Identifying the Modes Excited in a Tennis Racket by a Forehand Drive

Understanding the Dynamic Behaviour of a Tennis Racket under Play Conditions

“…Although frequencies up to 3000 Hz are excited in the frame of the racket by an impact between a tennis racket and a ball, the majority of energy is concentrated in the region below 1500 Hz [16]. For this reason, this study was designed to investigate modes up to at least 1500 Hz.…”

“…While the majority of research to date has focused on the racket's fundamental frequency, investigations using accelerometers placed on a racket frame during a typical tennis impact have revealed that frequencies up to 1500 Hz are excited during a typical forehand drive [15,16]. Given that humans are able to sense vibrations at frequencies up to 1000 Hz through tactile receptors [10] and can hear frequencies between a maximum range of 20 -20000 Hz [17] it is important to analyse the dynamic behaviour of a racket beyond the fundamental frequency.…”

Tennis Racket Vibrations and Shock Transmission to the Wrist during Forehand Drive

“…Most of the vibrations energy detected in the racket subsequently to impact with the ball is related to frequencies below 3000 Hz, with the highest proportion in the out-of-plane direction at frequencies of 80–200 Hz for the racket frame [ 1 ]. The majority of frequencies above 500 Hz are attributed to the stringbed [ 11 ]. Interestingly, a previous vibration analysis indicated that there is content in the in-plane data frequencies associated with modes of vibration that are predominantly out-of-plane [ 11 ].…”

“…The majority of frequencies above 500 Hz are attributed to the stringbed [ 11 ]. Interestingly, a previous vibration analysis indicated that there is content in the in-plane data frequencies associated with modes of vibration that are predominantly out-of-plane [ 11 ]. This suggests that the mode shapes of the racket would be three-dimensional rather than two-dimensional.…”

“…Moreover, the mechanical coupling of the hand with the racket reduces the frequency of the fundamental mode by 10%, and the vibration dampening time from 175–780 ms to 20–30 ms [ 12 ]. The peaks of some frequencies observed during modal analysis are cleared out when playing real forehand drive [ 11 ]. Playing conditions such as racket gripping strength, and ball and racket velocities affect the load on the hand [ 13 ] and may therefore also influence the racket vibrations and shock transmission.…”