The journal Volume 2026

Every examination we've published.

Newest first. Browse by topic from the navigation, or by category from the footer. Older pieces stay reachable forever — we don't archive away from URLs.

Page 9 of 37

081
Gear ·10 min · June 2026

Vibration Dampeners and the Control-Comfort Balance: Where the Common Advice Holds and Where It Falls Apart

The advice gets passed around club courts and forum threads with the confidence of settled law: a vibration dampener buys you comfort at the cost of feel, so if you want control and crisp feedback you…

082
Tennis Culture ·5 min · June 2026

David Foster Wallace on Tennis: Does the Descriptive Prose Live Up to Its Legend?

There is a settled opinion in tennis-literary circles that if you want to know what the sport actually feels like on the page — the geometry, the terror, the physics — you read David Foster Wallace.

083
Strings ·6 min · June 2026

String Savers vs. Softer String vs. Restringing Sooner: What Actually Extends String Life

If your strings keep snapping at the same spot in the middle of the string bed, you are paying for friction.

084
Racquets ·5 min · June 2026

Wilson Clash 100 Tennis Racquet Review: What the Specs and Testers Actually Agree On

If you are 165 pounds, swing a semi-western forehand, and want to know whether the Wilson Clash 100 earns its price, this tennis racquet review synthesizes the published specs, Wilson's own numbers…

085
Gear ·6 min · June 2026

Premium Tennis Backpack Review: Does a $200 Bag Actually Beat a $90 One?

There is a version of the smart-shopper argument that goes like this: a tennis bag holds racquets, so a $200 tennis backpack is a $90 bag with a logo tax stapled on.

086
Reference ·4 min · June 2026

French Tennis Players, Then and Now: A Reference Worth Keeping in One Place

I started with one question I assumed I could answer in thirty seconds: has any French player active today won a Grand Slam singles title?

087
Rules ·6 min · June 2026

Three Serves, One Toss: What the Rules and the Technique Actually Let You Do

You have stood at the baseline, down a break point, and asked yourself some version of this: what am I actually allowed to do here, and which serve gives me the best odds?

088
Strings ·5 min · June 2026

Tennis Bag Review: Do Thermal Insulated Compartments Actually Protect Your Strings?

Most of the marketing around thermal compartments wants you to believe your bag is a refrigerator. It isn't.

089
Racquet Review ·10 min · June 2026

Wilson Clash 100 v2 Tennis Racquet Review: The Flex Spec Most Buyers Misread

The lowest number on the Wilson Clash 100 v2's spec card is the one buyers get wrong most often. Wilson lists the frame's stiffness in the low double digits — an RA reading that, taken at face value…

090
Racquets ·5 min · June 2026

What Stiffness Index Really Tells You: A Tennis Racquet Review of Control and Feel Through One Number

Pick up any modern frame marketed on "feel" and you will eventually meet a two-digit number: the RA stiffness rating.