Speed and Power

[Kunimitsu]

Hi, I just started playing tennis at my school, and my friend had interesting questions that I can't seem to find an answer for so I was hoping you guys can help me.
He wanted to know if
a) is there such thing as 'power tennis', and if there is, what is it?
b) does having a more 'powerful stroke' means that you hit the ball harder than other people? and do powerful shots have to to fast?
c) if you hit the ball harder, does it go faster? so more power = more speed?
basically the whole confusion is about the correllation between power and speed in tennis, i.e. can a powerful shot be slow?

I was thinking it has something to do with shifting of the body weight and transfer of energy into the ball, which the 'poweful' players can do better and thus their shots would be more powerful (or heavier) than some one who is skinny even if they hit the ball with the same force from the racket. I'm just confused. Wonders if there are any physics majors in here

Well, thanks in advance for all your help

 

[Camilio Pascual]

No need for fissiks majors! A ball with good pace on it can have a lot to a little spin. The ball with more spin is said to be heavier. It is most noticeable when returning a fast serve with a lot of spin, there will be a twisting action on the racquet by the ball that you have to resist and overcome. Venus Williams has hit a 127mph serve, but it would not feel "heavy" on your racquet compared to an Andy Roddick 117mph serve with lots of spin on it.

 

[tom-selleck]

good questions,

watch andy roddick for power tennis.... not the best player, but probably best example of power tennis, on his serve and forehand (2hb is NOT power tennis).

force = mass x velocity (i think). or is it mass x acceleration???

tall skinny guys can hit the ball really hard.... this isn't baseball where 1) the bat is really heavy, 2) where there is no concern about keeping the ball in play......... you mentioned weight shift which is correct, but these days, alot of it is with very quick hip, shoulder rotations (where you are still shifting weight, but not the "dominant thought" foot-to-foot action you thinking of)

topspin is a huge factor in making balls hard to return.... and probably "THE CORNERSTONE" of power tennis.

 

[bobby]

tall skinny guys can hit the ball really hard

Damn right we can!!!

 

[erik-the-red]

Pete Sampras's 118mph first serve is definitely heavier than one of Roddick's 130+ mph blasts.

What do you mean by a "two handed back hand is not power tennis?" What about Safin's backhand?

 

[troytennisbum]

We'll I would have to agree/disagree with what erik-the-red stated above.

I don't think you could say Sampras's 118 mph first serve is heavier then
Roddick's 130+ mph blasts. I think Roddick's 130+ mph serves are perhaps the most powerful/heaviest serves ever seen on the professional tour.

However I do agree with his statement about the 2hb. Certainly Safin's backhand is definitely power tennis (along with other 2bh like Agassi, Serena, Venus, etc)

 

[Rickson]

Pete Sampras's 118mph first serve is definitely heavier than one of Roddick's 130+ mph blasts.

What do you mean by a "two handed back hand is not power tennis?" What about Safin's backhand?

I think he means that Roddick is a power player, but Roddick's 2hbh is not a power shot.

 

[FiveO]

Pete Sampras's 118mph first serve is definitely heavier than one of Roddick's 130+ mph blasts.

What do you mean by a "two handed back hand is not power tennis?" What about Safin's backhand?

Actually there have been several studies of why Sampras serve seemed to yield results superior to other players who could significantly out-mph him. One of those studies done with high speed video (I think by John Yandell). The results of those studies revealed that NO ONE could generate the MPHs Sampras did in combination with the RPMs he produced simultaneously. The RPMs he generated on "flat" bombs had more RPMs on it than any other pro produced on a kick serve, save for Agassi (as I remember). That was the explanation offered for why Sampras's contemporaries called his serve the heaviest on tour. The theory was that Sampras serve would have been fairly pedestrian w/o that mindboggling combination of both pure pace and SPIN.

 

[Geezer Guy]

a) is there such thing as 'power tennis', and if there is, what is it?

"Power Tennis" is hitting the ball HARD - to try to blast it past your opponent.
"Finesse" or "Placement" tennis is hitting the ball softer, but hitting it where your opponent can't get to it.
"Consistent" or "Grinding" tennis is hitting the ball over and over consistently, waiting for your opponent to make an error - or maybe just boring him to death. (Oops - did I let my bias show?)

b) does having a more 'powerful stroke' means that you hit the ball harder than other people? and do powerful shots have to to fast?

I'd say that "Yes, powerful shots go fast and in order for the ball to go fast you have to hit it hard. "

c) if you hit the ball harder, does it go faster? so more power = more speed?
basically the whole confusion is about the correllation between power and speed in tennis, i.e. can a powerful shot be slow?

Well, if you're hitting the ball "dead on" (flat), the harder you hit the ball, the faster it will go (more power = more speed). If you hit the ball with slice, you could swing JUST AS HARD but the ball might have more spin and not as much speed.

I don't think a powerful shot can be "slow", but I'd say that powerful shots could come in a variety of combinations of speed and spin. Sorry if that sounds like a cop out.

The speed of the racquethead is what generates the power. It doesn't matter if it's a 300 lb lineman or at 10 year old girl - they can both generate as much pace on the ball if they generate the same racquethead speed.

 

[Bungalo Bill]

a) is there such thing as 'power tennis', and if there is, what is it?

A. Yes there is. Power tennis has to do with the ability of a player to use pace to win points. It also has to do with other things like movement and taking balls sooner rather then later to reduce the time an opponent has to respond. A person who is able to reduce errors and force the pace of his game on an opponent is considered a "power" player. Safin is an example of a power tennis player.

b) does having a more 'powerful stroke' means that you hit the ball harder than other people? and do powerful shots have to to fast?

A. Yes and no, power is a combination of things. First it implies you can generate excellent racquet head speed to accelerate the ball from a mph perspective. The second is that you can generate a high revolutions of spin that cause the ball to feel heavy or jarring when an opponent tries to reply to your shot. When the ball bounces it comes off the court with authority and command and if not timed and judged right can influence the twist in the racquet which could cause an undesirable shot. In general, power is usually with pace.

c) if you hit the ball harder, does it go faster? so more power = more speed?
basically the whole confusion is about the correllation between power and speed in tennis, i.e. can a powerful shot be slow?

A powerful shot could be one that your opponent has no chance in getting to. It is hit with authority. Power comes from a combination of things. The first is clean contact. The second is racquet head speed to generate the mph, and the third is the revolutions for spin you put on the ball by your ability to put spin on the ball. In general, you can not hit with pace or "power" without a fast swing speed. Which means you have to get the racquet moving quickly to hit with pace. what I am trying to say is the ball slows down in the air quickly due to the nature of topspin let's say. In order have topspin and hit the ball and get it to go faster, it goes without saying you have to strike the ball with more force which means a faster swing speed.

I was thinking it has something to do with shifting of the body weight and transfer of energy into the ball, which the 'poweful' players can do better and thus their shots would be more powerful (or heavier) than some one who is skinny even if they hit the ball with the same force from the racket. I'm just confused. Wonders if there are any physics majors in here

A. Heaviness is not coorelated to putting more body wieght into the ball. Your ability to do this may add at best about 5mph to the ball. Not much. Heaviness has to do with spin revolutions and the ability for a ball to twist a frame during impact. Shifting your body weight forward has more to do with making clean contact and allowing your racquet to maintain a straight path into the ball 6 inches before and 6 inches after. This clean contact is what gives a player a tremendous amount of "controlled power or pace".