A ball “heavy. ” ” That hurts “. These are the words that have come back, for seventeen years, match after match, edition after edition, about the projectiles swung forehand by Rafael Nadal on the ground of Roland-Garros. Behind these words that say as much admiration as suffering, there is a scientific reality, which translates as much in km/h as in number of rotations per minute. “A heavy ball combines a lot of speed and a lot of spin, explains Caroline Martin, specialist in tennis biomechanics, also a player and trainer. In other words, it moves quickly and spins very hard on itself. » This double characteristic is not self-evident, far from it. Because it is two almost opposite movements, two almost opposite trajectories given to the racquet head, which generate spin and speed.
