COMPONENT 3 - THE BALL TOSS

The ball toss in the tennis serve can be directly influenced by the concept of projectile motion that reflects the motion of an object that projects at an angle into the air; in this case, the tennis ball (Blazvich, 2012, p. 25). Projectiles are influenced by one force; gravity. Ideally, an object projected at 45 degrees will have an equal vertical and horizontal velocity. However, this is affected by the height of projection at racquet/ball contact. The optimal angle of projection decreases when the relative height is more positive. Conversely, when the landing level is more negative, the optimal angle of projection increases. In the tennis serve, the height the player reaches at their full leg extension is very significant. With a higher racquet head, the optimal angle decreases, therefore the ball reaches the target at a faster velocity (refer to Image 8).

 

 

Image 8: Roger Federer generating height through leg extension and creating a smaller angle at which to deliver the ball.