ORANGE LOVERS

“It was an annual mystery that baffled [South African] fruit farmer Alwyn van der Merwe,” The Christian Science Monitor says. “Each June, when his oranges began ripening, a troop of baboons would descend from the mountains … and target one particular tree among thousands, stripping it of all its oranges. Year after year it happened, until Mr. van der Merwe decided to inspect the lone tree and discovered that it was a different variety from the others, sweeter and ripening three weeks earlier. ‘We couldn’t believe it. The one tree was different from the thousands of others and the baboons knew it,’ he says. Samples of the tree were sent to be tested by the Citrus Growers Association, which confirmed it was a new variety of Mineola orange.”

QUADROCOPTER

Festo - SmartBird

TENNIS POSTER

As a 17-year-old girl during the long hot summer of 1976 Fiona Walker, then Butler, cheerfully allowed her boyfriend, Martin Elliott, to photograph her knickerless, walking towards a tennis net. Elliott sold the image to Athena, and up it speedily went on the bedroom walls of boys everywhere, becoming one of the world's biggest selling posters.

Now, the Athena Tennis Girl poster is to be included in what organisers say is the first exhibition exploring lawn tennis as a subject in fine art.

Walker was not then, nor ever has been, a tennis player. "I don't have the hand eye co-ordination," she says. Nor has she made a penny from the poster. "I was very naive and was paid nothing."

But she has fond memories of the photoshoot – in which she wore her dad's plimsolls – and harbours no embarrassment at the image. "It never ceases to make me smile when I see it, and I do sometimes see it in some very strange places. I've no regrets about it," she says.

Elliott – who did do very well out of the image – died last year.

Walker was reunited with the picture when she attended the launch of the exhibition, called Court on Canvas.The show is being held this summer at Birmingham's Barber Institute of Fine Arts, less than half a mile from Ampton Road, Edgbaston, where the sport was played for the first time.

• Court on Canvas: Tennis in Art is at the Barber Institute of Fine Art, Birmingham from 27 May to 18 September

STRING TECHNOLOGY AND TENNIS

In the French Open final this June, many thought that 6-foot-4-inch Robin Soderling would overpower Rafael Nadal, just as he had Roger Federer in the quarter­finals. On serve at 2–1 in the second set, he hit a sharp, low slice crosscourt to Nadal’s service line—the type of shot that has been unattackable, too low and close to the net to return aggressively: hit it just a bit too hard, and it floats long.
But Nadal took three strides into the court and ripped a short-hopped forehand crosscourt from the service line. The speed of his racket put the ball on a trajectory to the back fence, but his high-tech copolyester strings bent it down inside Soderling’s own service line for an untouchable winner. Soderling dropped his head in disbelief as commentator John McEnroe prefaced the television replay: “Take a look at this ball right here!”
“Yep, that’s impossible,” Nate Ferguson, the stringer and racket technician of Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, and Soderling, told me later. “The ball’s 18 inches off the ground and hit for a winner [from there]—that’s bullshit.”
Copoly strings help generate so much spin that today’s players—dubbed the “new-string generation” by Federer— can hit once-inconceivable drives, angled winners, and passing shots. But despite the widespread belief of players that copoly strings have changed the game, scientists until recently could find no evidence that a string’s material, thickness, tension, or texture made a real difference in spin generation.
Enter the Japanese engineer Yoshihiko Kawazoe. In 2004, he decided to test a string lubricant that its inventor, Kenji Okimoto, thought would “revive” old, worn strings. Kawazoe realized that, despite much research, scientists had only a shadowy idea of what happens during the 4 or 5 milli­seconds when the ball is on the strings, simply because they couldn’t see it. But with an ultra-high-speed, 10,000-frame-per-second camera, Kawazoe solved the mystery of strings and spin.
In capturing 40 to 50 frames of each ball-string impact, he saw that lubricated strings slid with the ball and snapped back as it left. As they snapped back into line, they transferred more energy to the ball in the tangential (parallel to the racket face) direction and gave it more spin—which was easily calculated from the super-slow-motion rotation of the ball as it left the strings. In technical studies published in 2006 and 2007, International Tennis Federation researchers reported that the same movement that Kawazoe observed with lubricated strings occurs with copoly as well.
Copoly strings—slippery and stiff—generate more spin not because of more friction, but because of less. “The old argument was that the better the grip between the strings and the ball, the more spin you would get. But that’s not true,” said Rod Cross, an Australian physicist and co-author of Technical Tennis.
Last April, Cross and his co-author, Crawford Lindsey, published their study showing that copoly strings generate 20 percent more spin than nylon strings, and 11 percent more than natural gut. Such differences help explain how a contemporary powerhouse like Rafael Nadal can hit with twice as much spin as Andre Agassi did.
Looking back, Lindsey and Kawazoe told me they are befuddled by how long people took to realize that polyester strings generated extra spin through sideways sliding and snapback. They should have known this, because 30 years ago, a radical innovation—“spaghetti strings”—used the same mechanism to generate more spin than even the best copolys.
“In spaghetti strings, the [horizontal and vertical] strings weren’t woven,” said Cross. “And because they weren’t woven, there was lots of freedom of movement within the string plane, and that produced almost a factor-of-two increase in the amount of spin. And that’s why the ITF banned them.”
Remarkably, the ITF’s 1978 ruling that all strings must be interwoven was the first rule constraining the design of either rackets or strings. Stuart Miller, the head of science and technology for the ITF, said that it tries to test each string that hits the market, “looking for anything that would, in our opinion, fundamentally change the nature of the game,” or introduce a “step change” in spin generation.
But two step-changing technologies have so far evaded regulation: the large-headed racket, which reached its spin potential only after three generations of technique refinements; and copoly strings, whose spin-boosting nature eluded proof for 15 years. Together, they can generate as much spin, or more, in the hands of today’s players as could a spaghetti racket wielded by a ’70s-era player.
This article available online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/01/the-new-physics-of-tennis/8339/
Copyright © 2011 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All Rights Reserved.

