0:01 So, you're [music] thinking about
0:03 customizing your racket. The question
0:05 is, should you do it? In today's video,
0:07 we're going to hear from the world's
0:09 most famous racket customizer, Diet
0:12 Cali. Diet works with a lot of the
0:14 current world's best tennis players to
0:16 fine-tune their rackets to suit their
0:19 needs. I was fortunate enough to meet DA
0:21 in Paris at a Technifiber event where he
0:23 presented to me and a bunch of other
0:25 racket reviewers explaining the
0:27 importance of getting swing weight
0:29 right. As in the modern game of tennis,
0:31 trends are changing massively. And in
0:33 this video, you're going to hear all
0:35 about it along with whether you should
0:36 be getting your racket customized or
0:38 not. Let's dive in.
0:40 >> Hi everybody. Uh my name is Dus Khali.
0:42 My I look a little bit tired because we
0:44 I just came back last night from the
0:47 baby script. So Sunday night I was not
0:50 in the best uh state, but I'm okay. Uh I
0:54 brought Nicolola. Uh we expanded the
0:57 company five six years ago. um DC
1:00 customizing and Nikolola he he I know
1:02 him from when he was 15 years old and
1:03 then he was totally out of tennis. He's
1:05 a good player. He came to me and said I
1:08 want to come back in tennis and we
1:09 started working together again and now
1:12 he's fully in the company. So uh it's
1:13 good to have two people because it's
1:15 becoming a little bit too much. The
1:18 brand has grown technially so it's uh
1:19 yeah too much is too much. [music] I
1:21 used to play, let's say, two, three
1:24 future tournaments, like $15,000 dollars
1:27 in the past when I was younger. I didn't
1:30 win much, but okay. And uh but I still
1:32 play. So if I go on court with somebody,
1:36 it's good. Many people don't know, but
1:38 where do I get the scientific part of my
1:40 job? Because I think many people
1:42 customize, but you really need to know
1:44 also the science.
1:47 So one of my teachers but he just died
1:49 recently was his name is Walter Vandom
1:51 Brown but you guys don't know he was an
1:53 engineer physical engineer and he was
1:56 teaching the federation Belgium about
1:57 material so everybody who wants to
1:59 become a teacher in the Belgian
2:01 federation they need a diploma material
2:02 I think it's one of the only countries
2:05 who does that so he was basically a
2:06 scientist and he learned me basically
2:11 all the theoretical part of my job so
2:15 this is how I got into yeah customizing
2:17 so uh yeah that's about it so now we are
2:20 doing fulltime that's it customizing the
2:21 first thing I want to do tennis has
2:25 changed a lot yeah so I'm going to need
2:28 three volunteers
2:29 so what we're going to do is you can
2:31 close your eyes and I just want the
2:33 static weight of the record you can hold
2:37 it 7 8 seconds okay and you just tell me
2:40 the static weight be careful because
2:42 he's going to swing that >> [laughter]
2:47 >> not hit the table as well.
2:49 It's not that heavy. Doesn't have strings.
2:50 strings.
2:53 >> That's a good remark. [laughter]
2:54 >> How did you see that? >> No.
2:56 >> No.
2:58 >> I mean, is this 300?
3:02 >> 300. Okay. Can you put a ticket? 300. [laughter]
3:08 >> That's not even
3:09 >> Do I have to close my eyes? >> Yeah.
3:19 time.
3:21 >> No strings. Three times.
3:26 >> Yeah. Without
3:30 >> you can swing or you can swing.
3:37 >> 325. >> Okay.
3:55 >> Oh, you were so close.
3:56 >> What is it? >> 331.
3:57 >> 331.
4:00 >> Yeah. So this is the first player of the
4:03 old generation who was playing, let's
4:06 say, like we play now. Okay. How do we
4:08 play now? Everybody knows a little bit.
