Science

January 2007

Spin Off the Court and Strings

I noticed something interesting at the Australian Open in January. That is, I could sometimes read the label on the ball as the ball travelled over the net, even though the players were hitting topspin groundstrokes. The ball was... (Click here to read more...)

July 2006

Wrist Snap In the Serve

Physicist Rod Cross explains that the racquet snaps the wrist, not vice versa. (Click here to read more...)

April 2006

Racquet Handle Weighting and Maneuverability

Inspection of 320 different racquets listed in the March 2004 and 2005 issues of RSI shows that almost every light racquet is head heavy and every heavy racquet is head light (see Fig. 1) This result is not so... (Click here to read more...)

February 2006

Raw Racquet Power

When Crawford Lindsey and I were writing Technical Tennis, our biggest single problem was to find a meaningful word or phrase to replace "Apparent Coefficient of Restitution," or ACOR. This is the technically correct phrase used to describe how... (Click here to read more...)

January 2006

The inch that changed tennis forever

The modern game of tennis is played at a furious pace compared with the old days when everyone used wood racquets. Just watch old film from the 1950s and you will see that the game is vastly different. Ken... (Click here to read more...)

April 2005

Racquet Acrobatics

Amaze your friends with racquet tricks and the explanations behind them. (Click here to read more...)

February 2005

A New Twist on the Twistweight of a Tennis Racquet

By Howard Brody One of the most important parameters of a tennis racquet, the "twistweight," is rarely reported on. It is relatively easy to determine a racquet's weight (all it takes is a scale) or a racquet's balance point (a... (Click here to read more...)

April 2004

Follow the Bouncing Ball

Understanding how the ball bounces can help you and your students pick and read shots. (Click here to read more...)

February 2004

Racquet Power and the Ideal Racquet Weight

What is the ideal weight of a racquet that will give the maximum possible power out of the racquet? Most elite players use a moderately heavy racquet, around 340 grams or so, but is that the best weight for... (Click here to read more...)