Occupation: Repairs badminton and tennis racquets
You know what, HS Prannoy, city boy and one of the top badminton players in India today, used to come here as a kid. I have strung his bats during the time he used to play for district and state tournaments. Most of the top police officers and government officials who are good players are also my clients.
However, 33 years ago when I started this business, there weren’t many players in the city like we have today. All my clients were shuttle or ball badminton players. Tennis used to be played only by the elite. Today, many parents send their children for shuttle or tennis lessons at a tender age. This has created a great demand for people like me who does racquet maintenance.
I myself used to be a player and have represented Thiruvananthapuram district in tournaments back in the day apart from winning several local competitions. I still play every week at Sree Moolam Club.
I got into this after SSLC. My uncle Subramanium was my guru. He used to do this as a part-time job during the time when this was not a viable business. If my memory is correct, I learned all that is required to be a racket mechanic within a couple of weeks. It’s easy enough to understand and practise. But to be the best, it will take years. That knowledge of how well you have strung a racquet is something you pick up over the course of time.
Stringing is the main job. Players and serious hobbyists will never be satisfied with quality or tension of the string that comes with the racquet they buy from a shop. So they bring it straight to me for restringing. Good players and professionals restring their bats every two weeks as the strings lose its tension after several games. Hobbyists usually only restring when the string snaps.
It usually takes 20 to 30 minutes for me to string a bat and I usually get to work on 200 to 300 racquets a month. Basic stringing is done by hand and then I fix the racquet on the stringing machine to do the rest of the adjustments. The machine helps to string the bat to the precise degree of tension requested by each player. A well-strung racquet will give that sweet chime when you slap it on your palm.
The shuttle racquet tension usually ranges from 18 to 28 lbs. It will be printed on the hilt of the grip. If the string is too tight, it might damage the frame and if it’s too soft then the player won’t get the desired effect while playing. Professional players usually want their racquets strung at a high tension, which provides more control and power, while beginners and amateurs go for low tension. The most commonly used string are that those of Yonex-make. There are different kind of strings based on the style of playing: Hard strings are for aggressive players while soft strings and medium strings are mostly used by defensive players.
Although I do stock tennis racquet strings, most of the players bring their own string and usually tell me the exact tension at which they want it to be strung. I also get to string squash racquets while the number of ball-badminton clients has gone down as the game is rarely played nowadays. Apart from stringing I also mend broken racquets and replace grips too. Broken portion is glued together using a piece of Titanium.
My house in Sasthamangalam is also my workplace where I live with my wife, Ambili, and children, Vivek and Vidya. Most people know me as Murali.
Contact: 9847511946
(A weekly column on men and women who make Thiruvananthapuram what it is)