INDIAN WELLS RESULTS

Billionaire Larry Ellison

latimes.com

BILL DWYRE

The Oracle founder is the fifth-wealthiest man in the world, and he was willing to spend about $100 million of that fortune to buy the BNP Paribas Open, securing the future of the Indian Wells event. At 66, he's also a serious player.

We sat in a huge boardroom, with paneled walls, nice paintings and 20 big leather chairs so comfortable they could put you to sleep in minutes.

It was a great place to discuss software trends with Larry Ellison, who was not only deemed by Forbes last week to be the fifth wealthiest man in the world, but who has probably seen more boardrooms than anybody this side of Warren Buffett.

Of course, your typist wouldn't know a broadband from a Band-Aid. So it was a good thing the topic was one vastly more important to the welfare of Western civilization.

That would be tennis.

Last year, Ellison purchased the BNP Paribas Open, which has pretty well established itself as the next best thing in tennis after the four Grand Slams. If nothing else, its attendance, currently heading toward 350,000 for its 13-day run in the Southern California desert, proves that. Only the four majors sell more tickets.

Ellison, 66, is a tennis enthusiast, which probably understates it.

"I play five days a week," he says. "It's usually on clay. I love it."

This is not a pat-it-around guy, either. Asked if he is rated around a 4.0 or 4.5 player — ratings that indicate a strong, serious player, almost college-team level — Ellison says, "Oh, I think a little better than that."

He admits it is hard to know exactly, because he isn't playing senior tournaments, even though he smacks his lips at the thought.

"It is tempting," he says.

One might imagine that the board of directors of Oracle, his massive software company in Redwood Shores, Ca., would like competitive tennis to remain merely a temptation. He has already put together a team that won an America's Cup in sailing, so the window for more fun time can't be huge.

"Life is not practice," he says. "It can't be that all I do is work."

He says he came back and forth to the tournament a few times last year, the first year he owned the event. This time, he says, "I will stay the rest of the week. I like it here."

In corporate tennis circles, his purchase of the Indian Wells event is seen as something almost heroic, a move that not only injected cash and stability into a tournament that had become a crown jewel of the sport, but also sent an important message: If Larry Ellison thinks enough of the sport to spend around $100 million on it, and even commit to improving a tournament that didn't seem to need much, than tennis is still a big player on the international scene.