4:10 It's a little bit lighter, but he played
4:12 still heavy because the old generation
4:14 played heavy. But it was the first guy
4:16 to play with an easier swing weight than
4:18 before. It was tennis became fast. It
4:20 was Fernando Vandasu, one of the first
4:23 clients, big clients I had. So he was,
4:25 let's say, one of the pioneers. He
4:27 didn't know it was. Now, in case you
4:29 missed it, that was Fernando Vadesco's
4:34 racket, weighing in at 330 g as a static
4:35 unstrung [music] weight, which may seem
4:37 heavy to you, but he was one of the
4:39 first players to play with a racket with
4:41 a swing weight lower than it static
4:43 weight. And since then, trends have gone
4:45 in that direction. Players are playing
4:48 with much lighter swing weights. As the
4:50 game has become that much faster,
4:51 players need to wield their racket
4:53 through the air much quicker. The
4:55 challenge, however, when it comes to
4:57 specking up rackets correctly for these
4:59 lighter swing weights is stability. As
5:02 if you imagine a tennis ball weighing 55
5:05 g traveling at 100 mph, that's a lot of
5:07 force going into your racket. And if the
5:09 swing weight is too low, you're going to
5:10 lose a bit of stability. And so, the
5:13 real key is finding the correct balance
5:15 for you and your game style. Diet now
5:17 explains how swing weight actually works.
5:18 works.
5:21 >> And the ball is going faster. But today
5:23 when you customize a racket you don't
5:25 look only at the player anymore. 25
5:27 years ago you could see okay this player
5:30 hits swings like this we're going to
5:31 make the racket quite heavy and the ball
5:33 is going. Now there is no time. So
5:35 basically you have to look at time issue
5:38 and customization issue. Okay. The
5:41 biggest problem also in tennis is I need
5:45 two people. Where is Victor? Come here.
5:48 And you same. Yeah.
5:50 Yeah.
5:54 I'm going to show you like easy. The
5:56 biggest problem in tennis is this today.
5:58 Hey, you ready?
6:02 Hey, you ready?
6:06 Okay. So, today the people want to play
6:08 lighter because they need to react
6:11 faster. Tenn is going too fast. But if
6:14 you don't swing, it's difficult because
6:16 the ball, let's say, is taking over the
6:19 racket. Yeah. So today customization is
6:22 more difficult I think than in the older
6:25 times. So what can we say is that yeah
6:26 you can go back okay
6:28 >> that the [laughter]
6:31 we have all the numbers basically of
6:32 many players and I think every stringing
6:36 service uh Unix techniber babalot they
6:38 measure the rackets from all players
6:39 there's no secret I mean they're going
6:41 to take the rackets and they measure
6:43 them I think so what we see is that the
6:46 players play 20% lighter than let's say
6:48 the time of feather and the swing weight
6:52 has go down 22%. Yeah, it's very it's a
6:54 lot. Yeah, some of them not. Some of
6:56 them Yes. But basically, if you take the
6:59 average of all players, the weight and
7:01 look at for example, they play lighter
7:03 and lighter and lighter. Yeah. The
7:05 problem is if you become it's becomes
7:07 too light, you get this. Okay. You need
7:10 to find solutions. Yeah. Maybe a good
7:11 thing to explain. I think some of you
7:13 because I've seen also your videos,
7:15 you're quite smart.
7:18 >> No, but it's true. Uh but some of them
7:20 they not know but I want to show you
7:23 something special. What really is swing
7:25 weight? How can you show it to the
7:27 people? Because the most difficult thing
7:28 to show to the people is weight. They
7:30 know balance they know. I think you'll
7:33 know. But what is swing weight? Okay. So
7:40 So imagine
7:43 we have 330
7:45 and I stick
7:47 >> I stick
7:51 8 g in the middle. Okay. What is my weight?
7:53 weight? >> 30
7:54 >> 30 >> 338
7:55 >> 338
7:59 >> 338 is my weight. Okay. My balance I can
8:08 Voila. It's still the same like it was.
8:23 Okay, it's 287.
8:25 Okay, now [music] this one is really
8:29 easy. Yeah, really light. Okay,
8:31 maybe one question. If you are wrong in
8:33 the answer, don't [music] worry. It's
8:35 good that you learn.
8:39 Does it exist the same balance, the same
8:41 weight, but a different swing weight? Is
8:43 it possible or not? >> Yeah.
8:43 >> Yeah.
