The race for ATP points began in Qatar with 20-year-old Andy Murray winning the Qatar Open title in style. But he might not have tasted glory on Centre Court at the Khalifa Tennis Stadium had it not been for the humble racket stringer.

Tucked away, out of sight of the public, were three men busy at work at the Khalifa Stadium, for the one-week long tournament working odd hours. Mark Holldorf, Michael Ettenberger both of Germany and Ronald Griffon of France are the unsung heroes who worked overtime to get the right tension in the tennis rackets for Murray and company at the Exxonmobbil Qatar Open.

The trio are part of the Technifibre company who have their presence at tennis tournaments in Moscow, Roland Garros, Berlin, Monte-Carlo and Barcelona. And they work amazingly long hours to get the tennis rackets in shape for all the star players for the next day's action.

'The hours are long, starting as early as 9am and finishing well after play and carrying into the early hours of the next day'


For them the task is not just getting the right tension in the straight and main strings of the racket but fixing the snapped strings as well. The hours are long, starting as early as 9am and finishing well after play and carrying into the early hours of the next day.

On the second day in Qatar alone they handled 70 rackets, and it takes anything from 20 to 30minutes to deal with a specific request. “A majority of the job requests are for snapped strings which were unusual, One reason may be because of the new surface they have been using this year” explains Mark Holldorf.

There are two types of strings used by the players - natural gut and synthetic fibre. Synthetic further comes in two different fibres - monofibre and multifilament fibre. The job demands a high level of technical skills, certification level, previous tournament experience and ability to work as part of a close-knit team.

Holldorf started the job as a 17-year-old and is now in his fourteenth year.He says most professional players use the synthetic monofibre quality strings and prefer to have the same stringer throughout a tournament, removing
any variation in the way the racket is strung.

Of the top players at the Qatar Open Holldorf said: “Andy Murray uses a mixture of synthetic and gut strings. Gut for the across string and Synthetic for the main strings. Davydenko uses a complete synthetic fibre, while Ivan Ljubicic uses natural gut for the mains and synthetic for the across.”

Getting the right tension in the strings is a constant process for both the players and the racket stringers. Holldorf likens it to a guitarist who gets pleasure in getting the perfect tension in his guitar strings.

One things is for certain. The stringers will be in for a tough fortnight at the Australian Open which starts this week.