2023-06-07 20:00:00
According to A study performed by WorldAtlastennis is in the fourth place among the most followed sports in the world, with more than 1 billion fans. And not only that, but considering only individual sports, and not team sports, take the number one in popularity. But it is not for less because, apart from transmitting emotion and elegance and keeping the public in tension throughout the game, it is one of the oldest sports that exists, with origins in the very Egyptians.
For fans of this sport, this week corresponds to a marked moment in the calendars as the final of the tournament of Roland Garrosone of the four grand slams, It is just around the corner. It is one of the largest tournaments on the world circuit, organized by the International Tennis Federation in Paris, and that welcomes the great tennis players of the moment in an exciting fight for the first place.
However, in addition to what can be seen on the screens, the different tournaments that the tennis players face on their journey around the circuit present challenges that go beyond hitting the ball properly or running fast enough to hit the ball. return a bite And is that, did you know that lthe height to which the court is located affects the game of the tennis players? We’ll tell you then.
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THE HEIGHT OF ROLAND GARROS
For any athlete, the height above sea level is a important factor when competing. However, in the case of tennis, it becomes an almost decisive. And it is that, as you go up in height, the air loses density and the atmospheric pressure drops, which directly affects the friction of the ball.
Roland Garros is a circuit that is practically at sea level, so the air is very dense and slows down the ball more, since it encounters much greater resistance along the way. However, in higher tournaments, such as Madridlocated on the plateau 600 meters high and played less than a month ago, that same shot is slowed down much less, so the ball travels faster over a greater distance.
Therefore, the Parisian tournament presents a great challenge for the players, especially for those considered “big hitters”, who are harmed by being tennis players who enjoy fast rallies to which their opponent cannot react. At Roland Garros, the ball flies slower, making it more difficult to play at those speeds and stun your opponent with shots.
As if that were not enough, the resistance presented by the air makes the serves are slower that, for example, in Madrid. Thus, the players who receive the serve do not need to place themselves so far back, since the ball will stop before, nor adopt an extremely defensive position.
RESPIRATORY CAPACITY
And it is not only the ball that is affected by these changes in air density, but also the tennis players themselves. they suffer it in their respiratory system. And it is that, following the same reasoning, at higher altitudes, the density of oxygen in the air becomes lower. Therefore, in tournaments at high altitudes above sea level, the lungs need to open more to try to capture more oxygen and increase the transport capacity of the blood. The result of this is a increased red blood cells up to 20%.
Properties of Oxygen (O)
But what are the benefits of this? How does it affect the game? Well, beyond the fact that this lack of oxygen plays against the player’s performance at that very moment, the future effects are very positive. And it is that, this increase in lung capacity causes that, when playing again at low elevations, close to sea level, fatigue tolerance and the recovery capacity of the aerobic and anaerobic thresholds are improved. That is to say, that the tennis players get be efficient with less effort.
This fact benefits the players when they arrive at Roland Garros because, just a month before, they have played the tournament in Madrid, at 600 meters above sea level. Therefore, when they arrive in Paris, the change to a height of a few meters above sea level it benefits themallowing them to perform more effectively during the game without feeling as much fatigue.
THE MAGNUS EFFECT
Even the tennis players’ own game can be affected by the resistance exerted by the air: this is the case of shots with spin topspin or topspin y backspin the kickback blow. Both are two of the most common during a tennis match and cause a curvature in the trajectory of the ball thanks to the rotation that occurs with the impact of the racket.
In physics, the way in which the rotation of an object influences its displacement is known as magnus effect and is essential in the study of fluid dynamics. In tennis, the topspin shot is presented in the following way: the players hit the ball giving it a rotation in the horizontal axis and perpendicular to the translation, so the Magnus effect acts as a vertical and downward force that causes , when the ball bounces, go out bounce up and forward. In the case of the backspin, with a similar procedure, the ball will go goodbye back after throwing
At Roland Garros, tennis players have to give more force to the blow to achieve these effects, since the air presents much more resistance during the flight of the ball and can lose power as the ball rubs against the atmosphere. It is for this reason that, in other tournaments at higher altitudes, where the air is much lighter, these volley effects can be seen more numerously during the match.
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