2023-07-17 14:30:00
This summer, subscribe to National Geographic for only €5/month and get three special GIFTS that cannot be missing in your suitcase.
Enjoy our special editions at a single price for being a subscriber.
This weekend, Carlos Alcaraz was victorious in the final of Wimbledon after four hours of exciting match against the Serbian Novak Djokovic. In addition to drawing attention to the incredible talent that he possesses at 20, the experts highlight certain characteristics that make his game unique and unmistakable compared to other athletes.
Thus, perhaps you have heard that he has a good forehand, a fascinating serving power, that he manages to bring a lot of speed to the ball or many other sporting comments about the twisting of his trunk or the acceleration he achieves after a drop shot. However, what do all those terms mean and why? they are so decisive in the triumphs of the young Alcaraz? We explain the science behind his great talent.
ACCELERATION OF THE BALL
In the Alcaraz coup, the power who manages to hit the ball with the racket. Experts say that this is due to a combination of three fundamental factors: the direction of the blow, the act of taking a step forward with the blow, and the push to the ground.
Perhaps the easiest to understand is the first: Alcaraz hits the ball from the bottom up. This allows you to provide greater force and power to the shot, since the racket is moving in the same direction that the ball will be thrown. In addition, this same fact allows greater control over the direction that it will follow once hit. This is the famous forehand or drive.
Cordon Press
His forehand game is one of the characteristics that makes Alcaraz stand out from other tennis players.
Alcaraz accompanies that blow of a step forward that allows him to give him an “extraordinary” strength. This step allows you to hit the ball with all the force of your body, which falls by inertia. That is, by moving forward, he manages to add a certain acceleration to his body, which he can transfer to the shot and to the ball. Thus, the ball will be shot with a much higher power than it would have if that acceleration of the body were not involved.
Finally, the Spanish tennis player always manages to adopt an ideal position for receiving the ball. Keeping both feet on the ground allows you to have 50% of your weight on each leg, and push off them to strike. In this way, all the energy used in propelling is directed towards the ball when hitting it. This fact was already enunciated in the 17th century by Newton, who, in his laws of motion, collected the action-reaction law, explaining that any force exerted will appear an identical one, but in the opposite direction. Therefore, the ground will push on the player with the same amount of force that the player exerts on it.
The height of Roland Garros, the other great rival of tennis players
TRUNK ROTATION
You may also wonder why the trunk rotation that stands out so much for the tennis player is such an important thing in tennis. Well, the main reason is the energy that is achieved with this movement of the body: with the rotation a turning force that the tennis player can transmit to the ball at the moment of impact. Thus, it is possible to make the right hand take advantage of it and “run” more, increasing the accuracy and speed of the shot.
It is also a very useful means for avoid injury. This is due to the fact that, when playing facing the net, the hit is executed with the movement of a single arm, which implies a great overexertion of the extremity: only that part of the body must generate all the force that would be lost when do not rotate the trunk. Thus, in the long run, it could lead to problems and injuries to the shoulder, elbow or wrist.
USE OF THE RIGHT
Thanks to his dexterity with his right arm, Alcaraz is able to execute most of his punches with great efficiency. His mastery of the racket also attracts a lot of attention, since in each forehand he manages to execute the same steps: he lowers the tip to prepare the blow, lets it go in the direction of the shot and finish the blow continuously, making it reach towards the shoulder. So the movement is always continued without major dry stops.
This makes him possess an impeccable mastery of the elastic energy. This would be the energy stored in the muscle as a result of the stretching of the tendons and other elastic components. Thus, if the player flexes his arm and immediately stretches it out, he will create more elastic energy than if he flexes his arm for 3 seconds and then moves it. In game, this means that there shouldn’t be a very long pause between moving the racket back and forth, so it’s important that movements are continuous in the blows
THE SPEED OF ALCARAZ
Finally, in Alcaraz, both his movement speed and the speed of the ball he hits stand out. And it is that, all the previous aspects allow his blows to transfer great power to the ball, reaching the impressive speeds of 167 km/h during the game, and up to 200 km/h during the serve.
In addition, the previous training of the tennis player allows him to have a remarkable speed of movement. In tennis, movement speed should refer to two concepts: stride frequency and amplitude. The key here is to perfectly coordinate these two terms to make the activity efficient and prevent the effort in the movements from exhausting energy. This is why having a good aerobic and anaerobic resistance that allows the muscle to work also in the absence of oxygen is essential. But our Spanish tennis player seems to already know that.
#Carlos #Alcaraz #wins #Wimbledon #science #explains