"I love the sport," he says. "Nobody had to sell me on doing this."

There had been the possibility that, with financial difficulties, this tournament might be sold and moved to another country, likely China. PM Sports Management, the Charlie Pasarell-Raymond Moore venture that owned and grew this tournament over 36 years, had gotten itself in decent shape the last few years to be able to carry on easily. But Ellison's offer was too good to refuse, as was the extra financial security.

"Nobody wanted to see this tournament go to another country," Ellison says.

He is an unabashed supporter of and optimist about the sport. He lights up when he talks about classic Jimmy Connors-John McEnroe matches he has seen. He indicates feeling honored to have met the great Aussie, Rod Laver, and says Laver's era, with Ken Rosewall and Roy Emerson, was a time of tennis pride, much like the current era of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

"They are special," Ellison says of Federer and Nadal. "I remember that Australian final, when Rafa beat Roger and Roger was so crushed by losing, and Rafa went over and put his arm around him."

Ellison is at the age when men usually turn to golf, but he says he doesn't play the game, even though he just bought a huge property in Rancho Mirage that includes its own golf course, called Porcupine Creek.

"The joke is that I don't play golf because I have only one club," Ellison says.

Fifteen minutes had passed and nary a broadband had been discussed. Nor any skinny bands. This was tennis time, and bigger things were on the agenda, such as Juan Martin Del Potro's massive forehand.

In this discussion, probably as in most business discussions, Ellison's first serves were all in.

bill.dwyre@latimes.com

Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times

A COUPLE OF UPSETS

INDIAN WELLS, California, March 12 (Reuters) - Fifth seed Andy Murray, sixth-seeded David Ferrer and defending champion Ivan Ljubicic all fell by the wayside on a day of startling upsets at the Indian Wells ATP tournament on Saturday.

British world number five Murray was eliminated 7-6 6-3 by American qualifier Donald Young, Spaniard Ferrer crashed out 7-6 6-3 at the hands of Croat Ivo Karlovic and Ljubicic was beaten 5-7 6-4 6-2 by Argentine Juan Martin del Potro.

Spanish world number one and top seed Rafa Nadal, however, had little trouble with his opening match as he demolished South African qualifier Rik de Voest 6-0 6-2 after just an hour on the showpiece center court.

"It was a good victory for me," left-hander Nadal, champion at Indian Wells in 2007 and 2009, told reporters. "Probably my opponent played a little bit more nervous than usual.

"For that reason, it wasn't one of these matches that I had to play my best tennis. I did what I had to do to win, no?"

The early exit of Murray was the most surprising of the day's upsets, despite the fact that the 23-year-old Scot had not competed in more than a month.

Murray has always enjoyed playing at Indian Wells, where he was a runner-up in 2009, but he struggled for fluency against his 143rd-ranked opponent who won the biggest match of his career with an aggressive brand of tennis.

"Most of it was not great today," a subdued Murray said after being beaten in just over an hour-and-a-half. "I didn't serve particularly well, I didn't move very well.

"He hit a lot of winners and gained in confidence, I guess, from hitting more winners."

CUT SHORT

The 32-year-old Karlovic, whose 2010 season was cut short by six months due to Achilles surgery, powered down nine aces before sealing victory against Ferrer in 95 minutes.

The six-foot 10-inch (2.08 metre) Croat won the first set tiebreaker 7-3 and then broke his opponent in the fourth game of the second before ending the match with an ace.

"I was playing well, I was returning well and I played good on my second serve, which this year has not been the case," the 239th-ranked Karlovic told Reuters. "Today was really good."

The Croat, who broke the fastest serve world record with a 251 kph (156 mph) blast during his country's Davis Cup tie against Germany in Zagreb last week, will next meet Frenchman Gilles Simon, who beat German Rainer Schuettler 6-3 7-6.

Croat Ljubicic, who upset American Andy Roddick 7-6 7-6 in last year's final, won a tight opening set against del Potro before being broken once in the second and twice in the third.

"It was not an easy draw, of course," Ljubicic said of his opponent, a former world number four who played just three tournaments last year because of an injury to his right wrist.

