French tennis star Amelie Mauresmo is out of commission for at least a month because of an emergency appendectomy. Ranked fourth in the world, Mauresmo was hospitalized in Paris due to a severe stomach ache for a few days before a sonogram detected that her appendix required removal. She was forced to withdraw from the Sony Ericsson Open being held in Key Biscayne, Florida but hopes to be well in time for the clay court season.

The operation went well and all that’s left for me is to wait patiently. The surgeon advised me to walk a bit but not to do anything else. I will doubtless need a good month to get all my physical capacities back.”
– Amelie Mauresmo

All of us at Wicked Backhand wish Amelie a quick and complete recovery, Roland Garros would not be the same without you!

Every tennis player knows when they hit the sweet spot on their racquet, the shot just feels good. Racquet manufacturers design their rackets to maximize the sweet spot, but what’s the explanation for the sweet spot?

Like a guitar string, the strings on tennis vibrate when struck. Depending on how tight the racquet is strung, the frequency of this vibration ranges from 100 Hz (Hz stands for Hertz which is measure of times/second) to 200 Hz. The more tightly a racquet is strung, the higher the frequency will be.

Because a racquet is a semi-uniform beam, there are locations along the tennis racquet were the vibration/energy transferred to the racquet and your hand varies. Below is a diagram showing significant locations on a racquet.

CM (Center of Mass)
While you obviously don’t want to hit the ball here, it determines the location of the sweet spot.

Dead spot:
When serving, this is good spot to hit near because the energy from the moving racquet is entirely given to the ball. On the flip side, if you try to return a fast serve near this point, all of the energy of the ball is transferred to the racquet and no energy is transferred back to the ball. Therefore there is no bounce.

Node:
This is the point where no vibration is felt. This means that almost all of the energy of the ball strike will be gone by the time it reaches your hand.

COP (Center of Percussion):
This is spot where the force of the ball strike is balancing with your force applied to parts of your hand and you don’t feel a jolt in your forearm. When the ball hits the tip, more force is applied to the bottom of your hand then top. When the ball hits the throat of the racquet, more force is applied to upper part of the hand.

Best Bounce Area:
This is the area where the racquet returns most of the energy of your opponents shot. This great energy return comes at a price, because you might feel a lot of vibrational shock especially if you are at the business end of a Andy Roddick serve. He holds the record for fastest serve in professional tennis — 154 miles per hour!!

For an even more technical explanation and futher reading, check out a physics web site created by University of Sydney physics professor and tennis fan Rod Cross. The illustration of the racquet used in this article is courtesy of Cross’ site.

Special thanks to guest editor Tim Roth for today’s column. Read more of his fascinating scientific insights at atomstozebras.com

Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia upset second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the Indian Wells final Saturday to win her first title in five years (6-3, 6-4). Hantuchova was seeded 14th, which happened to be the number of unforced errors she made that day. She will rise to number 12 in the world rankings today.

There’s something special about this place. I love it…I was just so confident from the first point, and I didn’t really think about the score. I just went out there and tried to play my game and really just enjoyed every moment on the court. Maybe this time I was much more confident, because I had so many matches this week already behind me already. Mentally, I was just not going to let it go, and I was ready to take whatever it takes to get through this one today.”
– Daniela Hantuchova

In the men’s finals at Indian Wells, Spaniard Rafael Nadal beat Novak Djokovic in just two sets on Sunday (6-2, 7-5). This was his first win since Roland Garros last June. For a record 86 consecutive weeks, Nadal has been ranked No. 2 in the world.

It was a very great week for me, a very, very important week. I have (gone) eight months without any title, but I came back with a big one. Sometimes you’re a little luckier, a little bit more confident. But, well, I wasn’t a disaster in those eight months.”
– Rafael Nadal

Men’s semifinals at Indian Wells features a clash between Spaniard Rafael Nadal and American Andy Roddick–hot, hot, hot!! Second seed Nadal made short work of Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina in the quarterfinals (7-5, 7-5). Third seed Roddick beat Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia in two tough sets that went to tie break (7-6 (7), 7-6 (8)).

I was excited because I was playing the way I wanted to in the breakers. I kept going forward. I won some points. I lost some points. I hit a new little chip short one, that won me a couple points. I was happy with that. I thought all in all, I gave myself a chance to win and eventually was able to do it.”
– Andy Roddick

The other side of the men’s bracket will be Novak Djokovic (12) of Serbia against either Andy Murray (13) of Scotland or Tommy Haas (9) of Germany.

In women’s semifinal action at Indian Wells, second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia defeated 33rd seed Sybille Bammer of Austria (6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-1). Daniela Hantuchova, seeded 14th and hailing from Slovakia, overcame Na Li of China who was seeded 12th (7-5, 4-6, 6-1). Hantuchova and Kuznetsova battle tomorrow to see who will wear the ladies’ crown at Indian Wells in 2007.

