1. Second-Seeded Gilles Simon Dances to Finals
In tonight’s second semifinal atthe BMW Tennis Championship,No.2 seed Gilles Simon (FRA) blasted down-the-
line forehands,ripped cross-courtbackhands and whipped seeing-eye approach shots thatdazzled the fans and
bedeviled his opponent.The technical completeness ofSimon’s game was too much for Santiago Giraldo (COL), as
the Frenchman won in straightsets,6-1, 6-2, to advance to the finals for the firsttime.
After his quick-and-easyquarterfinal victory over Jan Hajek (CZE) in yesterday afternoon’s quarterfinals,6-3,0-0
(retired), Simon came outon court this evening looking fresh-faced and well-rested.Giraldo,by contrast, had had a
tough fight in his own quarterfinal match,outlasting third-seeded Benjamin Becker (GER) in a tough three-setter that
ended after 11 pm Friday.
The players,who were facing each other for the first time,held their firstservice games to open the match.With
Giraldo serving at 30-30 in the fourth game,Simon putaway a backhand volley so gracefully, it prompted a fan to
remark,“That was the paso doble,” a reference to the lively Spanish dance modeled after the movementofa bullfight.
Simon broke on the next point to go up 3-1, and ran the score to 4-1 on an easyservice game.
Sweating profuselyon a cool evening, Giraldo struggled mightilyto hold his serve in game six. A double faulton the
second deuce pointprompted Giraldo to talk to himself;the pep talk worked, for the moment,as the Colombian
blasted an ace to knot the score at deuce.On the next point,however, Simon gained another break pointon a
ferocious backhand outof Giraldo's reach that painted the baseline.On the next point, Giraldo made an unforced
error to give Simon his second break.Simon was up,5-1.
The Frenchman held serve in the next game to take the first setin just21 minutes.
Simon played smart,tenacious and near-perfecttennis.In the second set,despite a chronic tendon injury in his right
knee, Simon didn’tgive up on any points,running sideline to sideline to track down Giraldo groundstrokes.And even
though Giraldo made few unforced errors in the match,Simon made even fewer.
With the score tied at 2-2 in the second set,Simon reeled offfour straightgames to take the set 6-2.
In the seventh game,up 15-love, Giraldo ripped a backhand down-the-line thatdrew Simon wide to his backhand
side.He popped up a weak return, giving Giraldo a lip-smacking sitter thathe merelyhad to tap into the empty deuce
court for a winner.But the 22-year-old apparentlylostconcentration and mis-hitthe sure winner,which bounced into
the bottom of the net, giving Simon the break to go up 5-2. Simon held in the final game to win the setand the match,
6-1, 6-2. The match lasted under an hour.
With his win, Simon advances to tomorrow’s finals,where he’ll face Florian Mayer (GER), who beat Leonardo Mayer
(ARG) in the other semifinal,7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-3.
Story by Amy Roth, BMW Tennis Championship Media Staff

2. The String Theory (Tennis Version)
The String Theory posits thatall objects in the universe are composed ofvibrating filaments,or strings,and
membranes ofenergy.Called the “Theory of Everything,” one day it will unlock one of the biggestmysteries ofthe
universe:how on earth can I hit the ball harder and still make the darn thing stay in the court?
If physics string theory is complex,tennis string theory can be absolutelyconfounding.In fact, a few years ago a
doctoral studentat the University of Cambridge in England amassed mountains ofdata studying how the ball strikes
the racquet. His conclusion?
“We don’t understand how the ball interacts with racquetstrings,” he said.
If doctoral candidates can’tunlock the conundrum ofthe String Theory, how can the average recreational player?
Which string gives the bestgame? Gut or synthetic blend? Synthetic gut? High tension or low? Vibration dampener or
not?
Veteran racquet stringer Craig Willeford,of Brotman RacquetDesign,who’s been tending to the players’ racquets at
this week’s BMW Tennis Championship in Sunrise,FL,satdown to explain the developmentofthe Tennis String
Theory.
