There’s a certain formula to trophy ceremonies. Congratulate your opponent, thank your team, appreciate the tournament organizers, sponsors, and volunteers for their hard work — and praise the fans for providing an inspiring atmosphere.

Now and then, there’s an unexpected note of thanks. That happened last week at the inaugural WTA 125 Ennoble Care Philly Open, when women’s singles champion Katie Volynets thanked the stringer “for stringing five of my rackets every single day.”

The shout-out was a “pretty cool” moment for Mark Kuczynski, a United States Racquet Stringing Association (USRSA) Master Racquet Technician and owner of URacquet Shop, who headed up stringing services for the tournament. It’s a rarity for a player to acknowledge an operator that the spectators seldom see — even if the players couldn’t do their jobs without them.

Kuczynski said Volynets had the highest tally of the 247 rackets his team handled over the week, but for good reason. She played and won more matches than anybody else. But there were also technical reasons. “She uses a very open string pattern in the Gravity Tour 16x19 combined with a thin 18 gauge string and a low tension at 47 pounds,” said Kuczynski. “All of these factors would play a role in the strings dying out quicker and the need for frequent fresh rackets.”

What else did he notice? A correlation between higher-ranked players and restringing frequency. “The players ranked outside the top 100 are seemingly hesitant to make those consistently large daily racquet drop-offs,” said Kuczynski. He also pointed to Switzerland’s Simona Waltert, who came in with the lowest tension at about 33 pounds. Kuczynski noted Waltert was a true outlier, saying, “I was actually surprised at how many players are still stringing pretty tight. Many players are in the 55- to 58-pound range.”

Tracking all the idiosyncrasies of each player is no small feat. There are requests for their knots to be tied in an unconventional spot. Some want their rackets first thing in the morning; others want them exactly 30 minutes before they play. All the details matter, especially the week before the U.S. Open begins. And nailing them matters at a tournament trying to impress in its first year.

After the final knots were tied and the matches were finished, it was time for Kuczynski to break down his workstation and prepare to return to his post at his West Philadelphia shop. Still, he took a moment to reflect on the week-plus of events. “It’s been a long time since we’ve had women’s pro tennis here in Philadelphia,” he said, “and I feel proud to play a small part in helping with that effort.”