June 12th, 2006
The Atlantic has a great story by Tom Perrotta on how racket technology saved the men’s tennis game. Lots of physics and sports-junkie goodness.
Little known fact:
[C]omposite rackets help players hit better ground strokes, impart more spin, and return rocket serves, but they do very little to speed up serves. In 1997, in a comparative test done by Tennis magazine, Mark Philippoussis, the six-foot-five, 217-pound Australian renowned for his powerful serve, averaged 124 mph when serving with his own composite racket. With a classic wooden racket, he averaged 122 mph.
Who knew?
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