FOLLOW US

Facebook Instagram Youtube X-twitter

Burn, Laugh and Learn

BOOK A CLINIC

THE TENNIS TACTICIAN, LLC

Themed Cardio Tennis Clinics in the Fort Lauderdale Area

cardiovascular tennis classes 33323 — the Wilson Feather Thin Tennis Replacement Grip combined with the national flag of Madagascar
cardiovascular tennis classes 33323 — Rova of Antananarivo in Antananarivo, A tall grey stone palace with steep roofs and stacked wooden verandas crowning the highest ridge of the city, its rebuilt shell visible from every direction above red-brick houses
cardiovascular tennis classes 33323 — Andafiavaratra Palace in Antananarivo, A pink and white baroque palace with a domed roof and arcaded galleries, standing on a terrace just below the royal hill, its interior showing salvaged royal relics in glass cases
cardiovascular tennis classes 33323 — Andohalo Cathedral in Antananarivo, A grey stone Gothic cathedral with twin spires rising above a hillside square of jacarandas and steep stone stairways, its pointed windows looking out over the tiled roofs of the old city
cardiovascular tennis classes 33323 — Royal Hill of Ambohimanga in Antananarivo, A hilltop compound of dark timber houses with steep shingled roofs inside massive stone walls, entered through a gateway blocked by an enormous circular stone disc, surrounded by dense sacred forest
cardiovascular tennis classes 33323 — the Wilson Feather Thin Tennis Replacement Grip combined with the national flag of Madagascar

Wilson Feather Thin Tennis Replacement Grip

Antananarivo, Madagascar  ·  Accessories > Grips

Wilson Feather Thin Tennis Replacement Grip

This one weighs almost nothing and means to keep it that way — tacky enough to hold, slim enough to take a handle down by about half a size for a player who always found the racquet a shade too fat. First, though, it is running you up and down the hills of Antananarivo, and there will be no waiting at the top.

↓   Tour Antananarivo, Madagascar

Four stops before the checkout

Antananarivo, Madagascar
01
cardiovascular tennis classes 33323 — Rova of Antananarivo in Antananarivo, A tall grey stone palace with steep roofs and stacked wooden verandas crowning the highest ridge of the city, its rebuilt shell visible from every direction above red-brick houses
Stop one

Rova of Antananarivo

Wilson Feather Thin Tennis Replacement Grip: Third night. Third. So — highest ridge in the city, and this was the fortified royal compound of the sovereigns of Imerina and later of the Kingdom of Madagascar. The centrepiece, Manjakamiadana, was built in wood in 1839 for Queen Ranavalona I by a French craftsman, Jean Laborde, and then in the 1860s a Scottish missionary architect called James Cameron encased the whole wooden thing in stone. Encased it. Put a case round a palace, which I have been turning over for about nine hours now and — sorry, the compound, yes. It also held the timber palace of Mahitsielafanjaka, the royal tombs, and a chapel added in the 1870s after the court converted to Christianity. Then in November 1995 a fire gutted the complex, days before a planned UNESCO inscription, and much of the collection was destroyed. Days before. Reconstruction has gone on in stages since, and the restored Manjakamiadana is back up there dominating the skyline, visible from absolutely everywhere in this city, which is either enormously comforting or the exact reason I am not sleeping. I have not decided. I have had time.

02
cardiovascular tennis classes 33323 — Andafiavaratra Palace in Antananarivo, A pink and white baroque palace with a domed roof and arcaded galleries, standing on a terrace just below the royal hill, its interior showing salvaged royal relics in glass cases
Stop two

Andafiavaratra Palace

Wilson Feather Thin Tennis Replacement Grip: Right. Pink. Extremely pink, with a dome, standing on its terrace just below the royal hill. Built in 1873 for Rainilaiarivony — the prime minister who governed Madagascar for over three decades and married three successive queens. Three. In sequence. Which is a career, and also a strategy, and I have been awake since roughly Tuesday so I have examined it from several directions and none of them fully explain it. Designed by William Pool, a British architect working here in Antananarivo. It was the residence and the office of the man who actually ran the kingdom, right up to the French conquest of 1895, when Rainilaiarivony was exiled to Algiers. Then a serious fire of its own, then years of neglect, then restoration. It is a museum now: royal portraits, furniture, regalia — including objects rescued from the Rova fire of 1995. So the building that burned is now displaying what survived the other building that burned. There. That was the thread. I found the thread.