"He's a great player. We had some great points and I came up short in the end. Del Potro played a solid game, as normally he does, and it was too much for me today."

Del Potro, who won his eighth ATP title at last month's Delray Beach International Championships, will next meet Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov, a 6-4 6-4 winner against Romania's Victor Hanescu.

In other matches, Sweden's fourth seed Robin Soderling fended off a late fightback by Germany's Michael Berrer to win 6-3 7-6 while India's Somdev Devvarman upset 19th-seeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 7-5 6-0. (Editing by Frank Pingue/John O'Brien; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

ROANIC PAST FIRST TEST

Rising Canadian star Milos Raonic defeated Turkey's Marsel Ilhan 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) at the BNP Paribas Open on Friday for his first career Masters 1000 victory.

Raonic, ranked No. 37 in the world, has been on quite a roll of late. He earned his first career ATP Tour victory before reaching another tournament final and last week led Canada to a Davis Cup victory over Mexico.

However, the 20-year-old from Thornhill, Ont., had some trouble closing out the win after allowing an early break in the second set to slip away. He ultimately had to end the match by winning a tiebreaker.

Raonic is competing in his first Masters event outside of Canada, where he lost at the Rogers Cup in 2009 and 2010. He moved into a second-round match against American Mardy Fish, the 13th seed who lost the 2008 final to Novak Djokovic.

The big-hitting Raonic was held to 10 aces by Ilhan, who is ranked No. 120 in the world and dropped his ninth match of the year between ATP and Challengers levels and is still looking for his first victory.

Raonic saved two of the three break points he faced while registering three breaks of his own in a match that lasted just under 90 minutes in blazing sunny conditions.

THE CANADIAN PRESS

TSUNAMI SPEED

HAWK-EYE ON EVERY COURT

Hawk-Eye is the complex ball-tracking technology used in tennis to determine the accuracy of line calls, providing quick results so not to interrupt the flow of the matches.

"It's only a positive thing," said Ivan Ljubicic, the defending men's singles champion at Indian Wells and ranked No. 16 in the world. "Less you depend on the umpires, the better. You want to be the one who decides who is better and who is not."

Hawk-Eye performs at an average error of 3.6 millimeters, but Luke Aggas, the director of operations at Hawk-Eye Innovations Ltd., said Hawk-Eye's accuracy was measured at 2.1 at the Australian Open. The average diameter of a tennis ball is 67 millimeters, so the accuracy is the equivalent of the fluff of the ball.

Since making its debut five years, Hawk-Eye has been embraced by fans. Players appreciate the accuracy of the technology, saying it gives them a peace of mind on the court.

Aggas, who is on site to oversee the running of Hawk-Eye on all eight courts, said both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open had Hawk-Eye on three courts last year, and Wimbledon is moving to expand to four this year.

"Hawk-Eye being on every court is revolutionary," said Raymond Moore, the president of PM Sports, which runs the tournament.

Tournament officials would not comment on the price of the technology, other than PM Sports CEO Charles Pasarell saying "there's a lot of zeros behind it."

Bob Kramer, the tournament director of the Farmer's Classic in Los Angeles, said the technology ran his tournament about $60,000-$70,000 for one court, with much of that cost going to installing the infrastructure.

The estimated cost for the eight courts at the BNP Paribas Open is in the $420,000 to $490,000 range, based on the Farmer's Classic.

Included in the cost is 10 cameras per court, with two video monitors to provide replay for fans, and as many as 14 computers for each court to record the data.

The Hawk-Eye system is part of a remodeling of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, which has gone from 11 to 33 television monitors, and added seats. There are also three command centers to handle the replays, as well as video production.

Not only is the Hawk-Eye a huge expansion for the BNP Paribas Open, but for Hawk-Eye as well. Aggas anticipates several tournaments will send representatives to the tournament or at least watch on television to see how both tournament and Hawk-Eye handle the ambitious expansion.

"I don't like to use the word gamble, but it's an untried and untested idea, and it's very adventurous of (tournament director) Steve Simon and his crew here at Indian Wells to reach out to us," Aggas said. "It wasn't us pitching to them, 'Hey we can do eight courts.'

