He has handled the most famous players' racquets, from Jelena Jankovic to Roger Federer and if something goes wrong during the game, all eyes turn to him. However, Jaya Kumar, 32, originally from India, is tennis racquet stringer to the stars and takes this all in his stride.
What is your job at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships?
I string all the racquets for the players. They come with their tennis racquets, Federer has just given me eight racquets and took four racquets back. Jankovic gave me almost eight or nine, something like that.
Have you worked as a stringer at the tennis before?
This is my fourth year at the tennis and I do it every year.
What is your job outside the championships?
I'm a tennis coach for the Aviation Club, working for E-Sports. I give tennis lessons to the public.
Do you enjoy it?
It's great. Sometimes the pressure is on, but I definitely enjoy my job, no doubt. It's a wonderful opportunity, because I can touch Roger's racquet and Nadal's racquet, which is a big thing.
What's the most number of racquets anyone has given you to string?
Last year I think Roger Federer gave me 46 racquets in five days.
How do you string the racquets?
We have to cut the strings. They come with the racquet with broken strings after two or three days. Once you have played with a racquet the tension lessens, so they need everything fresh. If I string a racquet today, tomorrow it might have less tension. So they need stringing every day , you have to do that. You string the racquets with just two fingers and the tension is pulled by a machine. I do get sore hands.
What's your biggest challenge at the tournament?
Some players even send the racquet to the stringers during a game, and then we have to do it in 20 minutes , very fast. Sometimes there's a lot of pressure when you have to string a racquet during a game. Some players also want their racquets strung with natural strings. We have a lot of varieties of strings and some players want the highest tension, such as 30 kilos or 32 kilos of pressure, so we have to be very careful with those racquets. You just have to concentrate on one racquet and get it done.
Is it busier for you this year?
This year there are more racquets because the ladies event has had more qualifiers, so we have received more racquets from the ladies. With the men's competition, we have got seven of the top 10 ranked players, so they are giving a lot of racquets.
How many of the players have you met?
I've met most of them. Most of them know me now as well, because it's my fourth year.
Who would you most like to see?
I've met nearly everyone, but my favourite is Roger Federer, because he's so nice. Every year he comes and says “hi guys''. He's very friendly and now he recognises me.
Would you do it again?
I would love to do it again, but I'm leaving Dubai soon. I've been here for six years and I'm going to be very sad to leave the tennis. This is a great opportunity that I've had here, because I can see all the matches and I've met all the players.
