It was not surprising that Carlos Moya ably defended his Chennai Open title. But what was surprising was the way he made Paradorn Srichaphan scurrying for cover with those blistering double-handed winners. The secret of Moya’s success lies in the 66-pound gut-tension racquets that the Spaniard used.And Shivkumar, the man who strung Moya’s racquets at Chennai, says this was not normal and that the Spaniard ‘‘specifically’’ asked him for the alteration. A regular at the tournament for the last nine years, Shivkumar reveals that Moya — since his debut in India — preferred 70-pound tension. But why this sudden change? According to Shivkumar, a low-tension racquet would give more power while a high-tension racquet better control. With the title in his mind, Moya got seven of them ready specifically for the final. Shivkumar, a player himself and employed with ONGC, pointed out that ‘‘each player prepares his/her racquet according to to the need of the hour’’. For instance, the Thai star began with a 62-pound racquet before settling down to 58-pound for the rest of the tournament. Jonas Bjorkman preferred 62-63 and Mahesh Bhupathi 62. Shivkumar further explains: ‘‘Players bring their own strings along, which at times include a combination of synthetic and natural (sheep gut). Prakash Amritraj, Srichaphan, Yen-Huen Lu and Jan-Michael Gambill brought both these varieties. Players use the synthetic variety for cross lines (stings running east-west).’’ STRINGING FACTS
