YONEX manager Michael Schwarz: "A tennis shoe goes through 100 hands in production"
As a product manager, Michael Schwarz has been accompanying the professional tennis circuit for years, and has been in the service of YONEX for quite some time. We once asked which shoes we should best start the clay court season with.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Mar 28, 2022, 05:59 pm
tennisnet : Why is it basically nonsense when a tennis player plays on all surfaces with one pair of shoes?
Michael Schwarz : The question should be asked differently
tennisnet : What would be the right question?
Black : For example: is it true that you should only play with a herringbone profile on clay?
tennisnet : The way you ask the question, we would say: probably not.
Schwarz : As a tennis player, I'm no longer convinced that this is the only right way. This also has to do with the geographic situation. I live in Salzburg, but that also applies to all players in southern Germany or western Austria: we know that we have wet soil for a very long time. And the idea is that clay court shoes should enable controlled slipping. But you don't slip at all on wet floors. And there it would sometimes be more sensible to take another shoe. Even if they are often used incorrectly due to their "wrong" name: Because the all-court shoes are not just hard court shoes. For many, this all-court shoe is therefore not an option for the sand.
tennisnet : What distinguishes these shoes?
Black : They have a less aggressive profile. The following example: We are ambitious tennis players, have fresh clay court shoes with herringbone, as it should be. But the place is wet, which is always the case in spring. If you try to reach the first ball by sliding, there is a relatively high chance that you will stumble and fall. To get this shoe to slide even in the wet, you have to apply a lot of pressure. You have to “climb over” the detention limit. And the players who are not tried on clay courts (sliders) don't always succeed.
#IMG2
tennisnet : So you probably don't play with clay court shoes anymore?
Black : No. No more. I fell, although I've known how to slide since I was a child. I only play in all-court shoes. For us gamers, older players or less experienced players, this is probably the better choice. Ambitious tournament players who also compete where drier conditions prevail, a sand court shoe makes perfect sense.
#IMG3#
tennisnet : Why has the all-court shoe not yet settled in the minds of the players?
Schwarz : Because we tennis players are great traditionalists. Funnily enough only on the tennis court. Otherwise we drive the latest cars and use the most modern mobile phones. But it can't be that the herringbone sole has been the best solution for clay courts since 1875. However, other approaches are not accepted or only with great difficulty.
#IMG4#
tennisnet : Do these approaches exist?
Black : There are. With these new developments, you can slide in a very temperature-controlled and controlled way. They are also clay court shoes, but they no longer have the traditional herringbone profile. And these soles are much easier to clean than those with a herringbone. And that was actually always considered a plus for the fishbone.
tennisnet : The narrower the herringbone, the greater the slip stop?
Black : This depends on the depth of the profile. Many play indoors in clay court shoes all winter long or before playing for the first time they grind their shoes over the asphalt court so that the initial sharpness of the sole is gone. Because the herringbones are sometimes so sharp that you should slide carefully even on dry floors.
tennisnet : If you look at the development over the last few decades - how have tennis shoes changed?
Black : What hasn't changed is the sole. It was probably the same as it is today in the 1950s. development here? Unfortunately no, at least not enough... Of course there are other materials in the shoes now. The proportion of leather or imitation leather used to be higher, but now more mesh material is used in the shoes. This makes the shoe more breathable and lighter. Also less stable in some places. However, there are o carbon plates in the midfoot area of the shoe that make the shoe more stable and torsion-resistant.
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"You should have at least two pairs of sandal shoes"
tennisnet : When it comes to runners, it is often said that they should have two different pairs of shoes in order to keep giving the foot new stimuli. Should you have more than one pair in tennis - and use them?
Black : When it comes to shoes, I like to wear a different one every day. It would certainly be good for championship players to have at least two pairs of clay court tennis shoes. Because when you play tennis, you always sweat. The shoe is just always wet. It's good for your own hygiene if you can let a shoe really dry out. At least there should be two pairs of sand court shoes that you feel comfortable in while sliding.., . Because you always want to have the same feeling when sliding.
tennisnet : What distinguishes the shoes from YONEX?
Schwarz : From my point of view, the Japanese have a different approach when it comes to the quality of the product. You will rarely find a Japanese shoe, no matter what brand, that is of poor quality. And there's also a willingness to try sand soles if they don't have a herringbone pattern. YONEX has a clay court shoe, you won't find a bone there.
tennisnet : When it comes to rackets, we know that they are tailored to the needs of top players down to the gram. Is it the same with shoes?
Black : Those who know, like Thomas Muster in the past, like Dominic Thiem now, have made-to-measure shoes. The top players can no longer play with normal shoes in the same way that people now slide on hard courts. The stress is too extreme for that. A shoe might be a little higher, maybe in an in-between size that the normal hobby player can't even buy.
tennisnet : So can you fulfill individual wishes with shoes in a similar way as with rackets?
Black : It's definitely easier with clubs. Shoes are handmade. A tennis shoe, even the one we break in with, goes through the hands of 100 people during production. This process is extremely complex. The amount of work is unimaginable.