jonolau
Legend
**Article from www.tennisplayer.net by John Yandell (please contact John directly if you need more clarification and acknowledgements)**
In 2004 Paul Hawkins agreed to collaborate with Advanced Tennis in taking the heavy ball analysis to the next level. This meant that Shot Spot would allow us to combine their speed and trajectory data with our high speed spin data. Together we were able to film matches of Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Marat Safin, and Lleyton Hewitt. This will allow us, for starters, to compare the spin Roddick generates on his serve to Sampras, or Federer.
The two primary characteristics of the shots hit in professional tennis are that they are hit with great velocity and heavy spin. Because of the radar guns on the serve, at least something was known quantitatively about the velocity of the ball.
The study of ball speed conducted by Advanced Tennis researchers showed that the radar guns told only the first part of the story about ball speed in pro tennis. We found that the ball slows down dramatically on the serve from the initial velocity recorded by the radar gun, both before and after the bounce, and did the same on the other shots as well.
The first ever study of spin levels in professional tennis yielded many surprising results.
Questions Regarding Spin
A first serve might be traveling 120mph when it left the racket, but how fast was that serve spinning? How much more spin was there on a "spin" second serve compared to a first serve? What about the heavy topspin forehands of the European players? How did this compare with players with a more classic style? How "flat" was a flat ball? How "heavy" was heavy or exaggerated spin? Did balls hit with underspin spin more or less than topspin? What about volleys and dropshots?
In 1997, we got the chance to answer some of these questions. Working with a team of other researchers from Cislunar Aerospace, and USTA Sports Science, we had th e unique opportunity to film U.S. Open on Arthur Ashe Stadium court.
During 4 days of filming, we were lucky to capture enough footage to measure the spin rates on almost twenty of the top players in the world, both men and women. From the raw data, we were able to analyze the spin on over 700 individual shots, including 1st and 2nd serves, groundstrokes hit with both topspin and underspin, return of serves, volleys, overheads and drop shots.
That data documents the amazing spin rates generated by the top players for the first time, including the substantial amount of spin generated by those players generally described as hitting the ball "flat."
In fact the analysis showed that in pro matches there is virtually no such thing as a completely "flat" shot, or a ball hit with no visible spin. In hundreds of incidents, there were less than a half dozen shots that had no discernable rotation, most of which were miss hits.
The answers we discovered to our questions regarding spin surprised even some very experienced observers of the game. Even so-called flat groundstrokes were spinning at 1000rpm and up, and the forehands of some of the European and South American players could exceed 3000rpm. First serves could reach 2500rpm and above. Second serves were easily the faster spinning of all, reaching over 5000rpm. It was also fascinating to see where the game's top stars fell in the range of spin measured on center court.
We found there is no such thing as a "flat" pro forehand--spin rates were measured in thousands of rpms.
Spin and Technical Style
With a few exceptions, our findings matched the perception of expert observers concerning the relative amount of spin hit by the players, for example, that Sergi Bruguera hit more topspin than Pete Sampras. What surprised us most was the amount of spin hit by all the players, even among the more "classical" players. Of the players studied, American Mary Jo Fernandez, with her minimalistic, classic strokes, hit the "flatest" forehand. But her ball was still spinning on average in excess of 1000rpm! (To be precise, her average was 1068rpm on 12 forehands.)
At the other end of the spectrum was the Spanish player Sergi Bruguera, who generated topspin at an incredible rate that averaged over 3300rpm, more than 3 times as much spin of Mary Jo. Bruguera' also recorded the single fastest spinning forehand, an amazing 3751rpms in a match against Marcelo Rios.
In men's pro tennis it normally takes around a second for the ball to travel from one player's racket to the other in a baseline exchange. In the case of Sergi Bruguera's forehand, this means the ball is turning over itself 70 to 80 times as it travels to his opponent! Try visualizing a tennis ball turning over 80 times in one second as it travels from baseline to baseline, if you want to get a sense of what this is really like!
Sampras had more spin on his forehand than the other classical players, and slightly more than Andre Agassi as well.
These extremes--from Fernandez to Bruguera--defined the parameters of spin on the forehand in pro tennis, roughly from about 1000rpm to over 3000rpm, a range of more than 2000rpm, depending on the player and the type of forehand.
