Racquet Sports

This volume contains papers from the First World Congress of Science and Racket Sports held in Runcorn from July 9 to 13th, 1993. The programme consisted of 6 keynote addresses, 6 workshop sessions, 28 oral communications and 16 poster presentations. Manuscripts written up following the Congress were subject to peer review and editorial judgement prior to acceptance for the Proceedings. The volume is organised into parts based on scientific disciplines. Material falling into physiological topics have been split into those that report investigations of demands of racket sports, and those detailing fitness profiles or fitness testing of players. Similarly papers concerned with biomechanics and mechanics have been distinguished into those primarily concerned with force or stroke analysis and those focused on rackets or equipment in the racket sports. The Sports Medicine section includes papers that might have been placed elsewhere in the book but for their highlighting of injury or injury risk. Whole sections are devoted to psychology and to match analysis in the racket sports.

The best writing on tennis from the best tennis writers in the business. Racquet was founded in 2016 to be the voice of a new tennis boom. When the popularity of tennis peaked in the late '70s and early '80s, the sport was populated by buccaneering talents with outsize personas, such as Borg, Evert, McEnroe, Navratilova, Gerulaitis, Austin, King, and Connors. The game was played in every park, and tennis clothes became appropriate attire for cocktails as well as for a match. With success, however, came polish, and tennis--if not the game itself, then how it came to be represented in the culture--got boring. Having a big personality was no longer a virtue. Tennis went back to being a bastion of the elite. Racquet is a place for those who knew all along that the spirit of the tennis boom was alive. Tennis has always been present in the arts, in the popular culture, in the skateboarding, hip-hop, and fashion worlds. That side of tennis was--and is--obscured by the tightly controlled messaging of the athletes, the corporate glean of the major tournaments, and the all-white attire of the country-club scene. Racquet was launched to represent the latent, diverse, and large constituency of tennis that has not been embraced by the sport writ large. Featuring the work of some of today's finest writers, the quarterly independent magazine highlights the art, culture, and style that are adjacent to the sport--and just enough of the pro game to keep the diehards satisfied. This collection features some of the best writing from the first four years of Racquet and tackles such immediate topics as: How should tennis smell? What's the deal with Andre Agassi's private jet? What can a professional tennis player learn from Philip Roth? Why is tennis important in Lolita? How was Arthur Ashe like Muhammad Ali? And, crucially, what lessons have we learned from the implosion of that first tennis boom?

Based on the hugely successful Complete Guide to Stretching, this new series from Chris Norris is a sport-specific three-phase programme of stretching, from beginner level, through intermediate stretches, to advanced dynamic development. Chris introduces the book with some advice on self-assessment and warm-ups, and at the end of the book there is a training log to assess development and a handy section on treating injuries encountered in racquet sports. With stretches illustrated with full-colour photography, and in a handy sports bag-sized format, Stretching for Racquet Sports is your ideal partner on court.

Papers and keynote addresses presented at the combined Third World Congress of Science and Racket Sports and Eighth International Table Tennis Federation Sports Science Congress, detailing cutting edge research in racket sports science.

The proceedings of the Second World Congress of Science and Racket Sports and Fifth International Table Tennis Federation Sports Science Congress contain six keynote lectures which provide the latest research on a range of sport science topics as applied to tennis, table tennis, squash and badminton. The book is divided into six parts which deal respectively with Physiology, Nutrition, Preparation for Play, Psychological Aspects, Medical, Biomedical and Technical Aspects, and finally Notational Analysis. Sports scientists, coaches, physiotherapists, physicians and professional from racket sports industries will find that this book gives them access to the latest research from a world-wide group of experts. It will also provide an invaluable resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students. The editors have expertise in racket sports as well as in the various scientific disciplines covered at the Congresses. They have all been active in promoting the links between scientific theory and coaching practice.

Science and Racket Sports IV presents a selection of important contemporary research into the four core racket sport disciplines of tennis, badminton, squash and table tennis. It showcases the best of the peer-reviewed papers and keynote addresses presented at the Fourth World Congress of Science and Racket Sports, Madrid. Including contributions from many of the world’s leading racket sport scientists, researchers and practitioners, the book details cutting-edge research in six key areas: Physiology Biomechanics Sports medicine Psychology Performance analysis Pedagogy, sociology and coach education This invaluable collection touches on the most important issues within contemporary sport science, and explores the full range of theoretical, experimental and applied work within the study of racket sports. It is essential reading for all sports scientists, sports physicians, therapists and coaches working in this area.