Racquet Power

[NotEvenSemiPro]

Hi all, I'm feeling a little confused by the meaning of "racquet power".

Supposedly, players frames are low power, for low swing speeds, b/c they have small heads and a head-light balance.

Beginner or Tweener frames are, of course, rated lower in power.

For fun, I decided to use Tennis Warehouse's Tennis Shot Trajectory to compare the k6.1 and the kZero. The kZero is 118sq. in., 4pts head heavy, and weighs 9.1oz. From the description: "The lightest K Factor racquet offered by Wilson, the K Zero offers maximum power for the beginner". Power level is listed as "high".

For the k6.1 90, power level is listed as "low". However, on the shot trajectory, the 6.1's ball comes off faster and flies farther. Launches at 73.9mph as opposed to 70.8mph, and lands at 74.6 ft as opposed to 73.5 feet. And those shots are supposed to be from the same swing.

This more or less squares with my experience. I haven't used a racket as big and light as the kZero, but i have hit with tweener and players frames. The players frames put more power into the ball, and require more precision. The tweener frames feel like there's less power there, and are more forgiving.

So what gives? Am I approaching this the wrong way? I'll just add that it makes some sense to me that beginners rackets she be low-powered, to keep the ball in the court. So why are they rated "high"?

 

[NotEvenSemiPro]

oops, I meant "beginner or tweener frames are...rated higher in power.

apologies.

 

[namartens]

Supposedly, players frames are low power, for low swing speeds, b/c they have small heads and a head-light balance.

I think you made another mistake in your post, which makes it even more confusing Players rackets are low(er) powered, which means you will need higher swing speeds I think.

 

[pyrokid]

If you swing them both the same speed, then yes, the player's racquet will probably have more power because of the added mass.

But it's much more likely that you'll be able to swing the light racquet faster than the heavier one, and when you do that, you get way more power.

Also, I can't wait till you get about 500 posts, and it says semi pro under your username.

 

[NotEvenSemiPro]

namartens, you are right: low power for high swing speeds. Sorry for all the confusion.

pyrokid: I agree, it would be easier to get a faster swing on the beginner's racket. But, according to seemingly every websites specs, the beginners racket is high power for low swing speeds...from reading the descriptions, I thought that swinging those things fast would simply knock the ball out of the park.

Thinking about this a bit more...maybe it's simply a reference to how much effort it takes to swing the rackets? "low" power means the racket takes a lot of effort to swing, and "high" power means the racket is very easy to swing....that's plausible, but it's certainly not at all what I though "power" meant.

 

[pyrokid]

namartens, you are right: low power for high swing speeds. Sorry for all the confusion.

pyrokid: I agree, it would be easier to get a faster swing on the beginner's racket. But, according to seemingly every websites specs, the beginners racket is high power for low swing speeds...from reading the descriptions, I thought that swinging those things fast would simply knock the ball out of the park.

Thinking about this a bit more...maybe it's simply a reference to how much effort it takes to swing the rackets? "low" power means the racket takes a lot of effort to swing, and "high" power means the racket is very easy to swing....that's plausible, but it's certainly not at all what I though "power" meant.

It's not that it's meant to be swung fast, it's that beginners usually have VERY slow swing speeds. And a VERY slow swing with a player's racquet will give you nothing, and VERY slow swing with a trampoline gives you a lot more.

So they're not meant to be swung fast, they're meant to be swing fastER than player's racquets by someone who has little experience. Still not fast at all compared to experienced players.

 

[saigonbond]

Introduction to Racquet Science:

http://www.racquetresearch.com/sevencri.htm

 

[jwbarrientos]

Introduction to Racquet Science:

http://www.racquetresearch.com/sevencri.htm

Hey Bond, Saigon Bond, my brain was overloaded after so much info :shock:

 

[NotEvenSemiPro]

That's a great page, saigonbond, thank you.

pyrokid, that's an interesting way to look at it. Playing with the Tennis Shot Trajectory tool, though, I can't find any circumstances in which the high powered rackets push the ball farther than the low powered rackets.

 

[NotEvenSemiPro]

From Saigonbond's link:

"So if, consistent with this scientific meaning, we consider a powerful racquet to be one can achieve a certain ball speed with the least player effort per unit time, and we limit the time of the stroke, what power then becomes is the inverse of Work: low Work means high power. "

So there it is. While a player's racket swung at 20 mph will hit the ball farther than a beginner's racket swung at 20mph, it takes more "Work" to swing the players racket that fast, and less "work" to swing the beginner's racket.

That's what I guessed a couple posts up, and it seems to be the answer. High power = doesn't take much effort to swing, low power = takes more effort to swing.

Then, I suppose since the beginner's rackets are easier to swing, one will swing them harder and faster for a given amount of effort (or work) -- resulting in a harder shot. In other words, 10 units of effort might bring a beginner's racket up to 40mph, but the same 10 units of effort would bring a players racket only up to 30mph. And a 40mph beginner's racket hits the ball farther than a 30mph player's racket.
Therefore, on the court, if you're willing to expend a set amount of energy, you will hit the ball farther with a beginner's racket than a player's racket.

*whew!* Mystery solved, I think.

 

[TennisMD]

From Saigonbond's link:

"So if, consistent with this scientific meaning, we consider a powerful racquet to be one can achieve a certain ball speed with the least player effort per unit time, and we limit the time of the stroke, what power then becomes is the inverse of Work: low Work means high power. "

So there it is. While a player's racket swung at 20 mph will hit the ball farther than a beginner's racket swung at 20mph, it takes more "Work" to swing the players racket that fast, and less "work" to swing the beginner's racket.

That's what I guessed a couple posts up, and it seems to be the answer. High power = doesn't take much effort to swing, low power = takes more effort to swing.

Then, I suppose since the beginner's rackets are easier to swing, one will swing them harder and faster for a given amount of effort (or work) -- resulting in a harder shot. In other words, 10 units of effort might bring a beginner's racket up to 40mph, but the same 10 units of effort would bring a players racket only up to 30mph. And a 40mph beginner's racket hits the ball farther than a 30mph player's racket.
Therefore, on the court, if you're willing to expend a set amount of energy, you will hit the ball farther with a beginner's racket than a player's racket.

*whew!* Mystery solved, I think.

Maybe not, you have to consider the variables. One variable is what maxs out first your swing speed ie how fast can you swing your hand, then how much does each gram slow down this max speed and does the extra grams compensate more or less. Also having to swing at near max speed all the time leads to error. So I think this is why ones results are individual. Get a radar gun I did and was suprised that the avg serve speed for me was not very different for several rkts including the low powered Volkl C10 and the high powered PDR. I believe that this is what makes the TWU site quite beneficial as they have taken out all the human variables swing speed, timing, where you contact the ball flush slightly off or severely off and the only variable in there test is the rkt ie stiffness, weight, layup; if this is true, please correct me if I over value this site, then one should use this site extensivly in picking a rkt.
Happy hitting.