Double pendulum model for tennis stroke including a collision process

TL;DR

This paper introduces a double pendulum model with a collision process to analyze tennis strokes, revealing complex dynamics such as non-linear ball speed dependence and the importance of timing and elbow movement.

Contribution

It incorporates a collision process into the double pendulum model to better understand tennis stroke mechanics and rebound ball speed.

Findings

Rebound ball speed does not always increase with racket angular velocity.

Proper timing of racket rotation can increase ball speed by 20%.

Elbow movement contributes to adding racket angular velocity.

Abstract

By means of adding a collision process between the ball and racket in double pendulum model, we analyzed the tennis stroke. It is possible that the speed of the rebound ball does not simply depend on the angular velocity of the racket, and higher angular velocity sometimes gives lower ball speed. We numerically showed that the proper time lagged racket rotation increases the speed of the rebound ball by 20%. We also showed that the elbow should move in order to add the angular velocity of the racket.