The Physics and Technology of Tennis
By Howard Brody, Rod Cross & Crawford Lindsey
About the Authors
Dr. Howard Brody is an emeritus professor of physics at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was interim varsity tennis coach for part of the 1991 season. He played varsity tennis and earned his bachelor's degree at MIT and his master's and doctoral degrees at Cal Tech. For many years his primary field of research was elementary particle physics and high energy nuclear physics. Professor Brody is a member of the International Tennis Federation Technical Commission, the USTA Sports Science Committee, science advisor to the Professional Tennis Registry, technical advisor to the United States Racquet Stringers Association, on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Sports Engineering, and on the technical advisory panel of Tennis Magazine. His book Tennis Science for Tennis Players was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 1987. He and Vic Braden are featured in a video "The Science and Myths of Tennis." He has received the USPTR Plagenhoef award for sports science in 1996 and the International Tennis Hall of Fame Educational Merit Award for the year 2000.
Rod Cross is Associate Professor in Physics at the University of Sydney, Australia. Up until 1995 Rod's main research interest was the physics of Alfven waves in plasmas at temperatures above one million degrees. He switched to the physics of sport in 1996 when government research funding became scarce. His paper in the American Journal of Physics on the sweetspots of a baseball bat was voted as one of the top 75 papers in physics in the USA in 1998. Rods's main research interest now is the physics of tennis, which he has played competitively since 1950. He has published about 25 papers on this subject in physics and engineering journals and has written extensively for USRSA's Racquet Tech on the physical properties of tennis strings and tennis racquets.
Crawford Lindsey is the publisher and managing editor of Racquet Sports Industry magazine and The Stringer’s Digest (publications of the USRSA). He is also the web developer/master of racquettech.com, for which he has developed extensive software programs dedicated to racquet selection, customization, optimization, and stringing. His bachelor's degree is from Princeton University and he has done further studies in publishing, education and business. He was a product manager for squash and racquetball racquets as well as tennis and ski accessories at Head Sports. His book, The Book of Squash, was published in 1987, and he has authored two other books on unrelated subjects. He has written extensively on the science and technology of tennis in Racquet Tech magazine. Special content for USRSA members only: Listen to an audio clip of Crawford Lindsey talking about strings and stringbed stiffness (source: The New York Times, August 30, 2008)
| Chapters | 42 |
| Sections | 4 |
| Pages | 450 |
| Illustrations | 310 |
| Glossary | Yes |
| Index | Yes |
| References | Yes |
| Appendices | 6 |
| Cover | Paperback |
| Size | 8.5 × 11 |
| ISBN | 0-9722759-0-8 |