Other athletes on court - Lennox Lewis could have been great in tennis

[Riosfan]

Former boxing champ Lennox Lewis says he's a tennis nut and playing helped him sharpen his skills as a boxer. he plays every day, even has a court at his house in Miami. Lewis is a very intelligent, great all around athlete, played football, boxing, basketball, soccer, golf too, if he would have played tennis instead of boxing, can imagine him being a top pro with a great serve & volley.. .

http://www.10sballs.com/2010/01/18/l...e-with-tennis/

makes you think: which athletes from other sports would be very good in tennis if they started tennis young and had quality coaching? I say Iverson, Tiger Woods, Randy Johnson huge lefty serve, off the top of my head,

[djokovicgonzalez2010]

Dale Earnhart (sp?)

[DrpShot!]

Yao Ming...

[Don't Let It Bounce]

John Lucas

In the mid-80's, as a mediocre small college player, I played some doubles with George Karl, who had been a major college basketball player and a journeyman ABA/NBA player and who was by then an overweight NBA coach who hadn't played tennis in a long time. We bageled two other young guys who weren't much worse than I was. The lesson I took away from it was that basic athletic talent goes a long way in tennis.

[inmate11]

Manny Pacquiao

[Riosfan]

PacMan would be a beast on the court, so quick and much pop in his shots.

he doesn't play tennis at all, I asked a Filipino who knows him. He plays basketball, billiards, golf, but no tennis.

[kishnabe]

Originally Posted by inmate11

Manny Pacquiao

I would go with him too, great reflexes!
If he were a tennis player he would go up to the third round in a GS at max!

[Joseph L. Barrow]

Originally Posted by Riosfan

Former boxing champ Lennox Lewis says he's a tennis nut and playing helped him sharpen his skills as a boxer. he plays every day, even has a court at his house in Miami. Lewis is a very intelligent, great all around athlete, played football, boxing, basketball, soccer, golf too, if he would have played tennis instead of boxing, can imagine him being a top pro with a great serve & volley.. .

http://www.10sballs.com/2010/01/18/l...e-with-tennis/

makes you think: which athletes from other sports would be very good in tennis if they started tennis young and had quality coaching? I say Iverson, Tiger Woods, Randy Johnson huge lefty serve, off the top of my head,

Lennox has nowhere near the correct frame or physical make-up for world-elite level tennis. I'm sure he's a good player, mind you, by the standards of most human beings, but the disparity between the types of phyiscal attributes and skillsets required for tennis and for boxing respectively is tremendous. Lewis is quite a thick, bulky, muscular guy, and at least in large part he is this way naturally.

To put things in perspective, here, Sam Querrey, at 6'6"- an inch taller than Lewis- is around 200 lbs. even, Del Potro, also an inch or two taller than Lewis, weighs in the 180s, and Cilic at the same height is a hair lighter than Del Potro. The 6'5" Lewis, on the other hand, came in a little under 230 in his trimmer days as a heavyweight boxer and got as far up as the 240s for major bouts. I recognize, of course, that he would have trained much differently for tennis than for boxing, but nonetheless, his body is of a whole nother type from one suited for elite-tier tennis. I do not think Lewis nearly so graceful, light on his feet or deft as to be capable- even had he committed to the sport in lieu of boxing- of performing on a par with world-class players. He chose the right sport for himself.

Pacquiao would probably be too short at scarcely five-and-a-half feet; even guys like Ferrer, who is 5'9", are considered these days to have a major task in compensating for their height and the commensurate disadvantage in serving it brings.

[tacou]

Rajon Rondo.

[tenniskid567]

I'm convinced Lebron James would be incredible at almost any sport he attempted...I could agree with Iverson and Rondo though. Other than that, I'm sure there's a few soccer players that would make great tennis players.