Men's Topspin Forehands
On the men's side, the players with the classical grips averaged roughly 1300 to 1800rpm. This included players such as Petr Korda and Tim Henman, known as compact technical players, and also Todd Martin. Interestingly Pete Sampras hit the most spin on the forehand among players with classical style, an average of 1842rpm. Andre Agassi's forehand actually measured slightly less spin than Sampras, despite his semi-western grip, averaging 1718rpm.
The highest spin measured on a groundstroke was Bruguera's forehand at over 3700rpm.
Men players with the more extreme western grips all hit with substantially more average topspin, with the averages starting well above 2000rpm. This range began with Michael Chang at 2334rpm, Marcelo Rios at 2647rpm, and Tomas Muster at 2882rpm. Sergi Bruguera, who observers agree has the most extreme western motion in tennis, was at a level by himself, the only player averaging well in excess of 3000rpm.
Topspin Men's Forehands
Player: No. of Forehands: RPM Range: Avg RPM:
Sergi Bruguera 9 2941-3751rpm 3331rpm
Tomas Muster 22 1500-3750rpm 2882rpm
Marcelo Rios 13 1875-3750rpm 2647rpm
Mark Philippousis 8 2143-2727rpm 2546rpm
Jim Courier 12 938-3264rpm 2527rpm
Michael Chang 17 1271-3192rpm 2334rpm
Pete Sampras 17 1000-3409rpm 1842rpm
Andre Agassi 19 1154-3333rpm 1718rpm
Todd Martin 5 1154-2308rpm 1659rpm
Tim Henman 7 833-2000rpm 1288rpm
Petr Korda 15 968-2500rpm 1333rpm
Women's Topspin Forehands
Venus Williams was the only woman to top 2000rpm on her forehand.
The range between the high and low on the women's side was less extreme, but still in excess of 1000rpm. Mary Jo Fernandez, as noted, was at the low end at 1068rpm. Venus Williams was the only player to average in excess of 2000rpm, averaging 2154rpm.
The players with classical grips such as Jana Novotna and Lindsey Davenport were in the same range as their male counterparts between 1000rpm and 2000rpm, with Davenport at 1346rpm and Novotna at 1673rpm. Players with the more extreme grips such as Mary Pierce and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario averaged around1900rpm, 1941 and 1916rpm respectively.
Despite a semi-western grip world #1 Martina Hingis hit less spin than every player other than Fernandez, averaging 1147rpm. Another interesting result was that Monica Seles, who hits her forehand with two-hands, had one of the relatively "flatest" forehands at an average of 1215rpm.
Topspin Women's Forehands
Player: No. of Forehands: RPM Range: Avg RPM:
Venus Williams 16 1071-3488rpm 2154rpm
Mary Pierce 5 1667-2500rpm 1941rpm
Arantxa Sanchez-V. 3 1875-2000rpm 1916rpm
Anna Kournikova 16 1154-2143rpm 1713rpm
Jana Novotna 5 1500-1875rpm 1673rpm
Lindsay Davenport 13 1271-3192rpm 1346rpm
Monica Seles (2H) 12 790-1829rpm 1215rpm
Martina Hingis 15 600-2143rpm 1147rpm
Mary Jo Fernandez 12 417-1500rpm 1068rpm
Spin on The Backhand
In general the top players hit their backhands with significantly less topspin compared to their forehands with some interesting exceptions, including Pete Sampras as noted below.
As with the forehand, on the men's side Sergi Bruguera was the king of topspin on the backhand with his 2-handed shot. His average was 2382rpm, but this was still almost 1000rpm, or 30% less than his topspin forehand.
Among the men, Agassi's spin rates were balanced on both sides.
Interestingly among the men, 3 of the 4 highest spin rates were players who hit with 1-hand rather than 2. This was surprising because it is widely considered more difficult to generate topspin with a one-handed shot. Tomas Muster, for example, averaged 2264rpm with his one-handed shot, second only to BrugueraUs two hander. Still, this was 20% less topspin than his forehand.
Pete Sampras was unique among all the players, both men and women, in that he hit significantly more topspin on his backhand drive compared to his forehand. His average of 2204rpm was the third highest we recorded, and 20% higher than his forehand topspin average of 1842rpm. Although not among the leaders in spin rate, Petr Korda, known for his exceptional 1-handed backhand, averaged 1553rpm on that shot, a little more than 10% more topspin than his forehand.
Andre Agassi was an exception among the players because of the even balance between sides, hitting the ball with virtually identical amounts of topspin on the backhand as the forehand. Agassi averaged 1754rpm on the backhand, compared to 1718rpm on the forehand.