"At this time last year on one court, they didn't raise the question of going to eight courts, saying that, we're all in our comfort zone, nothing has been jeopardized or there is nothing we can't deal with already. The infrastructure around all the court is great. We have positions where our cameras are mounted. I can't remember many sites, even the Grand Slams, having so many seats on the grounds being erected."

Part of the expansion included adding 2,600 seats on the grounds, as well as adding approximately 64 miles of data cable, 25 miles of video cable and 57 miles of electrical cable to upgrade the infrastructure.

"It's a large investment, and we're fortunate we have an owner (Larry Ellison) who has the same mind-set as we do as far as wanting to make this the very best tournament in the world," Moore said.

The question now is who,if anyone, will add Hawk-Eye to all courts next? Hawk-Eye made its debut on the tour in March 2006 at the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Fla. By that summer, all the US Open Series events, including the Open, had Hawk-Eye in place.

But one tennis official doesn't think other events will follow suit so quickly this time.

Franklin Johnson, who sits on the ITF board, which governs tennis' four majors, believes it's unlikely another tournament would institute Hawk-Eye on all courts, especially in an era where sponsorship dollars can be hard to come by.

"Its obviously a cost item, and it's not an insignificant cost," said Johnson, president of the U.S. Tennis Association from 2005-06. "I suppose as others join Indian Wells, it will bring pressure on the Slams to do it. I would think that would take a period of several years."

Aggas said, as of now, none of the bigger tournaments have looked into adding Hawk-Eye on all courts. The two tournaments that used three last year, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, were looking into expanding Hawk-Eye this year to four courts, he said.

"The bigger the tournament, the more red tape you have to go through. Wimbledon definitely won't be more than four. U.S. Open typically says they'll match whatever Wimbledon does, but that was assuming that would be the tournament to match," Aggas said. "Indian Wells has raised the bar."

Pasarell, who has sat on the ATP Tour board of directors, disagrees with Johnson and thinks other tournaments will jump on board sooner rather than later.

"Time will tell, but I do expect it won't take too long," Pasarell said. "I think the Slams will follow suit quickly and some of the Masters events."

However, one advantage for the BNP Paribas Open is Ellison, who Forbesmagazine ranks as the sixth-richest man in the world with a net worth of $28 billion.

The CEO of Oracle since founding the company in 1977, Ellison purchased the BNP Paribas Open in December 2009 for $100 million.

Since taking over, Ellison has had a goal of enhancing the tournament, and money doesn't appear to be a deterrent.

"There's a new sheriff in town, and his name is Larry Ellison, and he has loosened the purse strings," Moore said. "We have a blank canvas and he has allowed us to invest in the tournament and to invest in the infrastructure."

The time factor also complicates matters for bigger tournaments who might want to expand Hawk-Eye to all courts.

After Ellison purchased the BNP Paribas Open in December 2009, the tournament investigated added Hawk-Eye to its two other show courts to go with the stadium courts. However ,installing Hawk-Eye on multiple courts was too complex to complete before the 2010 tournament.

"To do it right, we knew we need a full year lead-up to put in the right infrastructure, and with Larry's guidance, take it to all courts," Simon said.

So after the 2010 tournament, the BNP executives resumed talks about expanding Hawk-Eye. That's when Ellison broached the idea of expanding Hawk-Eye to all eight courts.

"When he called and talked to us about expanding it, Steve went goo-goo eyed," Moore said. "It was the first time the purse strings have been relaxed like that and allowed Steve to really master plan the improvements that are going to be on show for 2011."

Leighton Ginn, The Desert Sun

INDIAN WELLS

SONY BUYS HAWK-EYE

LONDON (AP)—Electronics giant Sony has completed the purchase of Hawk-Eye, the British-based company that provides ball-tracking technology in tennis and cricket.

Financial details weren’t disclosed.

Hawk-Eye is also used in snooker, while soccer world governing body FIFA could utilize the tracking system as it looks to introduce technology to rule on goal-line decisions.

Paul Hawkins, inventor of Hawk-Eye, said Monday the takeover by Sony would create “immense opportunities for the sports industry.”

