The dead spot of a tennis racket

It is shown that a tennis racket has a dead spot, but it does not have a well-defined sweet spot, when measured in terms of the rebound of a tennis ball. A ball dropped onto the center of the strings bounces to about 30% its original height. The bounce is much weaker near the tip of the racket, being almost zero at the dead spot. These effects are explained in terms of the effective mass and rotational inertia of the racket, and by reference to the behavior of other cantilevered beams. It is concluded, somewhat paradoxically, that the best place to hit a serve or smash is at the dead spot. (C) 1997 American Association of Physics Teachers.