8:47 >> Yeah. Most of them. Yeah. It's good.
8:49 Some of them maybe hesitate, but look,
8:55 Did I change my weight? >> No.
8:55 >> No.
9:00 >> Nope. Did I change my balance? >> No.
9:00 >> No.
9:03 >> Some of them are looking I'll show you.
9:06 Yeah. Here we have a manual balance. You
9:07 can work the balance with two scales.
9:10 Okay. But for traveling, I prefer a
9:11 manual balance. We travel a lot and if
9:14 you calibrate everything, for me this is
9:19 more easy to work with. So still 30.6
9:30 [clears throat]
9:34 So this one is 290. Gun up. Same weight,
9:36 same balance, different swing weight.
9:39 What we can say in general is that this
9:43 racket, yes, is more for a little bit
9:45 shorter swings because the weight is
9:47 further away. Yeah. The swing weight is
9:49 higher. Let's say for example, type like
9:52 Murray, it's easy. Yeah. And this is
9:58 more the modern version of the racket.
9:59 If you play lighter and lighter, Yeah.
10:01 the swing weights are going down. Yes.
10:04 And also the weight.
10:05 Okay, if you go customizing for the
10:07 player, you can also play with the
10:09 balance because the biggest problem
10:12 today is and everybody knows is long for
10:15 and then short back ends. So, it's not
10:17 so easy. Yeah. To customize because the
10:20 long fore end needs an easy swinging
10:23 racket, but the back end they need mass.
10:25 And this is where we try to do our best. >> Yeah.
10:26 >> Yeah.
10:28 >> To test with the player and see how far
10:30 we can go. So, basically, we do
10:30 [clears throat] the fore end. It's
10:33 normal. the fore end has to go first and
10:35 then sometimes the back end becomes too
10:37 short and then you have a problem and
10:40 then it's up to us to find a solution. >> Yeah.
10:40 >> Yeah.
10:44 >> So basically this is how we uh how we work.
10:44 work. >> Yeah.
10:45 >> Yeah.
10:47 >> Higher swing weights are great for
10:49 players with shorter swings. Picture a
10:51 player like Andy Murray with his very
10:53 compact swing on both his forehand and
10:55 his backhand. The extra mass in the
10:57 racket can add to the force that he puts
10:59 back into the tennis ball. But as you
11:01 can imagine, a heavier swing weight is
11:03 not so good for players that want to
11:04 swing really fast through the air. This
11:06 is where lower swing weights can help
11:08 for those longer, faster swings. It's
11:10 much easier to wield the racket around.
11:12 And so rather than power coming from the
11:14 mass of the racket, it's coming from the
11:15 speed of the swing, which is what we're
11:17 seeing a lot more in today's
11:19 professional game. But as you saw and
11:22 heard, the real challenge is that most
11:24 players, including yourself, have very
11:26 differentized swings when we compare our
11:28 forehand to our backhand. Most players
11:30 have a much bigger swing size on their
11:32 forehand than they do on their backhand
11:34 side. And so the key is figuring out how
11:36 you want to play. If you feel as though
11:38 your forehand is your biggest weapon, it
11:40 might be worth having a slightly lower
11:42 swing weight, allowing you to swing fast
11:44 on that side. But the compromise comes
11:46 on your backhand side with your shorter
11:49 swing. If you don't have as much mass,
11:50 you're not going to get as much power on
11:52 that side. On the flip side, if your
11:54 game isn't quite as explosive, if you're
11:57 more of an absorber, then maybe a
11:58 heavier swing weight will suit you as
12:00 having those more compact swings can
12:02 allow you to control the ball, redirect
12:04 it with a lot of stability. To finish
12:07 with, diet gave us a little test. He
12:09 gave us two customized Technifiber
12:10 firefs. [music]
12:13 One had a slightly higher swing weight
12:15 than the other. We had a few seconds to
12:16 hold the racket and swing it around, and
12:18 then we had to decide which one had the
12:20 higher swing weight. I was one of the
12:22 first to choose along with Greca from
12:24 Gladiators Tennis and we were both
12:26 pretty confident that we'd got it right
12:28 until Beckett from Tencom chose the
12:30 other racket and then there were some
12:31 serious doubts.