SPEEDING

Ivo Karlovic fired a 251 kmph (156mph) serve to break the fastest serve record during his country's Davis Cup tie against Germany in Zagreb on Saturday.

The record was previously held by American Andy Roddick who served at 249.4 kmph (155mph) in another Davis Cup match against Vladmir Voltchkov of Belarus in 2004. The new record has been ratified by the International Tennis Federation.

Karlovic, the tallest player on the tennis circuit at 6ft 10in sent down the serve while partnering Ivan Dodig in the doubles match against Philipp Petzschner and Christopher Kas of Germany. Karlovic and Dodig however, lost the game 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 and Croatia eventually crashed to a 3-2 defeat to Germany.

Karlovic also shares the record for the third fastest serve - 153mph (246kph) - with Roddick and another American, Roscoe Tanner.

KINESIOLOGY TAPE

It may not win any fashion awards, but eye-catching kinesiology tape continues to grow in popularity with pro tennis players. Invented in the 1970s by Japanese chiropractor Dr. Kenzo Kase, the tape has many benefits, including management of a variety of injuries afflicting players, including shoulder, knee and even back complaints.

Novak Djokovic wore very conspicuous kinesiology tape around his left knee during his title run at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships last week, saying it was a ‘precaution’ only. Anyone who witnessed Djokovic’s outstanding play and exceptional court coverage could see one of the key benefits of the tape: Unlike regular tape, it does not impede movement - good movement, that is.

“The tape is very helpful to players, assisting with posture, decreasing pain, and improving range of motion," says ATP physiotherapist Clay Sniteman.

Kinesiology tape is ideal to use to support a knee which may not be tracking properly, because you can apply it to allow movement in one direction, but not the other. Other forms of tape, typically wrapped tight for compression, are more rigid and overly restrict a player’s movement. On the ATP World Tour, good movement is fundamental to success. How important is movement? As tennis fans know, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Djokovic aren’t just three of the best shotmakers in the game; they are three of the best movers. 

Kinesiology tape, which is tensioned and applied in a variety of patterns, is also well suited for shoulders. The tape can allow for movement in the direction the shoulder should move, but avoid improper movements that can cause or exacerbate injuries.

Applied firmly to clean, sweat-free and hair-free skin, the breathable and stretchable tape can stay in place for up to five days. It can also be used to treat swelling and for proprioception, to keep acute or chronic knee and shoulder problems in a pain-free range. The tape can be used on virtually all joints, although it is rarely applied to the hands and wrist, where players do not want to restrict motion.

The tape can be used to lift the skin, allowing fluid to drain. Following operations the tape can be used to decrease acute swelling and inflammation by improving circulation, and to reduce pain.

Kinesiology tape is widely available for purchase in sports stores and on the internet, with a 16 foot roll retailing for around $11.

ATP

MAIN DRAW, QUALIES, PRE-QUALIES, WILD CARDS - IT AIN'T EASY

Milos Raonic, Kei Nishikori, Ryan Harrison, Bernard Tomic, Coco Vandeweghe, and Christina McHale were granted wild cards into the main draws, tournament director Steve Simon said. Veterans James Blake, Vania King, Jill Craybas and Sania Mirza were also given wild cards into the main draws.

Joining Vandeweghe and McHale on the women's side will be young Americans Lauren Davis, and Sloane Stephens. There is one remaining women's wild card to be granted.

Qualifying draw wild cards were given to four men, including 1999 BNP Paribas Open champion Mark Philippoussis, who is attempting a comeback; American Ryan Sweeting; Steve Johnson, the No. 1 singles and doubles player at USC; and Greg Ouellette, a former SEC player of the year at Florida with three titles on the ITF circuit.

Former top 30 German star Sabine Lisicki, three young Americans, Madison Keys, Madison Brengle and Maria Sanchez, and rising Puerto Rican junior Monica Puig, were granted wild cards into the women's qualifying draw.

There are two more qualifying draw wild cards to be distributed and will be given to the men's and women's winner of the BNP Paribas Open Pre-Qualifier, which begins tomorrow in Indian Wells and runs through March 6. Between the men and women, the Pre-Qualifier had a record 145 entries.

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