The Physics of Tennis

 Power

If Tennis players didn’t hit a tennis ball with much Power, just one game of Tennis will be unbearable to watch. Power is the rate used to complete a certain amount of work. The formula for power is, Work is divided by Time. To generate more power in tennis, players hit the ball in a low to high manner. Power is need on a serve and during a ground stroke. To increase the arc in serving, a player must apply topspin to the ball, because the higher the arc, the more power there will be when the ball is struck. (As shown in Video) In order to get the greatest power a player must serve with maximum force (As shown in Figure 2) to create the longest arc possible. The same can be said about ground strokes. Head speed produces a lot of power. If a player happens to be too close to the ball while hitting it, he or she will have pull that arm in closer to his or her body, and this will reduce the arc of the swing, resulting in loss of power. Players have to have control of the ball even when hitting with much power, because if the ball is hit with too much power and not enough topspin, the ball is likely to go out. Now, that was just a few examples of how Power relates to Tennis.