Brush contact time
Strokes
Ronald Ham Pong Asked 6 days ago
What is the brush contact time. For example:
1) When you serve a spinny ball, does the ball stay rolling along and being gripped by the rubber over a certain length ? I know the ball will sink into the rubber/sponge for a while and then be catapulted out (but that is different).
2) Related to the previous question: when you serve downspin, why is it recommended that you make first contact with the leading edge of racket ? Unless the ball is being gripped along the rubber from front to back ?
I have heard that the serve is two-part : the spin part and the then the speed (part). You apply the spin and then apply momentum. That concept sounds a bit strange. Is that a poor interpretation of the physics ?
Thanks
Alois Rosario Answered 4 hours ago
Hi Ronald.
Contact time is extremely short (around 1 ms), so the ball doesn’t roll along the rubber. It compresses into the topsheet/sponge and leaves almost immediately.
When serving backspin, contacting with the leading edge helps create a thin brushing contact and maximize spin before the ball compresses too much.
The “two-part serve” idea isn’t literal physics. Spin and speed are created at the same time, but the brushing motion emphasizes spin first, while a more forward motion adds speed.
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