Vibration Dampener, or not?

[don_budge]

geoffwilliams or anybody...talking about vibrations of a different kind.

My best junior and most ambitious player...Gustav, insists on not using a vibration dampener. When I ask him why not...he sort of vaguely says that "he wants to feel everything, he wants to feel the strings".

In my way of thinking, and I have tried it with and without, I want to feel the ball on my racquet and for me the best way to gauge how the ball feels on my racquet is with the dampener. I don't feel that I feel the ball on the strings without the dampener and the whole shot making process feels too "pingy" to me.

The young man has had an enormous love affair with power, residual from his previous training, and he can be rather impatient and wild. Every match he loses is a result of his lack of patience and control. I am trying to get him to roll it back a bit...to be more patient and have more control. I am trying to get him to use his power when appropriate but to always control points with a combination of pace and spin and placement.

He plays with a Technifibre T-fight 325 strung with Black Code with the tension right in the middle of the suggested range. Any suggestions?

[tennis_chiro]

The power of the ping!

geoffwilliams or anybody...talking about vibrations of a different kind.

My best junior and most ambitious player...Gustav, insists on not using a vibration dampener. When I ask him why not...he sort of vaguely says that "he wants to feel everything, he wants to feel the strings".

In my way of thinking, and I have tried it with and without, I want to feel the ball on my racquet and for me the best way to gauge how the ball feels on my racquet is with the dampener. I don't feel that I feel the ball on the strings without the dampener and the whole shot making process feels too "pingy" to me.

The young man has had an enormous love affair with power, residual from his previous training, and he can be rather impatient and wild. Every match he loses is a result of his lack of patience and control. I am trying to get to roll it back a bit...to be more patient and have more control. I am trying to get him to use his power when appropriate but to always control points with a combination of pace and spin and placement.

He plays with a Technifibre T-fight 325 strung with Black Code with the tension right in the middle of the suggested range. Any suggestions?

I've had similar problems with some of my players who like to play without a dampener. They like the "power of the ping". Personally, I can't even hit without the dampener. When I'm competing I use one at the top and one at the bottom of the strings. I hand my racket to these students (and my racket is an old TiFire, completely dead) and they can feel the ball and control it much better right away. But they seem to like to go back to the undampened bazooka!

don

[llll]

When I'm competing I use one at the top and one at the bottom of the strings.

don

isnt it against the rules to have a dampener above the lowest cross string??

[tennis_chiro]

Check the rulebook

isnt it against the rules to have a dampener above the lowest cross string??

I went through this a lot with top USTA officials who used to work for me at Huggy Bears. I was having a problem because some of my nationally ranked students were copying me and umpires and even some of the coaches at the USTA center in Carson were telling them they couldn't do that.

The fact is the rules do not allow anything withing the stringing pattern. You can actually have a dampener above the top string, below the bottom string and even outside of the two outside mainstrings. Unfortunately, a lot of the officials don't know the rules. Just nothing within the actual stringing pattern.

An easy way to think of this is to remember the old rackets that used to have the little thread at the top and bottom of the string job (above the top and below the bottom strings). You could use that thread to call "rough or smooth" when there was no letter on the buttcap for up or down on the spin.

don

[llll]

I went through this a lot with top USTA officials who used to work for me at Huggy Bears. I was having a problem because some of my nationally ranked students were copying me and umpires and even some of the coaches at the USTA center in Carson were telling them they couldn't do that.

The fact is the rules do not allow anything withing the stringing pattern. You can actually have a dampener above the top string, below the bottom string and even outside of the two outside mainstrings. Unfortunately, a lot of the officials don't know the rules. Just nothing within the actual stringing pattern.

