The ability to control a tennis ball's spin has transformed the modern game ... do players make the ball move through the air or bounce off the court like that? The physics underlying the effect ...

The motion of a ball placed in a bowl is an example of simple harmonic motion. When the ball is placed at the centre of the bowl, the net force acting on the ball is zero and thus there is no motion.

Balls, Courts, Spin and Bounce with Crawford Lindsey. (Amazon Link is here: ) The work explores the physics of tennis and exposes some misconceptions about the game. Last spring, the pair ...