Sam Stosur interview: Me and my racket
Related Articles
Featured
Anne Keothavong Blog: Desert times...
Blogging from the Californian desert, the 26-year-old Londoner tackles the British Tennis debate, and reveals a new found love of golf…
Latest Category Articles
This feature is taken from the tennishead Ultimate Guide to Winning Tennis magbook. Click here for more details about the magbook and how you can buy it.
tennishead: What was the first racket you played with?
Sam Stosur: It was a mini white Slazenger with multi-coloured strings! Then I got a Wilson Hammer Junior – that was my first real racket.
th: What do you play with now and why?
SS: A Babolat PureStorm. I changed to it just this year. It’s one of the best rackets I’ve ever used. I get lots of power with it but also lots of control. It’s the type of racket where if you put something into it, you’re gonna get it back. To me it’s a real racket. If you need a bit of touch, you can play that kind of tennis as well as the powerful stuff.
th: Do you think frames can match the type of game style that a player takes on court?
SS: Absolutely. In the past when I was a bit younger I wasn’t using the right racket for the way I was trying to play but as I’ve got a bit older I’ve realised how much equipment can help. I’m happy to have found a racket that really suits me.
th: How often do you get new frames?
SS: About ever three months.
th: How many do you travel with?
SS: I normally have six with me.
th: How many do you take on court?
SS: All of them, but on grass [it’s a bit different]. I don’t change rackets during a match that much.
th: How many are freshly strung before you go on court?
SS: Not all of them – between two and four on grass.
th: What tension are they strung at?
SS: Between 52 and 55 pounds. I always use the same string whatever the event, but I’ll change tensions from surface to surface. At Roland Garros I was stringing them at 53 and 54 pounds, some at 55 pounds, and in Eastbourne 52 pounds.
th: What strings do you use?
SS: Half Luxilon Big Banger and half Babolat VS gut.
th: Have you ever experimented with tensions? Ever dipped into the 40s?
SS: Ha, no. I’ve never gone that low. I know some of the guys string their rackets in the 40s so I reckon one day I’ll string one up really loose and see how it goes! Could be interesting on the volleys! With my old rackets I used to string them in the 60s, so it’s much nicer on my arm and shoulder now.
th: Vibration dampener?
SS: Yes, I’ve pretty much used them all my career – I hate the sound of the ball pinging off the strings without one, so they take that noise away!
th: Do you have your frames balanced with lead tape?
SS: Yes. When I was testing the PureStorm it had nothing on it, it was just off the shelf. I hit for five minutes and then I put a bit of lead tape on the top of the frame and bit on each side. I hit a bit more and I could immediately see that I was getting a lot more depth on my shots. Then I tried putting some in the handle, then I was hitting the ball too far, so you just keep playing around with it. It was very interesting and Babolat now do it for me. It’s tricky because you have to make sure it’s balanced right for your whole game – groundstrokes, obviously, and for me my serve is important too so the balance has to be just right.
th: What about grips?
SS: I use white Babolat grips on all my rackets and I always have a new one for every match.
th: Do you have any equipment-based superstitions?
SS: No, not really. I went through a superstitious phase during the French Open this year but after a few days was like, ‘No! I can’t do this, this is too stressful!’”
