Who is the fastest ATP player ever?
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spiritdragon
Rookie
princess bossass
Semi-Pro
Davy's pretty speedy.
Federer is so fluid and lovely to watch. He's entirely unattractive off-court, but on...zoinks.
Federer is so fluid and lovely to watch. He's entirely unattractive off-court, but on...zoinks.
Strength alone doesn't equal speed, in fact I'd suggest there is no way in hell his leg strength was that good, pure strength does not correlate well with aerobic effort, and there'd be many athletes with much higher raw strength than tennis players (weight lifters, many track & field athletes, many many more).
38 is stunning, but it's not only found in Olympians. Many long-distance athletes (including some of my very-non-olympian mates) have a resting heart rate in the high 30s / low 40s.
Why does this sound like rumour or myth?
For the record, you're claiming he's ultimately strong, ultimately endurance-fit, and ultimately powerful (fast) as well. Sorry, the three things don't correlate well. Also you mentioned hurdling, which I'd suspect requires insane flexibility, which also doesn't correlate well with the other elements.
I'm not saying he wasn't a great athlete, I am saying that you've pasted too many myths together.
Don't even get me started on this "world class athletes" playing tennis stuff. Tennis is more skill-based than almost any sport, athleticism factors largely but the skill dominates. This is very much the opposite of sports like track & field, cycling, etc.
Roy Emerson was not only fast enough to run qualifying times for the 1956 Olympic 100 metres but, had he competed that year and run his pb, would have likely finished with a medal. His times in the 10.5's were good enough to earn him a top 10 spot right through until the 1990's. Of course, races were hand-timed back but, regardless of the device use, Emerson was bloody fast.
Pat Cash is another one who was exceptionally quick. His trainer, Ann Quinn, who is now Head of Sport Science for the LTA, has said that over 50 metres his times were at the absolute elite level.
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Tempest344
Professional
Robredo, Hewitt, Grosjean
and others mentioned
and others mentioned
if anyone says nadal your an idiot. he isn't that fast, but he does move well but in a strait sprint he would get smoked.
1. hurdlers are not sprinters, theyre hurdlers. if hurdlers specialized in sprinting obviously they would be in a different category, props to borg though
2. "stronger legs" does not mean faster, in that sense, ronnie coleman who can legpress 1 tonne for 5 reps would technically be the fastest guy alive
my_forehand
Professional
Half the people who posted here are idiots then :roll:
Ronnie Coleman however has extra weight on him that would limit his leg strength. Not only did Borg had some of the highest recorded leg strengths ever for a Swedish athletes (Read the Times Article you lazy people), he also could sprint with an Olympic level athlete, had ridiculous conditioning (testimony by his own peers), some of the best footwork the game has ever seen (able to adapt to both Clay and Grass without fail), and to top it all off, he had the perfect prototype body for a tennis player, lean, fit, and efficient.
The evidence is there. Sprinting is based off muscle strength, aerobic, anaerobic, and adrenaline. Bjorn Borg had ridiculous strength levels, and his fitness was not a question. He has all the skills to be a great sprinter, I don't see how any of you can argue that Borg isn't the fastest tennis player at all. Not one tennis player out there comes close to what Bjorn Borg was able to do.
WillAlwaysLoveYouTennis
Hall of Fame
Borg I think for fastness. Lendl was accounted a good sprinter also if I remember correctly. Mecir, Change, Santoro, Federer, great movers covering the court. Explosive bursts of speed: Nadal would have to be in there somewhere since people like to bring his name of regarding speed topics, Agassi, Cash...
Turning Pro
Hall of Fame
It goes:
Hewitt/Nadal
Coria
Chang
All in their prime.
Hewitt/Nadal
Coria
Chang
All in their prime.
li0scc0
Hall of Fame
There are many current players faster than Borg. Borg was outstanding, and was my favorite. I watched him live then, and watch his old matches now. But he is not as fast as many current and recent players.
jackson vile
G.O.A.T.
I vote Ferrer, Monfils, Borg are top 3
M
meg0529
Guest
Chang
10 char
10 char
Praetorian
Professional
Another one of these posts where the OP fails to set a criteria on how to definitively determine a result. Let's get back to the original question at hand - Who is the fastest? So we can stop at the Borg was from Krypton, and his parents sent him to earth on a spaceship, and now he is the ultimate human posts.
Who is the fastest on these criteria?
