we do.
Grab a coffee, or something, and enjoy 24 minutes of stringing fun!
What is “Best Overall Performance”?
In our “Recommended Stringing Frequency” calculator we state that this frequency is to get the best possible performance from your racquet. But, what exactly is “best performance”?
To establish this we need to take you, the player, out of the picture for a moment and concentrate on the racquet and string setup. the reason is simple: no two players strike the ball the same way.
We start with “Swing Weight” which is the most important dynamic property of a racquet. So a higher swing weight will contribute to power and stability, thus performance.
Overall weight is important because you need to be able to get the racquet to the court and out of your bag! Heavier racquets contribute to energy, stability, and comfort.
Effective Stiffness is important because it represents the stiffness of the string bed (SBS) and the racquet stiffness (xxRA, or something like that). This number represents the impact each time you strike the ball. The higher the number, the stiffer, of course.
Of the four (4) things mentioned above we can control the string bed stiffness with ease. One of the easiest methods is to string your racquet regularly to maintain the effectiveness of the elongation of the string being used. Elongation relates to energy return in a string and while strings will stay resilient for a long time a well-worn string takes a while to return energy to the ball.
You, the player, of course, determine performance so when using the SFR you can enter a high UTR or Style rating or a low UTR or style rating if maximum performance is not required.
MonoGut ZX +ZX Pro…let’s talk about it.
If you have been around Racquet Quest for a while, you know we talk a lot about Ashaway MonoGut ZX and ZX Pro, with ZX Pro being the 17 gauge version. During this post when I use MonoGut ZX it will include the ZX Pro Version, to save pixels!
A few questions need to be answered before we begin:
1. Do you get paid to talk about Ashaway MonoGut ZX?………. No
2. Do you get Ashaway MonoGut ZX free?………. No
3. Do get to spend the summer at a lavish resort in Ashaway R.I. ………. No
4. Why do you do it, then?
The short answer is MonoGut ZX works in so many applications that it is impossible not to talk about it whenever talking about tennis racquet string, arm issues, durability, and performance!
The first thing we need to know about MonoGut ZX is that is not polyester. It is Polyetheretherketone, or PEEK, for short. MonoGut ZX can look exactly like many common polyester strings due to the monofilament format. Monofilament means it is one strand of material and is typically very smooth and shiny.
The appearance is where the similarities end. Without going into a lot of detail, the stiffness of the base material dictates the stiffness of the string, especially in monofilament formats. Every string we get is tested for “stiffness” and entered into our database. This stiffness is converted to Power Potential using proprietary software. Power Potential is easy to understand…the higher the number, the more powerful the string is.
To get to the meat of this topic, we need to know the relative values of these materials.
MonoGut ZX has a power potential of 14.62
Babolat RPM Blast has a power potential of 4.29
LaserFibre Silverline 2 has a power potential of 4.59
Luxilon ALU Power has a power potential of 4.42
Luxilon ALU Power Soft has a power potential of 5.72
There are hundreds of polyester based string, but this gives you some idea as to where they stack up vis-a-vis MonoGut ZX.
Why does this matter? Strings with very low elongation (power potential) get stiffer the harder the ball is hit! So what? So, if you have low power potential, you need to swing harder to get the ball to go as far as it needs to go especially if you are trying to hit with huge topspin.
MonoGut ZX is suited to many playing styles, racquets, and string patterns. That is why so many really good players are currently using it and winning with it. That is why it is important that we continue to talk about MonoGut ZX!
Maybe it is time to try MonoGut ZX yourself.
Ashaway MonoGut ZX Black
Ashaway MonoGut ZX Pro Natural
After the String is Strung!
I have often wondered what players know about the “stringing” process and in particular what goes on after the “string is strung”. So, while Madelyn was here she decided to video me doing what we do after each racquet is strung and just coming off the machine.
Had I known we were going to do this I might have dressed up a little, emptied the trash and fixed the crack in the wall behind the RDC! But I didn’t.
This video is offered as a “real-time” view of what we do with every racquet and is intended for information and fun only. If you have any questions please let us know…now enjoy the movie!
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