Behind the scenes of the world's most elite tennis tournaments there's a team of people rapidly working on keeping equipment well strung.

Stringers have historically worked around the clock to ensure racquets are strung to the perfect tension.

For Shane Mikic, stringing a racquet is second nature.

"It's about having a really good technique and doing the same thing, racquet after racquet,"

he said.

"Stringing a racquet is just muscle memory."

Shane Mikic strings for tournaments including the US Open. (Supplied: Shane Mikic)

Hailing from Townsville in north Queensland, Mr Mikic is a part of the Wilson stringing team and has strung racquets for three decades, working his first Grand Slam in 2010.

He has since flown across the world to string for the likes of Rafael Nadal and Venus Williams, and handles racquets at majors events including the US Open, Roland Garros and Laver Cup.

For professional players having a tennis racquet strung is critical to their performance on court.

Teams of stringers work on racquets at tournaments such as the Australian Open. (Supplied: Tennis Australia)

Mr Mikic said some tennis players preferred lower tension in their strings, while others wanted a firmer string bed.

"In tennis, if the strings are wrong, forget it. The ball's not going in the court,"

Mr Mikic said.

"Players have to have the exact string and stiffness that they're used to playing with."

Stringer shortage

Tennis Australia said 7,797 racquets were strung at the 2025 Australian Open, with the highest number on a single day at 616.

In 2025 the Australian Open also broke attendance records, attracting 116,528 people in its opening week, up from 89,894 people in 2024.

Well over 7,000 racquets are strung at the Australian Open, according to Tennis Australia. (Supplied: Tennis Australia)

Racquet sports equipment manager Lyndon Krause said while tournaments thrived, there was an aging demographic of tennis stringers and the industry was grappling with a shortage.