Abstract
Generating ball spin is an important skill in modern tennis. Tennis racket-ball impacts are high-speed events. The racket undergoes a wide range of accelerations and orientation changes, which influences aerodynamic drag as well as how the racket can be accelerated during tennis strokes. Babolat first introduced aerodynamic tennis racket frames into their range with the Aeropro Drive and continually strives to improve racket frame aerodynamics, viewing aerodynamic performance as a key space for racket innovation. To allow innovation in tennis racket design, the tennis racket-ball impact must be precisely quantified to model and understand the effects of racket cross-sectional geometry on aerodynamic performance. This chapter describes how interoperable data, captured using high-fidelity measurement technologies and modelled using computational fluid dynamics, were used to understand and optimise tennis racket aerodynamics, to enhance performance during such high-speed impacts.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Handbook of Sports Technology and Engineering |
| Publisher | Routledge |
| Chapter | 34 |
| Edition | 2 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781032301426 |
| Publication status | Published - 12 Jun 2025 |