** End of Part 2 **
In 2004 Paul Hawkins agreed to collaborate with Advanced Tennis in taking the heavy ball analysis to the next level. This meant that Shot Spot would allow us to combine their speed and trajectory data with our high speed spin data. Together we were able to film matches of Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Marat Safin, and Lleyton Hewitt. This will allow us, for starters, to compare the spin Roddick generates on his serve to Sampras, or Federer.
The two primary characteristics of the shots hit in professional tennis are that they are hit with great velocity and heavy spin. Because of the radar guns on the serve, at least something was known quantitatively about the velocity of the ball.
The study of ball speed conducted by Advanced Tennis researchers showed that the radar guns told only the first part of the story about ball speed in pro tennis. We found that the ball slows down dramatically on the serve from the initial velocity recorded by the radar gun, both before and after the bounce, and did the same on the other shots as well.
The first ever study of spin levels in professional tennis yielded many surprising results.
Questions Regarding Spin
A first serve might be traveling 120mph when it left the racket, but how fast was that serve spinning? How much more spin was there on a "spin" second serve compared to a first serve? What about the heavy topspin forehands of the European players? How did this compare with players with a more classic style? How "flat" was a flat ball? How "heavy" was heavy or exaggerated spin? Did balls hit with underspin spin more or less than topspin? What about volleys and dropshots?
In 1997, we got the chance to answer some of these questions. Working with a team of other researchers from Cislunar Aerospace, and USTA Sports Science, we had th e unique opportunity to film U.S. Open on Arthur Ashe Stadium court.
During 4 days of filming, we were lucky to capture enough footage to measure the spin rates on almost twenty of the top players in the world, both men and women. From the raw data, we were able to analyze the spin on over 700 individual shots, including 1st and 2nd serves, groundstrokes hit with both topspin and underspin, return of serves, volleys, overheads and drop shots.
That data documents the amazing spin rates generated by the top players for the first time, including the substantial amount of spin generated by those players generally described as hitting the ball "flat."
In fact the analysis showed that in pro matches there is virtually no such thing as a completely "flat" shot, or a ball hit with no visible spin. In hundreds of incidents, there were less than a half dozen shots that had no discernable rotation, most of which were miss hits.
The answers we discovered to our questions regarding spin surprised even some very experienced observers of the game. Even so-called flat groundstrokes were spinning at 1000rpm and up, and the forehands of some of the European and South American players could exceed 3000rpm. First serves could reach 2500rpm and above. Second serves were easily the faster spinning of all, reaching over 5000rpm. It was also fascinating to see where the game's top stars fell in the range of spin measured on center court.
We found there is no such thing as a "flat" pro forehand--spin rates were measured in thousands of rpms.
Spin and Technical Style
With a few exceptions, our findings matched the perception of expert observers concerning the relative amount of spin hit by the players, for example, that Sergi Bruguera hit more topspin than Pete Sampras. What surprised us most was the amount of spin hit by all the players, even among the more "classical" players. Of the players studied, American Mary Jo Fernandez, with her minimalistic, classic strokes, hit the "flatest" forehand. But her ball was still spinning on average in excess of 1000rpm! (To be precise, her average was 1068rpm on 12 forehands.)
At the other end of the spectrum was the Spanish player Sergi Bruguera, who generated topspin at an incredible rate that averaged over 3300rpm, more than 3 times as much spin of Mary Jo. Bruguera' also recorded the single fastest spinning forehand, an amazing 3751rpms in a match against Marcelo Rios.
In men's pro tennis it normally takes around a second for the ball to travel from one player's racket to the other in a baseline exchange. In the case of Sergi Bruguera's forehand, this means the ball is turning over itself 70 to 80 times as it travels to his opponent! Try visualizing a tennis ball turning over 80 times in one second as it travels from baseline to baseline, if you want to get a sense of what this is really like!
Sampras had more spin on his forehand than the other classical players, and slightly more than Andre Agassi as well.
These extremes--from Fernandez to Bruguera--defined the parameters of spin on the forehand in pro tennis, roughly from about 1000rpm to over 3000rpm, a range of more than 2000rpm, depending on the player and the type of forehand.
Men's Topspin Forehands
On the men's side, the players with the classical grips averaged roughly 1300 to 1800rpm. This included players such as Petr Korda and Tim Henman, known as compact technical players, and also Todd Martin. Interestingly Pete Sampras hit the most spin on the forehand among players with classical style, an average of 1842rpm. Andre Agassi's forehand actually measured slightly less spin than Sampras, despite his semi-western grip, averaging 1718rpm.
