End of this week , Carlos Alcaraz He was victorious in the final Wimbledon Four hours after the exciting match against Serbian Novak Djokovic. In addition to drawing attention to the incredible talent he possesses at the age of 20, experts highlight some of the characteristics that make his game unique and unmistakable compared to other athletes.
Thus, you may have heard that he has a good forehand, great serving power, that he manages to bring a lot of speed to the ball or many other sporting comments about the twisting of his torso or the acceleration he achieves after a drop shot. . However, what do all these terms mean and why? They are very decisive In the victories of the young Alcaraz? We explain the science behind his great talent.
Speed up the ball
In the Alcaraz coup, it was power Who managed to hit the ball with a bat. Experts say this is due to a combination of three primary factors: the direction of the blow, the process of taking a step forward with the strike, and the push into the ground.
Perhaps the easiest to understand is the first: Alcaraz hits the ball From the bottom up. This allows you to provide greater strength and power to the shot, as the racket moves in the same direction as the ball is thrown. Additionally, this same fact allows for greater control over which direction you will take once you hit. This is the famous forehand or drive.
His forehand play is one of the characteristics that sets Alcaraz apart from other tennis players.
Alcaraz accompanies that hit A step forward which allows him to grant him “extraordinary” power. This move allows you to hit the ball with all the force of your body that falls by inertia. That is, by moving forward, he is able to add a certain acceleration to his body, which he can transfer to the ball and the ball. Thus, the ball will be hit with a much higher force than it would have if this body acceleration had not been used.
Finally, the Spanish tennis player always manages to have a perfect position to receive the ball. Keeping both feet on the ground allows you to have 50% of your weight on each leg, and push off to strike them. In this way, all of the energy used for propulsion is directed toward the ball when it is hit. This fact was mentioned already in the seventeenth century by Newton, who included it in the laws of motion The law of action and reactionExplaining that any force exerted will show an identical force but in the opposite direction. Therefore, the Earth will press on the player with the same force that the player exerts on him.
rotation trunk
You may also be wondering why for a tennis player, torso rotation is so important. Well, the main reason is the energy that is achieved with this movement of the body: by rotating a rotation force The tennis player can transfer it to the ball at the moment of impact. Thus, it is possible to make the right hand take advantage of it and “run” further, which increases the accuracy and speed of the shot.
It is also a very useful tool for Avoid injury. This is due to the fact that when playing facing the net, the blow is executed with a movement of one arm, which means great stress for the limbs: only this part of the body must generate all the force that will be lost when the torso is not turned. Thus, in the long run, it can lead to shoulder, elbow or wrist problems and injuries.
Right use
With his prowess with his right arm, Alcaraz is able to land most punches with great efficiency. His mastery of the racket also attracts a lot of attention, because on each forehand he manages to perform the same steps: he lowers the tip to prepare the stroke, lets it go in the direction of the stroke and finishes the stroke consistently, bringing it up towards the shoulder. So movement It always goes on No big drying stops.
This makes him possess an impeccable mastery of Flexible energy. This will be the energy stored in the muscles as a result of the stretching of the tendons and other elastic components. Thus, if the player immediately flexes and extends his arm, he will create more elastic energy than if he flexes his arm for 3 seconds and then moves it. In the game, this means that there should not be too long a pause between moving the paddle back and forth, so it is important that The movements are continuous in strikes
Caraz speed
Finally, on 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 strikes to transfer great force to the ball, and reach the effector Speeds of 167 km / h during the match and up to 200 km / h during the transmission.
In addition, the tennis player’s previous training allows him to gain remarkable speed of movement. In tennis, movement speed should refer to two concepts: Step frequency and amplitude. The key here is to perfectly coordinate these two terms to make the activity efficient and prevent the effort put into the movements from depleting energy. This is why a good aerobic and anaerobic resistance that allows the muscle to function as well in the absence of oxygen is essential. But it seems that the Spanish tennis player already knows this.