An easy way to think of this is to remember the old rackets that used to have the little thread at the top and bottom of the string job (above the top and below the bottom strings). You could use that thread to call "rough or smooth" when there was no letter on the buttcap for up or down on the spin.

don

thanks
you are right

[GeoffWilliams]

The reason he does not like the dampener is that it dampens power. Those who use it have less power. The center strings are the longest, and most elastic strings, with the lowest sonic ping/tone out. Dampeners change the resonant frequency and elasticity of return, so that the sting is effectively shorter now, with a higher frequency of return, and the ball does not have as much power. Fed uses power pads, and no dampener. A little known technique that guys like this like, is a drinking straw, placed across the lower cross, which will dampen, and adds a lot of noise, a smack, which sounds like a broken string, and can bring them around. Joker uses one, as does nadal. Anyone know which other top ten players don't use them? You will never change his preference for power, as that is who he is as a player, and that is the reason he loses, power over control. Even if you point out to him that the best pros only kill the ball once out of three shots, he won't change his style or thirst for power. Even if you tell him the truth, and he believes you, he won't change his style. Set up a ball machine, and tell him to crush only one of three shots, and keep a record of which he misses, without telling him ahead of time. On every shot he should hear an interior voice: "Crush", or "push", as he is a player who hates the push style and loses to it, due to his lack of respect. They depend on that lack of respect as a psych. Tsonga, Berdych, use dampeners. Does Delpo? Does Murray? Berdych uses the old purple lux o ring they used to provide with every one of their string sets. See my pic, of a set I kept without opening it, as they are rare nowadays.

purple O ring luxilon big banger


Get him to try bhbr 16g/nrg2 hybrid, which has a lot of power, and a lot of control/spin.

[don_budge]

An interesting answer...

The reason he does not like the dampener is that it dampens power.

Those who use it have less power.

You will never change his preference for power, as that is who he is as a player, and that is the reason he loses, power over control.

Even if you point out to him that the best pros only kill the ball once out of three shots, he won't change his style or thirst for power.

Even if you tell him the truth, and he believes you, he won't change his style.

Set up a ball machine, and tell him to crush only one of three shots, and keep a record of which he misses, without telling him ahead of time. On every shot he should hear an interior voice: "Crush", or "push",

as he is a player who hates the push style and loses to it, due to his lack of respect. They depend on that lack of respect as a psych.

Get him to try bhbr 16g/nrg2 hybrid, which has a lot of power, and a lot of control/spin.

A compelling answer to a seemingly harmless question. I edited it above to try to understand it best. There are a couple of mindbenders in your answer.

Set up a ball machine, and tell him to crush only one of three shots, and keep a record of which he misses, without telling him ahead of time. On every shot he should hear an interior voice: "Crush", or "push",as he is a player who hates the push style and loses to it, due to his lack of respect.

Good observation here...there is, of course, a time to crush and a time to push, but most of the time you are playing somewhere in the middle of these two extremes. This is where I want him to be playing...tactically speaking.

What is bhbr16g/nrg2 hybrid?

I tried the "double" tennis_chiro...me likey!

Thanks llll for clearing up the legality on the matter...we wouldn't want to somehow cheat or not follow the rules! To gain an unfair advantage over our opponents, would we? That wouldn't be in the spirit of the game.

[GeoffWilliams]

Tourna makes big hitter blue rough, and it was blind tested by Greg Raven, and scored second behind vs team of 149 strings. Technifibre makes nrg2, a top multi, as they also make blackcode. The point is, to get him to dampen down the power in practice, so he can then do it in a match. All he can do is hit for power. NO other choice. Show him the stats how often he misses for power, vs, when he hits for control. Use the word control if you want rather than push.

[don_budge]

Tourna makes big hitter blue rough, and it was blind tested by Greg Raven, and scored second behind vs team of 149 strings. Technifibre makes nrg2, a top multi, as they also make blackcode.

Does Technifibre make something that substitutes for the "big hitter blue rough"? Which is for crosses...what tensions?

The point is, to get him to dampen down the power in practice, so he can then do it in a match. All he can do is hit for power. NO other choice. Show him the stats how often he misses for power, vs, when he hits for control. Use the word control if you want rather than push.

Understood. I use the word control all of the time...not that push is a bad word either. I push too...I admit it. I will do anything to control my opponent. If I had Gustaf's legs...or if he had my head.

Thank you. Great answer.

[don_budge]

Geoff, Don, llll...

Please see "Thoughts about Tradition"...Gustaf played with a dampener...and what is more he played with CONTROL and even pushed a couple of balls...he used power with intelligence. Major breakthrough!

Thanks for the input!!!

[GeoffWilliams]

Not even the best players of all time hit for power on most shots.