How Much String for 500 Rackets?
August 19, 2007 by Howard Blas
Every August, Chris Gaudreau, who owns the Racquet Koop here, and four employees set up shop in a trailer and spend up to 17 hours a day stringing about 500 tennis rackets during the
nine-day Pilot Pen tournament. The Pilot Pen, beginning this weekend at the Connecticut Tennis Center at Yale University, ends on Saturday.
Mr. Gaudreau, 39, of Branford, who played tennis at Wethersfield High School and Central Connecticut State University, started working at the Racquet Koop in Hartford the day after he graduated from college, in 1991. Later that year, he opened his own store in New Haven.
We began working the Pilot Pen when it was two years old, in 1994, Mr. Gaudreau said.
This year, Serena Williams, the
eight-time Grand Slam champion, is making her first appearance in the tournament.