Do you think it is the athlete who generates power in tennis? Maybe you will think it is. Well, I am here to dispel this belief.

Actually, to be fair, many factors contribute to the sport of tennis, but skill is just one of them. Today I would like to discuss the role that science plays in tennis.

We've all heard of Andy Roddick, the great American tennis player who holds the record for the fastest serve for a man, an incredible 245km/h, and Venus Williams who had the fastest serve for a woman of 203km/h. Well, it has been suggested that skill only plays a small part in their serves. In fact, most of the credits should be given to their tennis rackets.

Starting in 1970s when wooden tennis rackets were no longer popular among players, different materials were used to design the racket. Perhaps the most significant contribution is a material called grafil. In fact, many professional tennis players use rackets with at least some grafil fibres. Now the grafils can be mixed with materials such as titanium to produce some stronger and lighter rackets. These new designs mean players like Roddick and Williams can hit the ball with more speed and accuracy than ever before.

It wasn't just the speed and accuracy, the new material improved though. When wood used to be used for the frame of the rackets, the heads were smaller and the strings were shorter because the frames weren't strong enough to keep the strings tight. Now with materials like titanium, the frame is stronger but not heavier. The strings then can be longer due to the stronger frames. As well, because the strings are tighter, they can allow for more controls and accuracy. The bonus to this is that even when the player unintensionally hits the ball slightly off centre, it will still end up where it was intended because the frame is larger, allowing the longer strings to work together. The larger head of the tennis racket also allows for greater stability where twisting is concerned when the ball is not hit in the dead centre of the racket.

I mentioned that the new material allows the racket to be lighter, but what this means to the players? Well, it means that players like Roddick and Williams are able to use a fast whipping swing a lot easier than players before the 1970s. Because the new rackets don't require skills for the ball to hit dense centre, modern players don't have to find the exact same spot all the time.

It is obvious that while Andy Roddick is a brilliant tennis player, he mustn't forget to thank his racket.

By Zhenyu Li, sports writer for PD online. The article represents the writer's views only