Theory of Pi

From one of my favorite programs comes the definition of Pi, “A number that contains the number of everything that matters to each person.” Although I like that definition, here is the mathematical definition “Represents the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter.”

What has this all to do with tennis and my swing? You will see below a diagram of the swing path for a right handers forehand or left handers backhand. The racquet tip travels along the bigger circle (2), creating a quarter circle from the position of taking the racquet back till contact.

Based on the mathematical equations, an object covering the distance on the line 2 would have to travel Pi or 3.14 times the speed of an object covering the distance on line 1.

If line 1 represented the movement of the players hand and line 2 the path of the racquets tip, in order for both to travel the distance of the quarter circles leaving and arriving at the same time would require that the racquet tip traveling on line 2 to travel Pi or 3.14 times the speed of the hand.

Therefore if the players hand was traveling at 10 mph, the racquets tip would need to travel 31.4 mph.