Interactive Forum: Extension

[crosscourt]

I have read the book.

[johnyandell]

What I get from the book is that the factors that go into the racket's role are very complex. But at the end of the day, they are relatively minor in terms of major impact on ball velocity. Obviously a tennis racket is nothing like a feather or a train.

The main factor is the 6 to 1 ratio of weight of racket to weight of ball that he talks about. (p. 34) The difference of a few grams is relatively minor in this.

Most rackets are 12 to 13 oz and that's less than 30 grams (or less than 10%) difference.

I believe that the human body can feel almost all the possible differences in rackets, strings etc, but at the end of the day it's going to be the player's ability and the player's technique that make the difference.

[lukman41985]

Thanks John, that's really interesting.

[crosscourt]

With the greatest respect to Cross, he is very good about rackets (and about what makes one racquet more powerful than another) and other things like bounce, court surfaces etc, but less good about tennis shots. I don't seek to demean his book in saying this, just to note that the racket is only, as he says, the vehicle into which the energy is transferred from the forearm to strike the ball. The issue in terms of power is what is its source? I.e. where does the energy that is transferred to the racket come from? To say that power comes from racket head speed seems to me to do no more than raise the real question. What is the source of energy in a tennis shot? And then, how do we transfer that energy efficiently into the ball?

As to the weight etc issues, while it may be the case that ball speed is affected little by the weight of the racket that doesn't really seem to be the whole story. We are concerned with the relative power of the shot, including trajectory and spin, and not just the speed of the ball. Further, as we all believe, and as Cross verifies, if two rackets of different weight are swung at the same speed the heavier racket will produce a faster shot. So if a very heavy racket is swung more slowly that a very light racket then depending on a number of factors that slower swing may produce more ball speed than the lighter racket. Hence trucks and feathers. As Cross notes the difference may be more pronounced on groundstrokes than on serves. As Cross also notes, the importance of the weight of the racket in the generation of shot power depends to some extent on the speed of a players swing.

[johnyandell]

Right he doesn't boil it down to precise answers and as I said it is obvious that rackets make some difference. However spin will also be a function of racket head speed--some energy goes into spin and some ball speed and they are not independent. But it's not trucks versus feathers. That's 100,000s if not millions of grams differences.

I'm one of those players/teachers that has little interest in technical minute equipment details although others feel differently. Most people in my view should be playing with medium flex 11.5-12.5 oz rackets with even but probably head light balance and then should worry about how they hit the ball and leave the rest to god.