In women’s quarterfinals action at Indian Wells, Li Na of China defeated Vera Zvonareva of Russia (6-4, 7-5) and Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia overcame Shahar Peer of Israel in a match lasting 2 hours, 43 minutes (6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (5)). Still to play in the women’s quarterfinal round are Bammer vs. Golovin and Vaidisova vs. Kuznetsova.

With Federer out of the race, the men’s title is totally up for grabs. The men’s quarterfinal round will include Ferrer vs. Djokovic, Murray vs. Haas, Ljubicic vs. Roddick, and Chela vs. Nadal.

The underdog reigns supreme at Indian Wells this year. In women’s play, three of the four top seeds have been defeated in the initial rounds of the tournament. In fact, six of eight matches in the fourth round went to the player that was ranked lower. Maria Sharapova lost to Vera Zvonareva and will lose her world number one ranking as well now. Zvonareva was seeded 15th.

Even in the first two sets I didn’t feel like I was playing amazing tennis. After [I served for the match] I just deflated a little bit. I wasn’t moving well at all; I missed a lot of first balls. That obviously gives your opponent so much confidence. She just started swinging and wasn’t making a lot of errors. There was a lot of wrong things going on today. That was just one of them — especially in the third set. But like I said, it was more of a snowball effect than anything else.”
– Maria Sharapova

In the women’s quarterfinals, Zvonareva will face China’s Na Li (12th seed). Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia (14th seed) takes on Shahar Peer of Israel (11th seed).

Just when tennis fans were beginning to believe that Federer might have fathered the WiiBot, Roger faltered. In the men’s upset of the year, Guillermo Cañas of Argentina defeated Roger Federer in two sets in the second round of Indian Wells (7-5, 6-2). Cañas was impressive where Federer was immobile. Currently ranked 60th in the world, Cañas capitalized on Federer’s unusual propensity for errors to defeat him soundly (39-8 errors).

Is Federer disappointed that he didn’t break Vila’s record for longest winning streak? It seems he actually enjoys the rare defeat now and again.

It’s just a guy put me away when he had to. He played a perfect match in the end. He didn’t give me anymore chances. I was just playing too poorly in the end to come back. So the right guy won. I’m a very positive thinker, and I think it’s going to be good for me eventually this season. I’ve had a very relaxed opening to the season… just playing the Australian Open and Dubai and having enough time to rest. So I definitely won’t be worn out towards the end of the season. That’s a good thing. Over the last one-and-a-half years, I’ve been in all the finals except Cincinnati and now here. I was just pushing the limits all the time. So something like this is actually maybe good for me, (I can) just get away from it, have time to rest up again, and practice real hard before Miami.”
– Roger Federer

As for Cañas, he lost the next round to Carlos Moya (6-4, 6-4). At least he can enjoy the infamy of having cut short Federer’s winning streak.

Later this month in Miami, Sony Ericsson hosts “Night Tennis” at The Ice Palace Film Studios complete with sets by world-renowned house DJs Paul Oakenfold and Masters at Work. Yes, DJ sets, not to be confused with tennis sets. “I’m very intrigued by the whole Night Tennis concept,” Oakenfold said. “Who would have expected sport and electronic culture to combine in this way?” Indeed.

The night match will be played with only ultraviolet lighting, players dressed in neon whites, and UV-reactive court, net, and balls. Dean Taylor of Sony Ericsson says, “The more I look at tennis, the more opportunities I see to present it in a new and experimental way. Tennis fans love tennis, and I wouldn’t want to change that, but we want to find ways of getting a new audience and by blending tennis with music, creating a visual and audio spectacular, I think we achieved that.” The future of tennis looks neon white.

Roger Federer may have finally met his match! Check out the WiiBot, it wields a nasty racquet. And hey, if WiiBot can’t beat Roger fair and square, he also has the option of wielding a sword instead. Look out, Federer–you may be losing your records to a robot one of these days.

In looking at the schedule for Indian Wells, a couple points jump out:

1. Being a resident of Indian Wells has serious perks:

Sony Ericsson WTA Main Draw – Monday, March 5
Free Admission at the gates to watch the WTA Qualifying Rounds

ATP Main Draw – Tuesday, March 6
Free Admission at the gates to watch the WTA Qualifying Rounds

City of Indian Wells Residents’ Day – Thursday, March 8
Residents of Indian Wells receive complimentary tickets to a full-day of matches. 

2. The well-known camera manufacturer’s campaign at Indian Wells creeps me out a bit:

Canon Maria Look-alikes – March 9-11 & 16-18
Join the Canon PowerShot team by celebrating one of the most loved champions in tennis today.  Maria Sharapova look-alikes will be canvassing the Tennis Garden grounds.  Stop them and say hello or simply get your picture taken with them.

Stay tuned for more Indian Wells drama, will it be Federer and Sharapova? Or Williams and Hewitt?