Understanding Physics: Tennis and the Laws of Motion Explained

This essay provides a detailed analysis of how the laws of physics are applied in the sport of tennis. It explores the significance of Newton's three laws of motion, explaining how they influence the movement of the ball during gameplay, including the forces involved in hitting the ball and the resulting acceleration. The essay further discusses rotational motion, friction, elasticity, and drag forces, illustrating their impact on ball trajectory, spin, and bounce. It emphasizes how principles like elasticity in racquet strings and the friction between the ball and the court contribute to the dynamics of the game. The essay concludes by summarizing the various physics principles at play, offering readers a comprehensive understanding of the science behind tennis.

Applications of Physics in Sport of Tennis 1
LAWS OF PHYSICS IN SPORT OF TENNIS
By Name
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INTRODUCTION
This essay seeks to assess how the laws of physics apply to the sport of tennis considering it is a
popular sport in many countries all over the world. The most significant part of tennis sports is
the rally where challengers hit the ball successively back and forth across the net by the use of
tennis racquets until an error is made by one of the players. During the match, there is an
application of various basic mechanical principles that control the ball or the trajectory. The laws
of physics that are applied when playing tennis include rotational motion, friction or drag,
collision elasticity, gravity, and Newton’s Laws of Motion.
Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion
This law of motion is applied generally is various objects under collision without exception of
the tennis ball. This law states that for every force, there is an equal and opposite reactive force.
This law is applied in sports of tennis when the ball makes contact with the racquet. Despite the
racquet making contact with the ball, it is not what moves the ball. The force involved in moving
the ball is the force of the ball pushing back against the racquet strings. When hitting the ball,
there is a brief compression, before retaking its real shape, hence pushing back on the racquet
strings (Paraskevopoulos and Natsiavas, 2013). Therefore, it is true that action and reaction
forces are responsible for the bouncing of the ball from the racquet. The fact that the tennis ball
is moving shows that Newton's third law exists in the sport of tennis. In case the tennis ball does
not move, then it would denote that there is no retain force reacting to the racquet hitting the
tennis ball (Kamalov, 2019). The movement of the ball is proof that there is a reaction for every
action.

Applications of Physics in Sport of Tennis 3
Newton’s 2nd Law
This law of motion generally applies on objects that are either accelerating or decelerating
depending on the force applied just as in the case of a tennis ball being hit to accelerate its
motion. This law states that the acceleration is proportional inversely to the mass and directly
proportional directly to the net force (Lemmer, 2017). Meaning that the greater the applied force,
the greater the acceleration, and the greater the mass, the lower the acceleration.
F = ma (i)
Where mass of tennis ball is denoted by ‘m’, acceleration denoted by ‘a’ , and ‘F’ is the force
applied. From this formula, the force can be increased by increasing the mass of the tennis ball
which is impossible since the intention is to improve the acceleration of the ball for the opponent
to cause an error. The acceleration can only be increased by reducing the mass of the ball and
increasing the force subjected to the ball through the racquet. Since all the masses of the balls
have the same mass that is internationally recognized and approved, it is impossible to reduce the
mass of the tennis ball. The only option left is to increase the acceleration of the tennis ball by
increasing the force subjected to the ball (Yu-Fen and Fang, 2012). This is normally witnessed
during tennis sport as players tend to hit the ball with a lot to force so that the opponent can fail
to reach the ball.

Applications of Physics in Sport of Tennis 4
Figure 1: Changing the direction of motion by hitting the tennis ball (Subijana and Navarro,
2010)
The principle also applies in the sport of tennis when the ball is in contact with the racquet.
When the force applied, the ball will accelerate in a forward direction, and the amount of force
applied determines the ball’s acceleration. Since the force is directed at an angle, the vertical
force has to exceed the gravitational force (Roeder, 2017). Nevertheless, the gravitational force is
very small that it would not affect the outcome. From this discussion, it is true that through
Newton's 2nd law of motion, the tennis ball is related to the laws of physics. The law is definitely
present in tennis since it is easy to note that higher force generates a higher acceleration while
lower force produces a lower acceleration.
Newton’s 1st Law
This law of motion is applied generally on objects stationary or under motion just as in the case
of a tennis ball under motion or laying stationary on the court. This law states that any object will
maintain its constant motion or state of rest unless externally acted upon by forces (Hecht, 2015).
This means that the tennis ball after being hit can remain in this state of motion unless acted
upon by external forces which majorly include viscosity in the air which reduces the speed of the
ball and the gravitational force that pulls the moving ball towards the ground. The motion of the
ball is further stope dot its direction changed by hitting the moving ball with a racquet (Olzmann,
2014). When the tennis is being played in a vacuum, then the ball will tend to move at the same
velocity and direction for as long as the vacuum is present, because no external forces are acting
on the ball in a vacuum.
Rotational Motion

