Tennisology : inside the science of serves, nerves, and on-court dominance

209 Pages·2014·3.076 MB·English

by  Thomas W Rowland

Tennisology
Inside the Science of Serves,
Nerves, and On-Court Dominance
Thomas W. Rowland
Human Kinetics
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Copyright © 2014 by Thomas W. Rowland
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This book is dedicated to the memory of my pa‐
rents, Dr. A. Westley Rowland and Belle Rowland,
who instilled in their eldest son the lifelong joy of
playing the game of tennis.
CONTENTS
Preface vii
Chapter 1 Evolution of the Sport 1
Chapter 2 Court Lessons for Life 15
Chapter 3 Tennis Skill Development 29
Chapter 4 Nature Versus Nurture
on the Court 49
Chapter 5 Player Development 73
iv
Chapter 6 Physics of Tennis 95
Chapter 7 Tennis Technology 115
Chapter 8 The Trained Tennis Body 131
Chapter 9 Visualization Techniques 153
Chapter 10 Match Mind-Set 167
Bibliography 180
Index 188
About the Author 196
v

PREFACE
This book that you are holding in your hands was 51 years in
the writing.
It started on May 21, 1963. An earnest young reporter from
the University of Michigan school paper, The Michigan Daily,
was sharing lunch with Ray Senkowski, the Wolverines’ best
hope for a Big Ten singles tennis title, at a restaurant in
Evanston, Illinois.
Senkowski: Tennis is the most amazing sport.
Reporter: Uh-huh.
Senkowski: Just the way the game flows. Each point
is like a short story, one which you don’t know the
ending.
Reporter: Yeah.
Senkowski: You know, I can tell all about a person—
what he’s like—just after playing tennis against him
for five minutes. Probably more than someone who’s
known him for many years.
Reporter: Really?
Senkowski: Have you ever thought about it? The
game of tennis is really just like life.
Reporter: Yeah.
The reporter demonstrating those keen investigative skills
is, of course, this author. Briefly on the team as a freshman, a
decision to switch to journalism had been rapidly made after
being wiped out 6-0, 6-1 by former Canadian junior champion
Harry Fauquier on the first day of practice. (Fauquier went on
to lose to Roy Emerson in the opening round at Wimbledon
two years later by a remarkably similar 6-2, 6-1, 6-0 score.
vii
viii Preface
Was it mere coincidence or divine retribution? Late at night
one still wonders.)
Senkowski was about to defend his Big Ten title that af‐
ternoon against Northwestern’s Marty Riessen. Unsuccessfully,
it turned out, when a net cord caused him to drop the second
set. Ray had taken the first, 6-2, but his forehand tipped the
top of the net and fell back, and with that his momentum. Just
when victory had seemed so close at hand it was a straight
meltdown, and Riessen took the title. So, as he said, it’s just
like life—an inch here, an inch there, and you’re a champ or a
loser.
Over the years Ray’s idea keeps coming back to me. Does
the game of tennis really mimic life? Sometimes it seems like
going out there and batting the fuzzy ball across the net is just
entertainment, and sometimes it is much more philosophically
and metaphysically profound. In other words, what does
tennis really mean?
There’s no question that the game of tennis shares a great
deal of what we experience in daily life. How we act (ag‐
gressive or passive), how we make decisions (both good and
bad), and how we confront uncertainty, accept mistakes, and
face winning and losing alike—it’s all there on the court as
well as in our daily routines. We can gain a good deal of in‐
sight about ourselves as well as the people we play, work, and
live with during a set or two on a warm summer’s afternoon.
But tennis is a lot of other things, too, such as philosophy,
psychology, history, art, ethics, and—particularly—science.
The technical advances in rackets, formulation of court playing
surfaces, insight into proper practice regimens, development of
game-appropriate training based on knowledge of physiology,
physics that guides shot selection—the list is long. All of these
have contributed to the essence of what the game has become.
This theme flows through the chapters of this book. Cer‐
tainly those responsible for training the world’s greatest tennis
players have long relied on approaches based on insights from
scientific research. The chapters that follow demonstrate that
the average 3.5-ranked player at the club level can learn a
good deal from this research as well.
Preface ix
Chapter 1 explores the historical roots of modern-day
tennis and depicts how changes in the game reflect changes in
the society in which the game is played. Present-day tennis
competition bears little resemblance to the original game of jeu
de paume, played indoors by pious personages in the cathedrals
of 12th century Europe, or to the easy social ambiance of the
courts on the lawns of the Victorian British elite. The history of
tennis has been marked by the fascinating—and often contro‐
versial—personalities who have played and shaped the game.
Just as important to the development of the sport are the con‐
tributions of science.
Chapter 2 considers how challenges on the court so closely
reflect those faced in daily life. Perhaps the meaning of tennis
lies in some inherent need to face possible frustration and
defeat for the chance of success and victory, or maybe the
social aspects of club membership, the joy of muscular
movement, and the health benefits of tennis are sufficient to
explain the draw of the sport.
Chapter 3 discusses just how the human body learns to play
the game and examines the means by which one acquires the
rather miraculous physical and mental skills that go into tennis
play. The interesting basic neurophysiology presented in these
pages has practical importance in how one might best learn,
improve, and teach the game.
Is one’s ability to play the game of tennis dictated by the ge‐
netic information inherited from parents? Or, instead, is one
able to improve through hours of committed practice? Chapter
4 examines this age-old nature versus nurture argument,
which has a particularly critical implication in sport. The ge‐
netic argument implies a ceiling above which one cannot im‐
prove, whereas the training argument suggests that there’s
always hope for steady improvement and that the control of
progress is in the hands of the player.
Chapter 5 delves into a controversy that’s an issue for both
those raising tennis-playing children and coaches training
young players. Some feel that youngsters should be directed
into early sport specialization as a means of producing (ulti‐
mately) star performers. However, it may be more healthy—