They make up the most minuscule component in tennis, going unnoticed by most average spectators. Except when they break.

But Mike Guilbeau can replace them in 15 minutes while watching Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on The Food Network.

Guilbeau has a tennis racket-stringing machine screwed into the floor inside his home and strings rackets for the likes of Georgia’s Nate Schnugg and Jamie Hunt, as well as the rest of the Georgia men’s and women’s tennis teams.

“Here, we’re stringing for some of the best players in the country,” Guilbeau said, as the strings whip in and out of the side of the tennis racket by the fluent hand of this stringer-extraordinaire.

While working in the comfort of his own home, Guilbeau strings about three rackets an hour with the top speed of under 10 minutes for one racket. Being meticulous is a must for Guilbeau, as athletes such as Hunt need their rackets strung “just so” because anything less than perfect is merely mediocre.

“Everyone else kind of jokes because I’m very picky about the way my racket feels. [Guilbeau] is a professional stringer,” Hunt said. “I don’t even have to tell him what I need mine strung at. He automatically knows what I want it strung at.”

But at this point in his life, Guilbeau could string a racket blindfolded, hanging upside down from the ceiling.

“When you’ve done something as many times as I’ve done this, it becomes second nature,” said Guilbeau. “You do it without even thinking about it.”

After growing up in southern Louisiana and playing tennis as a youngster, Guilbeau was compelled to begin stringing tennis rackets out of necessity, labeling himself a “string-breaker.”

“When I was a junior player I broke my strings all the time. To save some money, I had to learn to string rackets. I still have my first racket I ever strung,” Guilbeau said.

“It’s on the wall at my house; it’s strung incorrectly, but I was 14-years-old [when I strung it],” he said.

Guilbeau was flying blind when he began to string rackets, getting his first stringing machine as a gift that was purchased at a garage sale. The gift came without a manual or any kind of instructions whatsoever, leaving Guilbeau to his own devices.

After eventually grasping the concept of stringing rackets and somewhat mastering the skill, Guilbeau worked his way into stringing rackets for the University of Louisiana-Lafayette men’s tennis team while he was enrolled as a student at the same university.

“I did not play on the team there because those guys were internationally recruited – I was just a local guy,” Guilbeau said. “I became the racket stringer for that team, and I’ve been doing it for someone ever since.”

Guilbeau’s name began to sound more and more familiar in the tennis world, and in 1993 he was offered a chance to go to the French Open with tennis pro Michael Chang to be his personal racket stringer, but turned the offer down because he had just married his wife Patti.

“I met my wife on the tennis court. It was one of those where I went home the first night after coaching her team and I told my roommate, ‘I might have found the girl I’m gonna grow old with,’” Guilbeau said. “[My roommate] said, ‘You’re never gonna get married.’ We were married in seven months.”

After finishing school and making a handful of moves, including a stint in Alpharetta owning his own retail shop, a little birdie whispered in Guilbeau’s ear about a position opening up at Jennings Mill Country Club. It just so happened that the little birdie was Guilbeau’s younger brother.

“My younger brother was the director of tennis at Jennings Mill before I got there, and he called me and told me he was going off to be a college coach,” Guilbeau said. “He said, ‘You need to come here because this would be a great place to grow a family.’”

At that point in his life, Guilbeau took over his younger brother’s position at the country club and has not looked back since.

The former tennis player turned avid runner also started up his own company called Racquetech Inc, which makes his racket-stringing abilities available to all levels of tennis skill from kids all the way up to professional tennis players.

Guilbeau’s family and company flourished in Athens, as his daughter and son both immersed themselves in the Jennings Mill Country Club, while Guilbeau sniffed out another opportunity: to become part of the Bulldog Nation.

In 2007, Guilbeau saw the opportunity to string rackets for both of Georgia’s tennis squads when former Georgia tennis star Bo Hodge’s mom, Suzette, no longer was the go-to gal for the job.

“They had a few college students doing it, and some things were just kind of slipping through the cracks. It was a good opportunity for me to approach [men's head coach Manuel Diaz], and it just so happened that Jeff Wallace [the women's head coach] needed a [racket] stringer.”

After establishing himself, Guilbeau hired Suzette Hodge to be his store manager as well as to help him string rackets for store customers, the country club members, the Bulldogs, and the pros.

Being the go-to guy in many different ventures, Guilbeau hit the ground running each and every morning and only hit the off button when he was finally still at night.

But as Guilbeau continues to intertwine polyester strings for some of the most extraordinary collegiate athletes in the country, while still balancing his company and his family, he must digest some distressing and dire news.

Doctors discovered cancerous cells on Guilbeau’s tonsils Monday that also stemmed into the lymph node on the right side of his neck.

“They found out that it’s on my tonsils. I’m probably going to have a tonsillectomy and then some kind of dissection [on my lymph node],” Guilbeau said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Not only is this news another portion plopped on Guilbeau’s plate, the Louisiana product has had to cope with and support his wife through her battle with multiple sclerosis.

“My wife has multiple sclerosis, and I now have cancer, and people look at me like, ‘What’s that about?’” Guilbeau said. “We’re only in the first few days of my mess, but she’s had multiple sclerosis for three years. But everybody deals with their issues.”

Despite the life-changing information, Guilbeau remains inspiringly upbeat and optimistic as he tediously weaves strings in and out of one another.

“But I’m in good hands,” Guilbeau said, as he flashed his bright smile between words.