Applications of Physics in Sport of Tennis 5
The rotational motion plays an important role in the sport of tennis. The spin or rotational motion
of the ball influences its air trajectory and also its manner of bouncing. When playing, most
players constantly spin the ball to make it difficult to return their shots or to influence the
movement of the shot. Most players of tennis attempt to apply various forms of spinning, such as
sidespin, backspin, and topspin (Williams and Hebron, 2018). Since the tennis ball is hollow, the
mass tends to concentrate far from the ball's center, they have a larger inertia moment and will
have a greater resistance to revolution as a function of a uniform density tennis ball with the
same mass and radius.
Figure 1: Rotational Motion of a tennis ball (Jaewoo, 2014)
The torque at the ball’s center caused by frictional forces affects the acceleration of rotation of
the ball. This toque is the major reason why the tennis ball spins when hit by the racquet.
Drag and Friction
The frictional force between the court and the tennis ball affects how the ball bounces and also
the friction of the racquet strings on the tennis ball is what causes the spinning of the ball when
hit. A drag force is an experience when the ball flies through the air which acts in the opposite
direction to the ball's motion (Naoya, et al., 2019). The magnitude of the drag force is

Applications of Physics in Sport of Tennis 6
proportional directly to the square of the ball velocity, hence there is an increase in the drag force
as the tennis ball continue speeding up.
Elasticity
The racquet strings are very elastic and hence exert a strong force of restoration on the tennis ball
hit the strings, which assist in adding the delivered impulse to the ball after hitting. The tennis
balls are inelastic relatively than the racquet strings (Prikhodko and Smelyagin, 2015).
Consequently, the energy is lost by the tennis ball to dissipation forces through bouncing because
of the frictional force between the court and the ball and deforming the tennis ball itself. The
elasticity of the tennis ball can be quantified through determining the restitution coefficient on
the surface like the racquet strings or the court.
CONCLUSION
From the discussion above, some of the laws and principles applied when two opponents are
playing tennis include rotational motion, elasticity, drag and friction, Newton’s first, second and
third laws of motion. The sports of tennis cannot practically be played without the application of
these principles. This thesis perfectly illustrate how the law of physical apply to the sport of
tennis from the various illustrations. After having reading this thesis, the readers should physical
assess the application of these laws in sport of tennis for proper understanding of the laws of
physics.

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REFERENCES
Hecht, E., 2015. Origins of Newton's First Law. The Physics Teacher, Volume 53, pp. 80-83.
Jaewoo, N., 2014. Physics and Tennis. Physics and High Technology, Volume 23, p. 16.
Kamalov, T., 2019. Quantum Correction for Newton’s Law of Motion. Symmetry, Volume 12, p. 63.
Lemmer, M., 2017. Applying the Science of Learning to the Learning of Science: Newton’s Second Law of
Motion. Africa Education Review, Volume 20-37, p. 15.
Naoya, M., Shinichiro, I. and Masaki, H., 2019. Flow around the ball during peculiar flight behavior of soft
tennis ball. The Proceedings of Mechanical Engineering Congress, Japan, Volume 19, p. 233.
Olzmann, M., 2014. Sir Isaac Newton’s First Law of Motion. New England Review, Volume 35, pp. 99-99.
Paraskevopoulos, E. and Natsiavas, S., 2013. On application of Newton’s law to mechanical systems with
motion constraints. Nonlinear Dynamics, Volume 72, pp. 455-475.
Prikhodko, A. and Smelyagin, A., 2015. Kinematic Analysis of Mechanism for Converting Rotational
Motion into Reciprocating Rotational Motion. Procedia Engineering, Volume 129, pp. 87-92.
Roeder, J., 2017. More on deriving Newton’s second law. The Physics Teacher, Volume 55, pp. 388-388.
Subijana, L. and Navarro, E., 2010. Kinetic energy transfer during the tennis serve. Biology of Sport,
Volume 27, pp. 279-287.
Williams, K. and Hebron, C., 2018. The immediate effects of serving on shoulder rotational range of
motion in tennis players. Physical Therapy in Sport, Volume 34, pp. 14-20.
Yu-Fen, C. and Fang, T.-H., 2012. Effects of Flow Rate and Rotation on Table Tennis Ball Motion.
Advanced Science Letters, Volume 8, pp. 474-478.