Indiana University senior Wyatt Derrow was sitting on his couch at home when he received a phone call from Indiana men’s tennis associate head coach Mike Murray on Aug. 31. When he hung up the phone, he was no longer a stringer for the IU men’s tennis team.
Derrow had been the Indiana men’s tennis team stringer since his freshman year at IU. As a stringer, he worked to re-string tennis rackets with a machine after hours of play would leave strings stretched or snapped.
That day, Murray informed Derrow that there would be a company stepping in to replace him. The coaches told him his services would no longer be needed, Derrow said.
“I think it’s a pretty big deal honestly, I was pretty loyal and spent a lot of time working for these guys and they kind of replaced me pretty quick,” Derrow said.
Derrow said that during the first week of the fall semester, the coaches were trying to find another stringer that could help him with the heavy workload that required him to be on call for the team at any hour of the day.
IU Athletics spokesperson Jackson Yeary said in a text to the Indiana Daily Student that the official decision was made by the coaching staff.
The coaches decided to switch over to a professional stringing company, Game Set Match Tennis, that strings for other college tennis programs around the country, Indiana men's tennis head coach Jeremy Wurtzman wrote in a statement to the IDS through Yeary.
The company is based out of North Carolina and provides racket customizations along with stringing services, Yeary wrote.
Derrow said he was contacted at almost all hours of the day by players or coaches to string a racket, which required him to go to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. As a stringer, Derrow said he would weave the strings back into the racket and pull them with a special machine to ensure they were tensioned a certain way.
“This was ultimately our choice because we wanted a more reliable and professional stringing service,” Wurtzman wrote.
Wurtzman wrote that last year, a student stringer broke the stringing machine, which put pressure on Murray to get it repaired during a competition. The head coach wanted to go with a more reliable option that had experience with stringing and customizations.
“Managing the hourly student employees had become a significant responsibility for our staff,” Wurtzman wrote. “Stringing for 10 players requires a substantial time commitment, including many nights and weekends, as well as during periods when the students are on vacation, but our team is still practicing or competing.”
There is a "significant turnover” each year with student employees. The team would need to find and train new students because previous staff became unavailable for the school year, which made it difficult to maintain consistency and reliability.
Fabio Haiduc, a former stringer for Indiana men’s tennis and IU alumnus, told the IDS in an email stringers are the backbone of the team and he doesn’t think the replacement is a good idea.
The players need fresh strings frequently because they play at a high level, Haiduc wrote.
“The team may like it, but I have a feeling there will be instances of frustration because the company may or may not be able to do same day rackets, or throughout the night, or has the same availably as me or Wyatt had,” Haiduc wrote.
Haiduc worked with Derrow for one year as a stringer.
"This leaves a student out of a job who was expecting to make money throughout the year doing this,” Haiduc wrote.
For Derrow, the position was more than just an hourly job; tennis had been his life.
“Tennis is probably my biggest hobby,” Derrow said. “I’ve played tennis most of my life and stringing rackets is something that I enjoy and am good at.”
