Where is that great feeling I just had a minute ago….?
It must have happened to every tennis player, from enthusiastic amateur to seasoned professional: it just doesn’t feel like it should…
On a somewhat gloomy day, Sander finds himself on a slow clay court in Germany. One of the first Future-tournaments in a starting career that will hopefully bring him to a Wimbledon final one day. His French opponent: a typical hard hitter with a hard service. Sander quickly takes a 4-3 lead in the first set, has the initiative in the rallies and is in full control of the game.
And then it started to rain…
It wouldn’t be the first time that changing circumstances turned a match completely around …
The match is continued indoors. On this much faster indoor court, controlling the game proves suddenly much less to be the case: the hard services of the French opponent are coming in harder and harder, the counter on the hard groundstrokes is just not as sharp anymore and the 4- 3 lead quickly turns into a 5-7, 5-7 loss. Where did that nice feeling of control go?
As a competitive player, Sander always had a fascination with materials and increasing performance from an early age: Despite using identical rackets with similar weights, same grip sizes and similar tuning, all rackets played differently and certainly differently on different days. Sander felt that he had to constantly adjust his game by either using more power to hit deeper or restrain himself, because he experienced less control.
During his years as a tennis coach and trainer, Sander has worked on the idea of developing a self-tensioner that can be used at any time when playing tennis. Influencing the ideal tennis feeling yourself, by playing with the tension of the strings. More tension for more control or less tension for more power and depth:
“There are so many variables in tennis: rackets are different, surfaces differ, weather conditions vary. How nice would it be to have a little more control over your game?! ”.
After developing a first prototype, Sander found a team that became just as enthusiastic about the idea and wanted to shape the further development of the Retenser together. Together with the Dutch design agency Dynteq, the was developed to shape the Retenser. A unique (soon to be officially patented) technology. The first series of Retensers have now been made by Orange Plastics in Maarssen and are enthusiastically received. An idea from the Netherlands, developed in the Netherlands and produced in the Netherlands: a product with an orange edge. Also literally …
SMALL CHANGE, BIG IMPACT
Sander van Heijst: “It is great that everyone can now get a better grip on their own game: I think it is wonderful to see that with our small Retenser, we can make a big contribution to the fun and success of every tennis player!”