Early pro players used natural strings called “catgut,” which was actuallycow, not cat, intestines,Willeford explained.
This was good news for ailurophiles,as ittakes six cows to provide the forty feet of gut needed to string one racquet.
One can only imagine how manykitties it would take to fill a Prince.
In the late 1970s,“spaghetti” stringing brieflyburstonto the tennis circuit. An innovation featuring non-intersecting
strings on independentplanes,with players throwing differentfibers,wires and even rubber bands into their racquets,
a spaghetti-strung racquetbitthe ball and created more revolutions,imparting greater spin and unpredictable bounce.
In 1977, Ilie Nastase played Guillermo Vilas with a spaghetti-strung racquet.The ball bounced so wildly that Vilas quit
in disgust,and the International Tennis Federation banned spaghetti strings the following year.
Andre Agassi,an eight-time Grand Slam champion,was the firstprofessional to use Kevlar, a stiff polyester that’s
used in bulletproofvests,in the mid-1990s.His success popularized polyester strings on neighborhood hardcourts as
much as on the pro tour.
Despite the growing popularityof synthetic strings,manyelite players still played with gut as late as 2004.The latest
innovation is the synthetic-blend string,a plastic polymer shaped into string form,which has been called the single
biggestdevelopmentin tennis,greater even than Rafael Nadal’s capri pants.
Willeford said that close to 80 percent of the players in the BMW Tennis Championship optfor Luxilon ALU Power, a
synthetic blend that enables them to swing with greatpower yet keep the ball in the court. The stiffer the strings,the
less the string bed will deflect, imparting a more precise angle and a truer ball strike.
“Stiff polyester allows the players to swing for the fences while keeping the ball in the court,” Willeford said.“The
‘dead’ feel allows the players to plow through the ball.”

3. The current generation ofprofessionals is much bigger and stronger than their predecessors.For example,both
Daniel Brands and John McEnroe were at lastmonth’s DelrayBeach International Tennis Championships.Brands is
a rising 22-year-old German who,at 6’5”, 203 lbs,towered over the 5’11”,165-lb McEnroe.
“Brands looks like he can eat McEnroe,” Willeford said.
And it’s the greater size and strength of today’s tennis professionals thatdrive changes in string technology.As
players get bigger and stronger,string manufacturers develop products to help them take full advantage of their ball-
crushing,high-velocityswings.
Willeford cautioned that recreational players should notrush outto restring with polyester.
“The new technology is of no benefitto the average recreational player,” he said,as weekend duffers lack the swing
speed needed to take full advantage of stiff strings.
Another problem with recreational players using the new technologyis expense.Willeford pointed out that polyester
strings have to be changed weekly, whether they’ve been played on or not.
And perhaps the mostworrisome aspectfor non-professionals is thatpolyester strings can lose tension within 24
hours.With string tension loss,the arm has to work harder,which can cause tennis elbow and shoulder tendinitis.
Willeford recommends thatrecreational players optfor synthetic gut instead.
Racquets is the one area where recreational players can put pros to technological shame.
“The average recreational player can buy more technologicallyadvanced racquets than the pros use,” Willeford said.
“Pros’ racquetmodels can be 10 to 15 years old -- they don’tswitch a whole lot. If they’re having success,they don’t
change.It is their livelihood.”
As for tension,the current trend is to go low.Willeford pointed out that Monica Seles,for example, preferred high
tension,stringing her racquets in the 70-pound range;mostplayers atthe BMW Tennis Championship,by contrast,
string their racquets only in the mid-40-pound range.The lower the tension,the longer the ball stays on the racquet.
“The longer the ball stays on the strings,the more you can do with it,” he said.
And as for the lastquestion,to dampen or notto dampen?
Willeford said that the pros tend not to use vibration dampeners.The rubber dampens string vibration,butalso mutes
sound,and elite players rely on hearing the precise tone of the ball striking their strings.
So, if you want to play like a pro, pump up the volume.
Story by Amy Roth, BMW Tennis Championship Media Staff
March 20, 2010