12:34 >> So one racket
12:36 they have the same I can say it. Yeah,
12:37 maybe it's better that I say it and then
12:39 you can feel it. One racket they are
12:45 both 300 g. Okay, they are both 32.9 balance.
12:46 balance.
12:49 Okay. But they have a different swing weight.
12:51 weight.
12:54 It's not easy. Even me, it's tough.
12:57 Yeah. So, it's good that you you feel
12:59 the racket. Maybe it's good that they do
13:00 it all. Or you have time to do it all.
13:02 Yeah. Yeah. In two groups. Yeah. Yeah.
13:04 >> Okay. We split in two groups. We're
13:06 going to do it with real rackets. And
13:08 he's going to If you don't feel it, you
13:10 go to the how do you call it? The second
13:13 [laughter] group.
13:15 If you come with him, I give you a free
13:17 beer. [laughter]
13:19 We are here to learn. Okay. Because when
13:22 we do the test, yes, it's not always
13:24 easy. I'm doubting. Okay. Here we made
13:25 the big difference.
13:26 >> That's the thing. I didn't doubt. I didn't
13:26 didn't
13:28 >> like it was so it was instant.
13:30 >> I didn't. Yeah. Because if you do it
13:32 five times, I think the groups will be
13:34 better divided. But you were here about
13:37 learning. So it's it's okay. But this group
13:39 group
13:40 >> was right.
13:41 >> Okay. Okay.
13:47 But the most interesting part of
13:49 Dieter's presentation was actually when
13:51 he was asked, "At what point in your
13:53 tennis journey should you be looking to
13:55 get your rackets customized?" Sadly, I
13:57 didn't record this part, but I remember
13:59 it word for word. He said that it really
14:01 depends on a number of things. However,
14:04 if he were to give a very broad answer,
14:06 it [music] would be as soon as you start
14:08 earning money from competing, that's the
14:09 time where you should start taking your
14:11 racket customization seriously, which
14:13 for 99.9%
14:15 of the tennis playing world, we're a
14:17 long way from that. However, there are
14:18 some basic things that you can do to
14:20 customize your racket to get the most
14:22 out of it. Number one is you can get
14:24 your rackets matched. Now, you might
14:27 know that most racket manufacturers come
14:29 with a range of acceptability when it
14:31 comes to their specs. As if you buy
14:34 three identical rackets, they could come
14:36 with slightly different weights and
14:37 slightly different swing weights. And
14:39 so, if you are a player that's taking
14:40 your tennis seriously and you've got
14:43 multiple of the same racket, it may be
14:44 worth getting them matched up. But one
14:46 thing to bear in mind is you can only
14:49 have them matched up to the highest
14:51 weighted racket that you have. It's very
14:53 difficult to take weight off of a
14:55 racket. But the reason why DA said that
14:58 customization isn't necessary for every
15:01 player is that rackets nowadays are
15:03 designed for the consumer. They're ready
15:05 to be picked up off a shelf and played
15:07 with. And honestly, even for my tennis,
15:09 I consider myself to be a decent tennis
15:11 player competing for my county and my
15:14 nation in the over 35s category. I
15:16 actually don't ever customize my rackets
15:18 unless I have two of the same racket
15:20 that are very different, then I have
15:21 them matched up. But honestly, rackets
15:23 today are incredible. And so, don't get
15:25 too caught up on the specs. [music] But
15:28 what I would say is experiment with your
15:30 strings and your tensions as it's not
15:32 your frame that makes contact with the
15:33 ball. It's your strings for the most
15:36 part. Now, I did make another video on
15:38 racket customization with my friend Paul
15:40 Skip, the headstringer at Wimbledon. And
15:42 so if you want to dive deeper into
15:44 racket customization, I put the video
15:46 above here. A big thanks to Technifiber
15:48 for introducing me to DA. It was an
15:50 amazing presentation and I'd love to get
15:51 him back on the channel at some point
15:53 soon. And a big thank you to you for
15:54 staying all the way through to the end
15:56 of the video. I look forward to seeing
