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Morphometrics for sports mechanics: Showcasing tennis racket shape diversity

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  • Robyn A Grant
  • Luca Taraborrelli
  • Tom Allen

Abstract

Tennis racket design has changed from its conception in 1874. While we know that modern tennis rackets are lighter and have larger heads than their wooden predecessors, it is unknown how their gross shape has changed specifically. It is also unknown how racket shape is related to factors that influence performance, like the Transverse and Polar moments of inertia. The aim of this study was to quantify how tennis racket shape has changed over time, with a view to furthering our understanding of how such developments have influenced the game. Two-dimensional morphometric analysis was applied to silhouettes extracted from photographs of 514 rackets dating from 1874 to 2017. A principal component analysis was conducted on silhouette outlines, to allow racket shape to be summarised. The rackets were grouped by age and material for further analysis. Principal Component 1 accounted for 87% of the variation in racket shape. A pairwise Pearson’s correlation test indicated that head width and length were both strongly correlated to Principal Component 1 (r = 0.916 & r = 0.801, p-values

Suggested Citation

  • Robyn A Grant & Luca Taraborrelli & Tom Allen, 2022. "Morphometrics for sports mechanics: Showcasing tennis racket shape diversity," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(1), pages 1-15, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0263120
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0263120
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bonhomme, Vincent & Picq, Sandrine & Gaucherel, Cédric & Claude, Julien, 2014. "Momocs: Outline Analysis Using R," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 56(i13).
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