40 yard dash -
baseline shuffle from on end to another (nobody really sidestep for 1 or 2 steps anyways) -
most agile (who can stop on a dime, and recover) -
reaction time -
anticipation skills -
To me, ALL of these contribute to true on court speed. Is it Borg, Chang, or maybe some guy playing in the qualifiers right now?
Who is the fastest on these criteria?
40 yard dash -
baseline shuffle from on end to another (nobody really sidestep for 1 or 2 steps anyways) -
most agile (who can stop on a dime, and recover) -
reaction time -
anticipation skills -
To me, ALL of these contribute to true on court speed. Is it Borg, Chang, or maybe some guy playing in the qualifiers right now?
Lsmkenpo
Hall of Fame
Vertical leap is the best test measure of an athletes
explosive movement http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/importanceofverticaljump.html
I doubt anyone of the current or past top players can compare to Monfils in this regard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOXNW54Zssg&t=0m15s
el sergento
Hall of Fame
Nadal is the quickest. Sorry to burst the legend of Borg's bubble, but Borg was getting to seemingly "impossible" shots coming off slow ass wooden racquets wielded by normal non-steroid using tennis players that used to prepare for a match by eating two cheeseburgers and drinking a gallon of coke (Connors' actual routine).
Times have changed so much that it's impossible to compare. I mean, no one really knows how Borg's legendary speed would fare against the Karlovic serve, the Soderling forehand, the Berdych/Gulbis backhand, the Spanish drop shot? My guess, not as good as Nadal.
Anyway, here's my list:
Nadal - overall
Monfils - pure speed, straight line bursts only
Federer
Borg
Edberg
Sampras - very underrated
Hewitt
Chang
Times have changed so much that it's impossible to compare. I mean, no one really knows how Borg's legendary speed would fare against the Karlovic serve, the Soderling forehand, the Berdych/Gulbis backhand, the Spanish drop shot? My guess, not as good as Nadal.
Anyway, here's my list:
Nadal - overall
Monfils - pure speed, straight line bursts only
Federer
Borg
Edberg
Sampras - very underrated
Hewitt
Chang
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Limpinhitter
G.O.A.T.
Straight ahead sprint speed or on-court speed?
el sergento
Hall of Fame
For the sake of simplicity, we should just assume that "speed on a tennis court" implies one thing only: getting to as many balls as possible and doing something meaningful with the ball once you get there.
I think the above definition encompasses all the important facets of what it means to be considered a fast tennis player and should also include anticipation as an element of speed.
Example, if you're only fast moving forward but can't change direction very quickly then you're not that fast of a tennis player are you? Conversely, if you're quick moving left to right but can't chase down a drop shot, then you can't be considered amongst the elite in terms of fast tennis players.
Anyway, my .02c
Limpinhitter
G.O.A.T.
In the 100 m dash I want to see borg, chang, grosjean, blake and monfils.
Federer would start bawling after 2 seconds. Lendl wouldn't even get off the mark.
100m isn't that relevant to tennis. The entire length of a tennis court is under 24m. From baseline to net is under 12 meters.
I am interested in the 100m dash, is that wrong?
If you are just interested in court coverage there are things I would measure in addition to just speed/acceleration. Agassi had a nice breakdown of different types of players and how they cover the court.
BigForehand
Semi-Pro
Gael Monfils
he's Ussain Bolt's brother
he's Ussain Bolt's brother
el sergento
Hall of Fame
Umm, Safin was many things but he sort of lumbered around on the court, I certainly never considered him particularly fast. Also, I'm pretty sure Safin weighed more than Nadal in his prime.
li0scc0
Hall of Fame
Nadal is far less muscled than most top sprinters.
li0scc0
Hall of Fame
Agile is Federer, his ability to stop/decelerate.
Anticipation is McEnroe, he was not fast but could get to anything due to his ability to move before the opponent struck the shot.
Baseline shuffle is Chang.
40 yard dash is unknown, we never see any of them sprint more than 10 yards.
I think your right. It doesn't even seem close. Someone said Macenroe haha.
TJfederer16
Hall of Fame
davydenko should be included he's as quick as a cat on speed
youtekprestigemp
Banned
Roger Rasheed said in an interview that when he started working with Monfil's he had him do some physical testing and he ran a 100m in 10.something sec
amorco
Rookie
chrischris
G.O.A.T.
I heard that too,yep Gael is fast as lightning but i do think Rafa reads plays a lot better and moves best on tour.
