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We all know that tennis and computers have absolutely nothing in common, right? After all, computers are just machines, having nothing to do with human life, let alone tennis.

I say that's hogwash. In fact, computer simulations can add a lot to learning the game. That's what my Select 'n Shoot games are meant to do.

The point is, every tennis ball has a trajectory when struck, and its target is strongly related to how we strike it -- you shape the stroke to produce the desired trajectory. With computer simulation we can study the connection. This isn't to say that simulation is a substitute for learning on a real court, but it does make learning on the court a lot easier. Let's look at the details to see what this means.

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First, let me say that tennis is a game of trajectories. As I'm sure you'll agree, it consists of a sequence of rallies, each rally beginning with a serve and continuing with return trajectories until a point is scored. So it's all about the flow of a ball from one half of the court to the other, being properly turned by first one racket, then the other. This is clearly about dynamics.

Arguably, then, trajectory dynamics is the central aspect of tennis, since it is the bottom line of tracking, intercepting, and stroking the ball. How the ball moves and bounces must be understood in order to drive it to your target. For that reason, too, it's also the most conceptually difficult aspect of the game.

Now, as we know, each trajectory in a rally is shaped by physical conditions at the court, by gravity, air resistance, surface friction, and wind. And it's controlled strictly by the way you stroke the ball -- one hit produces one path, another produces another path. The way the racket meets the ball thus becomes the critical factor in determining the dynamics pattern and speed characteristics of the trajectory. This is what you must learn if you are to master the game. And this is what my simulation helps you understand.

In fact, the more precisely you choose to shape and direct the trajectory, the more accurately and precisely you need to hit the ball (the factor that ultimately determines how you should swing the racket). So too the more pointed the target and the tighter the restrictions on its path, say to loft it over your opponent into the corner or slash it down the line, the more important becomes your understanding of trajectory dynamics.

Also, no strategy or tactic can be effective if you can't hit the ball properly. Conversely, being able to hit properly can expand your strategic and tactical range. To improve your game, therefore, it behooves you to increase your understanding of the dynamics.

There is no limit to how much you can learn.

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There are two ways to understand trajectory dynamics: theoretically and practically. The theoretical approach uses the notions of gravity, air resistance, and friction to develop principles and equations to describe trajectory properties generally -- all at once, as it were. This is a top-down method, as physicists might deal with them in the classroom.

Contrariwise, the practical approach develops through trial and error, in a bottom-up practical or empirical fashion in the context of the court, one shot at a time, just like at the real court. Here you don't need to know physics to learn racket mechanics.

The two approaches are different in that the properties that trajectories can have in the two cases are not completely the same. The player at the court has only his eyes to see the ball in motion -- we can neglect the other senses as being inappropriate or too slow to be of value -- and this limits the kind and amount of information that's available to the athlete. For example, it eliminates the possibility of getting simultaneous views of ball speed and position, which are used in equations to describe trajectories theoretically. Our eyes can't do both things at the same time.

Even so, both theoretical and practical techniques can help; they work together, because as you gain experience at the court you begin to generalize, and this brings you closer to the principles.

Understanding guides your racket motion on future shots. Yet any gain in understanding is always to be measured in motor intuition.

With simulation, though, understanding the principles isn't as difficult. Using simulation we can make the learning a lot easier and faster, Trials can be repeated as often as required and there is plenty of feedback.

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