How does your opponent put that tricky spin on the ball? Why are some serves easier to return than others? The mysteries behind the winning strokes, equipment, and surfaces of the game of tennis are accessibly explained by Howard Brody through the laws of physics. And he gives practical pointers to ways players can use this understanding to advantage in the game. Through extensive laboratory testing and computer modeling, Brody has investigated the physics behind the shape of the tennis racket, the string pattern, the bounce of the tennis ball, the ways a particular court surface can determine the speed of the game, and the many other physical factors involved in tennis.
From throwing a racket at the court because of a disagreement over a call, to creating a wild fashion line of tennis attire, the personalities of tennis are endlessly entertaining. Readers will learn that behind this sport lies a great deal of science. A brief history of the sport is offered followed by chapters that cover the scientific concepts behind serving the ball, how rackets work, how different surfaces and types of tennis balls affect the game, training and conditioning, and the psychological aspects of the game. Includes graphics to help explain the scientific principles being discussed and a list of sources for further research.
Get a head start in developing young players with "Coaching Your Tennis Champion". QuickStart Tennis, the play format now used by the United States Tennis Association for junior tennis players, is explained with easy-to-follow instructions, tennis court diagrams, and photographs. Make the most of valuable court time with innovative tennis lesson plans created by a respected tennis instructor. Exclusive day-by-day progressive lesson plans covering 70+ games and tennis drills. The lessons are customised and grouped for players ages 5-7 and ages 8-10. Use a lesson as is, or easily adjust it for your players' needs. All activities are labelled with approximate completion times to help you budget tennis teaching sessions. Lesson games and drills focus on motor skills, strokes, game rules, and point play. Plus! 30 additional games and drills to enliven your lessons and keep your students coming back. Big time-saver for teaching professionals. Fun know-how for volunteer coaches and parents.
The only book of its kind, Tennis and the Meaning of Life is a resplendent collection of the best fiction (and poetry) written about this extraordinary sport/obsession. Contributors include Ellen Gilchrist, J.P. Donleavy, Barry Hannah, Ring Lardner, Somerset Maugham, William Trevor, E.B. White, Irwin Shaw, Wallace Stegner, and many others.
Tennis is one of the world’s most popular sports, as levels of participation and spectatorship demonstrate. Moreover, tennis has always been one of the world’s most significant sports, expressing crucial fractures of social class, gender, sexuality, race and ethnicity - both on and off court. This is the first book to undertake a survey of the historical and socio-cultural sweep of tennis, exploring key themes from governance, development and social inclusion to national identity and the role of the media. It is presented in three parts: historical developments; culture and representations; and politics and social issues, and features contributions by leading tennis scholars from North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. The most authoritative book published to date on the history, culture and politics of tennis, this is an essential reference for any course or program examining the history, sociology, politics or culture of sport.
If you have watched a Grand Slam tennis tournament in the past decade, you are probably aware that the game is dominated by just a few international powerhouses. At the conclusion of each tournament, it is likely that you will see Serena Williams atop the women’s podium and a member of the Big Four—Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray—hoisting the trophy for the men. And while there is not a lot of variety in the outcome of these matches, the game of tennis itself has changed drastically over the decades, as developments in technology and conditioning regimens, among other factors, have altered the style of play. Underpinning many of these developments is science, and this book explains the scientific wonders that take the ball from racket to racket and back again. Each chapter explores a different facet of the game—learning, technique, game analysis, the mental edge, physical development, nutrition for performance and recovery, staying healthy, and equipment—and is organized around a series of questions. How do we learn the ins and outs of hitting the ball in and not out? What are the main technological developments and software programs that can be used to assist in performance and notational analysis in tennis? What role does sports psychology play in developing a tennis player? What is the role of fluid replacement for the recreational, junior, and professional player? What rule changes have been made with respect to the racket, ball, and ball-court interaction to maintain the integrity of the game in the face of technological change? Each question is examined with the aid of explanatory diagrams and illustrations, and the book can be used to search for particular topics, or read straight through for a comprehensive overview of how player and equipment work together. Whether you prefer the grass courts of Wimbledon, the clay courts of the French Open, or the hard courts of the US and Australian Opens, Tennis Science is a must-have for anyone interested in the science behind a winning game.
This book will serve as a key resource for all clinicians working in orthopedics, sports medicine, and rehabilitation for the sport of tennis. It provides clinically useful information on evaluation and treatment of the tennis player, covering the entire body and both general medical and orthopedic musculoskeletal topics. Individual sections focus on tennis-related injuries to the shoulder, the elbow, wrist, and hand, the lower extremities, and the core/spine, explaining treatment and rehabilitation approaches in detail. Furthermore, sufficient sport science information is presented to provide the clinical reader with extensive knowledge of tennis biomechanics and the physiological aspects of training and rehabilitation. Medical issues in tennis players, such as nutrition and hydration, are also discussed, and a closing section focuses on other key topics, including movement dysfunction, periodization, core training, and strength and conditioning specifics. The expansive list of worldwide contributors and experts coupled with the comprehensive and far-reaching chapter provision make this the highest-level tennis medicine book ever published.
In Championship Tennis, Frank Giampaolo and Jon Levey cover the most important aspects of training, including athletic assessment, skill development, physical and mental preparation, practicing, and planning. It includes proven practice drills for mastering strokes, anticipatory skills, and styles of play.
Winner of the Lord Aberdare Literary Prize 2015- from the British Society for Sports History. From its advent in the mid-late nineteenth century as a garden-party pastime to its development into a highly commercialised and professionalised high-performance sport, the history of tennis in Britain reflects important themes in Britain’s social history. In the first comprehensive and critical account of the history of tennis in Britain, Robert Lake explains how the game’s historical roots have shaped its contemporary structure, and how the history of tennis can tell us much about the history of wider British society. Since its emergence as a spare-time diversion for landed elites, the dominant culture in British tennis has been one of amateurism and exclusion, with tennis sitting alongside cricket and golf as a vehicle for the reproduction of middle-class values throughout wider British society in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Consequently, the Lawn Tennis Association has been accused of a failure to promote inclusion or widen participation, despite steadfast efforts to develop talent and improve coaching practices and structures. Robert Lake examines these themes in the context of the global development of tennis and important processes of commercialisation and professional and social development that have shaped both tennis and wider society. The social history of tennis in Britain is a microcosm of late-nineteenth and twentieth-century British social history: sustained class power and class conflict; struggles for female emancipation and racial integration; the decline of empire; and, Britain’s shifting relationship with America, continental Europe, and Commonwealth nations. This book is important and fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in the history of sport or British social history.