The highest spin measured on a groundstroke was Bruguera's forehand at over 3700rpm.
Men players with the more extreme western grips all hit with substantially more average topspin, with the averages starting well above 2000rpm. This range began with Michael Chang at 2334rpm, Marcelo Rios at 2647rpm, and Tomas Muster at 2882rpm. Sergi Bruguera, who observers agree has the most extreme western motion in tennis, was at a level by himself, the only player averaging well in excess of 3000rpm.
Topspin Men's Forehands
Player: No. of Forehands: RPM Range: Avg RPM:
Sergi Bruguera 9 2941-3751rpm 3331rpm
Tomas Muster 22 1500-3750rpm 2882rpm
Marcelo Rios 13 1875-3750rpm 2647rpm
Mark Philippousis 8 2143-2727rpm 2546rpm
Jim Courier 12 938-3264rpm 2527rpm
Michael Chang 17 1271-3192rpm 2334rpm
Pete Sampras 17 1000-3409rpm 1842rpm
Andre Agassi 19 1154-3333rpm 1718rpm
Todd Martin 5 1154-2308rpm 1659rpm
Tim Henman 7 833-2000rpm 1288rpm
Petr Korda 15 968-2500rpm 1333rpm
Women's Topspin Forehands
Venus Williams was the only woman to top 2000rpm on her forehand.
The range between the high and low on the women's side was less extreme, but still in excess of 1000rpm. Mary Jo Fernandez, as noted, was at the low end at 1068rpm. Venus Williams was the only player to average in excess of 2000rpm, averaging 2154rpm.
The players with classical grips such as Jana Novotna and Lindsey Davenport were in the same range as their male counterparts between 1000rpm and 2000rpm, with Davenport at 1346rpm and Novotna at 1673rpm. Players with the more extreme grips such as Mary Pierce and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario averaged around1900rpm, 1941 and 1916rpm respectively.
Despite a semi-western grip world #1 Martina Hingis hit less spin than every player other than Fernandez, averaging 1147rpm. Another interesting result was that Monica Seles, who hits her forehand with two-hands, had one of the relatively "flatest" forehands at an average of 1215rpm.
Topspin Women's Forehands
Player: No. of Forehands: RPM Range: Avg RPM:
Venus Williams 16 1071-3488rpm 2154rpm
Mary Pierce 5 1667-2500rpm 1941rpm
Arantxa Sanchez-V. 3 1875-2000rpm 1916rpm
Anna Kournikova 16 1154-2143rpm 1713rpm
Jana Novotna 5 1500-1875rpm 1673rpm
Lindsay Davenport 13 1271-3192rpm 1346rpm
Monica Seles (2H) 12 790-1829rpm 1215rpm
Martina Hingis 15 600-2143rpm 1147rpm
Mary Jo Fernandez 12 417-1500rpm 1068rpm
Spin on The Backhand
In general the top players hit their backhands with significantly less topspin compared to their forehands with some interesting exceptions, including Pete Sampras as noted below.
As with the forehand, on the men's side Sergi Bruguera was the king of topspin on the backhand with his 2-handed shot. His average was 2382rpm, but this was still almost 1000rpm, or 30% less than his topspin forehand.
Among the men, Agassi's spin rates were balanced on both sides.
Interestingly among the men, 3 of the 4 highest spin rates were players who hit with 1-hand rather than 2. This was surprising because it is widely considered more difficult to generate topspin with a one-handed shot. Tomas Muster, for example, averaged 2264rpm with his one-handed shot, second only to BrugueraUs two hander. Still, this was 20% less topspin than his forehand.
Pete Sampras was unique among all the players, both men and women, in that he hit significantly more topspin on his backhand drive compared to his forehand. His average of 2204rpm was the third highest we recorded, and 20% higher than his forehand topspin average of 1842rpm. Although not among the leaders in spin rate, Petr Korda, known for his exceptional 1-handed backhand, averaged 1553rpm on that shot, a little more than 10% more topspin than his forehand.
Andre Agassi was an exception among the players because of the even balance between sides, hitting the ball with virtually identical amounts of topspin on the backhand as the forehand. Agassi averaged 1754rpm on the backhand, compared to 1718rpm on the forehand.
** End of Part 2 **
