Racquet stringing in the Orne: the Matcheur workshop at Aube, near L'Aigle
Updated: 3 hours ago
The Matcheur workshop is at Aube, in the Orne, canton of L'Aigle-Ouest, in Normandy. L'Aigle is 7.5 km away. Alençon is around fifty kilometres away, and Rugles, Verneuil, Mortagne and Breteuil are within the same radius.
We string, tune, match and repair tennis racquets here. Not only our own: most of what goes on the bench belongs to somebody else, and leaves with a written record of what was measured.
What is done here, exactly
Four things, and nothing outside them.
Stringing, on any racquet, with the Matcheur range or with a string you bring.
Tuning — mass, balance, swingweight — on your own frame, and matching two racquets to each other.
Repair of carbon frames and replacement of grommets.
Custom paint, when a frame deserves better than its original decoration.
The workshop is open seven days a week, all year round. A slot is arranged in advance: it is the only way to guarantee that there is time to measure your racquet before and after, rather than stringing it between two doors.
Stringing: seven numbers, and no brand
The range runs from N°1 to N°7, plus a N°4.5. From the softest and most powerful to the stiffest and most controlling. N°4 is the most versatile of the seven, and that is a matter of shape: it is octagonal, where N°5 is round. Its edges are what make the difference: for the same swing, N°4 bites the ball more, and it is that bite which makes it generous for the greatest number. N°5, smoother, is the choice of feel, control and predictability — and it lasts longer.
The choice is not made on a name. It is made on two questions: what are you playing today, and what do you want changed. A string that breaks in two sessions, an arm that pulls late in a match, a ball that drops short when you brush up — each of those symptoms points to a different zone of the range.
The seven are comparable with each other because they were measured on the same bench with the same protocol — eight strings, each characterised by its elongation curves, not adjectives. A string name tells you nothing. A number places it.
Tension is decided at the same time, and it matters as much as the string itself. The question is often asked backwards.
ProSetup tuning, on your own racquet
This is the service that separates a workshop from a stringing counter.
We measure your frame: mass, balance, swingweight, and the useful geometry. We establish what has to move, and by how much. We add material where it belongs, with adhesive lead or tuning putty depending on the location. We measure again. And we hand you the record of the values, before and after.
It is also the matching service: two racquets of the same model are almost never identical out of the factory, and the gap is felt the moment you change racquets mid-match. Why "the same model" is not enough is set out elsewhere.
ProSetup tuning is done on the racquet you already own. It is almost always the first thing to consider before buying a new frame.
Repair, grommets, paint
A cracked racquet is not always a dead racquet. A carbon frame repair is possible in many cases and impossible in others — a frame opened in several places, or deformed, does not come back straight.
The rule is simple, and we hold to it: we look first, we speak afterwards. If the repair will not hold, we say so rather than doing it. What can and cannot be repaired is detailed in the article on carbon.
Grommet replacement is done in the same operation, and it is often what saves an otherwise healthy frame whose strings wear abnormally fast.
Custom paint is decoration work, not performance work. We say that too: paint changes nothing about what you feel, beyond a few grams.
Coming in, and what to bring
Bring the racquet. That is all that is strictly necessary.
What helps, if you have it: the string you currently play and its tension, the second racquet if you own two, and one sentence about what you hold against your equipment — put as behaviour, not as an adjective. "It gets pushed back on heavy balls" can be worked with; "it lacks control" cannot.
Slots are arranged through the contact form. Say where you are coming from: at equal distance, we try to group appointments so that nobody drives forty minutes for a twenty-minute restring.
If you are too far to come in person, the racquet is sent to the workshop, in Normandy: shipping details are given to you when you order. Allow two weeks.
How an appointment works
This is not a drop-off counter. It is around thirty minutes during which we look at your racquet together.
We start by measuring. Strung mass, balance, swingweight, and the condition of the frame — rim, grommets, flatness. Those values are recorded. They are the starting point, and they are the only thing that will later allow anyone to say whether a change worked.
Then we talk about what you play. Not about your ranking: about what the ball does, and what you hold against the equipment. "It gets pushed back on heavy balls" is information. "It lacks control" is not, and we rephrase it together.
We decide on one change. A string, a tension, a few grams. Rarely more, because two simultaneous changes cannot be interpreted.
We measure again, and you leave with the record. The values before, the values after, and what was done. You can take that sheet to any other stringer: it is your racquet, not ours.
The workshop is run by Vincent Leroux, an industrial engineering graduate who became a DEJEPS tennis coach. It is that double view that decides what gets measured, and what does not.
The workshop's services
Each service has its own page, with what it includes, its options and its current price.
ProSetup tuning — mass, balance, swingweight, with the record of the measured values. It is also the matching service for two racquets.
custom handle, to your size, and to the length that suits you, interchangeable.
Carbon frame repair or grommet replacement.
Custom paint, depending on finish, number of colours and number of detailed zones.
The number and the format — a set or a reel — are chosen on each string's page, in the string range. Fitting is discussed at the appointment.
What is not done here
Better said before you make the drive.
We do not sell major-brand frames. The workshop works on yours, whatever it is, and it sells its own range. If you are looking for a retail model, this is not the place.
We do not string without measuring. That is not a matter of principle; it is that the reading takes five minutes and changes everything that follows.
We do not carry out a repair that will not hold. A twisted frame, or one split at the throat, leaves as it arrived, with the explanation.
We give no medical advice. If your arm hurts, we talk about equipment and refer you to a doctor or physiotherapist for the rest. That is the position held in our article on tennis elbow.
We promise no gain in level. A tuning removes what holds a player back; it does not manufacture one.
For clubs and coaches in the region
If you coach in the Orne, the Eure or the Eure-et-Loir, there are two subjects on which a local workshop is worth something.
The first is a club's stock of school racquets: frames of different lengths, strung at random over the years, and nobody knows any more which ones are dead. One survey settles it for the season.
The second is matching the racquets of your ranked players. A player who switches racquets in the third set and feels the difference loses more than comfort.
In both cases, write to us: we look at what there is, and we say plainly whether there is work worth doing or not.
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