Pulling strings: Grayslake tennis aficionado Mark Campanile, just back from Wimbledon, saw the tournament from a unique perspective: through the strings of top players’ racquets. A top-notch player himself, Campanile is known in the United States and now internationally as “The Racquet Man,” a gut-stringing guru and author based at the Northbrook Racquet Club.
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He was the only U.S. racquet technician asked to join an international team of stringing pros that Bow Brand, an English natural gut manufacturer, had put together to work at Wimbledon from June 19 to July 2. The job, stringing close to 30 racquets a day for Patrick Rafter and Carlos Moya, among others, meant no time to sit courtside. But Campanile was not complaining. “The practice courts were outside where we worked. I thought it was cooler watching them practice than watching the match,” said Campanile, who was able to view the matches on closed-circuit television.