Big thanks to Declan, who helped me to compile his player profile over the weekend. Declan is currently one of mine, and a lot of people's, favourite players to watch on the tour. Great movement, attacking play and getting better all the time. Last year's win in Nantes was a great result and the squash on display was top quality! Declan is one of a number of top players to have recently started wearing Eye S-Line Shoes, which are proving a real hit on tour. Like Diego Elias, Declan also uses Dunlop rackets. So Declan is using two of the top brands on the market at present, representing great heritage and innovation in equal measure! This profile includes advice for aspiring pros, Declan's fa
What are ‘factory strings’? You’ve probably heard players, coaches and stringers mention the term before, but I think it’s important to understand the mechanics of a racket coming straight from the factory. Factory strings are quite literally the strings which are placed in the racket in the factory they were made. Most manufacturers assume (rightly) that advanced players will cut the original strings straight out of their rackets upon receipt, replacing them with their preferred string and tension. As such the factory strings will often have the following characteristics: Low quality, but durable strings – normally synthetic gut Varying tensions across the same string bed Stencilled painted
This month's player profile comes courtesy of Millie Tomlinson, currently ranked No 22 in the world! Millie likes to play at a fast pace and on her day is capable of causing some big upsets, most notably beating, arguably the greatest female squash player of the modern era (and one of my all time favourite players), Nicol David, towards the back end of 2018, As a professional stringer, its always useful to gain some knowledge on what the pro players are stringing their rackets with and the general setup. It helps us to gauge what works well in certain rackets. Millie, for example, uses Ashaway PowerNick, strung at 27lbs, in her Dunlop squash racket. This may seem fairly high for the type of