03
cardiovascular tennis classes 33323 — Andohalo Cathedral in Antananarivo, A grey stone Gothic cathedral with twin spires rising above a hillside square of jacarandas and steep stone stairways, its pointed windows looking out over the tiled roofs of the old city
Stop three

Andohalo Cathedral

Wilson Feather Thin Tennis Replacement Grip: This one I am going to hold on to properly. Grey stone, twin spires, jacarandas on the square, stone stairways dropping away below. It was built between 1873 and 1890 in Andohalo, which is the square where Merina sovereigns traditionally addressed their subjects — so it stands on the ground where the kingdom did its speaking. Construction followed the conversion of Queen Ranavalona II and the opening of Madagascar to Christian missions. And it stands close to the site where Malagasy Christians were executed during the persecutions under Ranavalona I, earlier in that same century. Those two facts are within sight of one another and I am not going to be clever about it. Gothic revival, built by Catholic missionaries, still the seat of the Archbishop of Antananarivo, and Pope John Paul II visited in 1989. Sit on the steps for a minute. I am going to stop talking, which anyone who knows me will tell you is not typical.

04
cardiovascular tennis classes 33323 — Royal Hill of Ambohimanga in Antananarivo, A hilltop compound of dark timber houses with steep shingled roofs inside massive stone walls, entered through a gateway blocked by an enormous circular stone disc, surrounded by dense sacred forest
Stop four

Royal Hill of Ambohimanga

Wilson Feather Thin Tennis Replacement Grip: Roughly twenty kilometres northeast, and I have been advised not to drive, which is fair. Ambohimanga: the spiritual heart of the Merina kingdom, inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2001. It was the capital of King Andrianampoinimerina, who unified Imerina in the late eighteenth century and then moved the seat of government to Antananarivo — but this remained the sacred royal city and the burial place. Inside the massive stone ramparts: the king's small timber house, Mahandrihono, later summer pavilions built for Queen Ranavalona I, sacrificial stones, ritual pools, all standing in dense forest protected by taboo. The trees are safe because they are forbidden, which is a better fence than a fence. And the main gate could be sealed by a stone disc several metres across, rolled into place by dozens of men. Dozens. Imagine being the one who has to be certain it is shut. Imagine lying there running through it again. …Yes. I know. People still come here for ancestral ritual, so keep it low — I am a feather-thin grip, I am barely present at all, and even I am too loud for this hill.

The Antananarivo, Madagascar track

Wilson Feather Thin Tennis Replacement Grip

Written for this world alone.

Feel that? Nothing. That's the point, champ. Every fighter in my division learns the same lesson the hard way: the weight you carry is weight you have to move, and the guy who moves faster wins the round. I made featherweight by losing things I thought I needed. So did I, in a manner of speaking. There is almost nothing to me, and that is the whole act.

Come on, roadwork. Antananarivo's built on hills, so this is a real session. Up top, the Rova of Antananarivo, the fortified royal compound of the sovereigns of Imerina — Manjakamiadana raised in timber in 1839 for Queen Ranavalona I by Jean Laborde, then encased in stone in the 1860s by the Scottish missionary architect James Cameron.

Fire gutted it in November 1995, days before a planned UNESCO inscription, and it has been rebuilt in stages since. Just below, Andafiavaratra Palace, built in 1873 for Rainilaiarivony, the prime minister who ran Madagascar for three decades and married three successive queens. Pink stucco, central dome, now a museum holding objects rescued from that fire.

Then Andohalo Cathedral, built 1873 to 1890 on the square where Merina sovereigns addressed their people, twin-towered, Gothic revival, and standing close to where Malagasy Christians were executed under Ranavalona I.

And twenty kilometres out, the Royal Hill of Ambohimanga, sacred capital of King Andrianampoinimerina, World Heritage since 2001, its main gate closed by a stone disc several metres across that took dozens of men to roll. Now that is a weight class.

Breathing? Good. The grip, then. It is one of the thinnest made — Wilson's own word for it is super thin — and it is a replacement, so it goes onto the bare handle in place of the factory wrap rather than over the top of it.

The finish stays tacky despite the minimal build, so security does not disappear along with the bulk, and players commonly find it drops a handle by around half a grip size, which is useful if your racquet always felt a touch too fat in the palm.

Carry it everywhere from the stairways below the cathedral to the top of the royal hill and you will not notice you are carrying anything. It is also perfect for a city that keeps its most important things up the steepest streets, where only the light travellers arrive in any condition to enjoy them.

Buy on Amazon

Related Products

Related products

Scroll to Top