The First Biophysical Principle In Tennis

The first biophysical principle I am going to talk about is force summation. Force summation is the combination of different body parts moving in order to create a greater force. For an object to move, momentum has to be applied to that object. So, the amount of momentum an object has, is determined by the sum of all forces generated by each moving body part. In order to gain maximum momentum, the force needs to be generated by using 4 principles. The first, use as many segments of the body as possible. Second; the body parts should move in sequence with the bigger muscles leading the action, while the smaller muscles closest to the object should move last. The third principle states that the muscles need to be used and accelerated with the
The different principles of force summation are individually important for different movements when learning to serve in tennis. For example, the first principle, which states “to use as many body parts that relate to the movement as possible” relates to the tennis serve in that you need to move the muscles ranging from your feet all the way up to your arms in order to get a perfect angle of depression on to the tennis ball. “The body parts should move in sequence with the bigger muscles leading the action. The smaller muscles closer to the object should move last.” This second principle relates to serving in tennis because if the muscles don’t move in sequence with the bigger muscles, the serve will not be as great as it can be. Your body should not move all at once. For example, if you snap your wrist at the very moment you start to extend your shoulder, the ball will not be receiving the optimal amount of force from your body, and therefore your tennis serve will not be as fast as it could be if the larger muscles move initially. If you extend your shoulder with great force and then you don’t extend your wrist with enough force when coming down on the tennis ball, then you aren’t using and accelerating your muscles with the correct timing. This demonstrates the third law which states that “muscles need to be used and accelerated with the correct timing.” The 4th principle of force summation explains that all of the muscles involved must go through their greatest range of motion to achieve maximum momentum. For example, when serving in tennis, the serve should begin with the legs pushing into the ground. The force is then returned back up the legs to the shoulders, down the dominant arm, right to when the racquet hits the ball. All of the force summation principles are important, however out of all of them, I believe that the 4th principle is the most important