The Physics and Technology of Tennis

By Howard Brody, Rod Cross & Crawford Lindsey

"The Physics and Technology of Tennis is the most important tennis book in fifteen years …" Vic Braden

Professors Howard Brody and Rod Cross, the top two experts on the physics of tennis in the world, join forces with Racquet Sports Industry magazine’s technology expert, Crawford Lindsey, to lead readers on a mind-expanding adventure covering everything players, coaches, stringers, retailers and teaching pros ever wanted to know about tennis equipment and how it affects performance!

The life’s purpose of a tennis racquet is to change the speed and direction of a tennis ball. This momentous event takes place in approximately five thousandths of a second. During that time, the ball and the racquet launch into a frenzy of technology-enhanced physics:

  • The strings stretch, deflect, vibrate, store, and return energy.
  • The ball squashes, slides, bites, reverses direction, ejects, and flies away like vibrating jello.
  • The racquet decelerates, rotates, bends, twists, and vibrates.
  • Bending waves race up and down the racquet, slamming the handle into the hand.
  • Pain, frustration, anger, joy, or elation explode forth from the collision.

Players paying upwards of $300 per racquet and $50 for restringings can spend hundreds of dollars every year trying to influence any of these events in their favor. This book explains the what, how, and why of those fateful collisions on each side of the net, as well as the flight and the bounce of the ball in between.

Book Specifications
Chapters 42
Sections 4
Pages 450
Illustrations 310
Glossary Yes
Index Yes
References Yes
Appendices 6
Cover Paperback
Size 8.5 × 11
ISBN 0-9722759-0-8