Federer is skrawny

[marcl65]

These guys weren't all that buff either.

[sm-2004]

I think, Federer has very strong legs and back.
Plus, we see only his left arm on the picture, his right arm is probably twice bigger.

[rommil]

Well look in the Australian Open website today and there is a picture of him where you can see both arms and you can decide. Like I have said I saw him very much upclose and shook his hand. The guy doesn't look physically imposing at all, especially the arms which I guess you can say scrawny(is this equivalent to skinny? Not a native English speaker here).

Cmon folks... the guy has 9 grand slam titles under his belt, can outhit even the most visibly muscular guys on tour and moves like a dream. What the frack does he need more muscle mass for? to appear in late night fitness equipment commercials?!?

BTW he does lift weights (I think every modern athelete does), but he does more repetitions with smaller weights so his muscles CAN remain lean. (source: rogerfederer.com: sign up a fan member and read the section on his fitness regimen)

[heycal]

I've only read the first post, so sorry if this has been said before, but Federer in person looks very athletic and built like a Greek God.

[stormholloway]

It seems like this thread is based upon someone looking for a physical attribute that gives Federer an edge. His prowess is based mostly upon the connect his mind has to his body, rather than simply the body itself. The more tuned the body is the more the mind can utilize it, but tennis is a mind game first, and a physical one second.

[callitout]

As people have said, the kinetic chain in tennis is from legs to trunk to arms--not so different from the way a figure skater spins rapidly...so its not surprising that a hulky guy cant do that so quickly.

[Boja]

Originally Posted by Bjorn99

This thread just identified that some people here really know some stuff, and that others are living in a magazine world, where Matthew McConnaghy rules.

But he does rule! Look at those muscles, it must mean he's a better athlete than 90% of the ATP!

I consider marathon runners to be one of the best athletes on the planet, and they are usually very thin people. I agree with the notion that big muscles aren't the "be all and end all" of physical fitness that so many believe.

[tricky]

As people have said, the kinetic chain in tennis is from legs to trunk to arms--not so different from the way a figure skater spins rapidly...so its not surprising that a hulky guy cant do that so quickly.

Indeed. I think pound for pound, figure skaters have among the most lower body sections in the world.

[joeyscl]

Here is news: Muscular Size is *not* directly related to Muscular Strength

I've seen a 105 pound women on TV, VERY petite and Lean. She could have been any women on the street, yet she can Lift (I think it was Clean and Jerk) well more than twice her weight.

[David L]

Originally Posted by joeyscl

Here is news: Muscular Size is *not* directly related to Muscular Strength

This is precisely right. Many, however, do not realize this. One can have larger looking muscles, yet be physically weaker than someone else. Strength is a strange and complicated thing.

[David L]

Originally Posted by rommil

Well look in the Australian Open website today and there is a picture of him where you can see both arms and you can decide. Like I have said I saw him very much upclose and shook his hand. The guy doesn't look physically imposing at all, especially the arms which I guess you can say scrawny(is this equivalent to skinny? Not a native English speaker here).

Granted you did'nt say this but, looking physically imposing has nothing to do with being athletic. Furthermore, whether someone appears imposing or not, will to some degree depend on the stature of the judge.

[Grigollif1]

Originally Posted by Moose Malloy

No, this myth is true. Look at the track & field stars, nfl receivers, nba, etc. Guys that are faster than Federer or Nadal can ever dream of being, possessing 34 inch verticals, etc. And they bench a ton, weigh a ton(compared to tennis players)

It isn't a coincidence they all have large muscles, you need them to be among the truly best athletes. And the extra weight sure as hell isn't slowing them down.

If the atp timed the players in a 20/40/whatever yard dash it wouldn't be pretty at all.
(I read that Andy Murray was shocked that he was slower than molasses when his trainer had him run sprints recently, because he never ran more than a few feet in his life before. People forget just how small a tennis court is. Its mainly about how you anticipate & hit the ball, not how you run, since you aren't really covering much ground at all)

I love watching Federer play, but is rather comical that high school basketball/football players who will never play sports professionally can bench more than him, & many are faster as well.

Tennis is what it is, & will understandably always be a tough sell in North America, because the players just aren't world class athletes the way other sportsman are.

No moose. The reason why track and field athletes have more defined muscles is because they need very explosive and instant speed for a short period of time. Tennis players are more about endurance as well. You are not just running for 100m in a straight line, you are running around a tennis courts for hours.. Look at Marathonist, those guys from Kenya who are the best in the world. They are really skinny with not much muscle weight at all, and they are able to run for many miles and miles..

[OrangeOne]

Originally Posted by Moose Malloy

Tennis is what it is, & will understandably always be a tough sell in North America, because the players just aren't world class athletes the way other sportsman are.

Interestingly, tennis is the only endurance sport of any you mentioned, basketball being semi-endurance the only one even close behind in this regard. In endurance sports, as many others have pointed out, carrying extra weight is simply not necessary, and a hinderance to performance. Ask an NFL players, or many t&f athletes - to run around a court solo every 30 seconds on & off for 5 hours, and it'd be amusing for the first hour, sympathetically painful if they made it to the second hour, and boring while they slept from hours 3 to 5.

Watch a men's tennis match, hour 3 & 4, played in summer, where tremendous skill is still required, as well as independant, uncoached thought , and you'll see world-class athletes. Hell - even go and see how truly fit the guys playing challengers are, watch how if most of us hit 10 of their FHs we'd be needing Oxygen, and then tell me they're unfit. Let's remember - the guys playing challengers are the ones who haven't or maybe won't make it, the top pros are so far in front again.

To think that fitness is just size or strength or speed is to completely ignore about 7 or 10 other key elements!... or another way - just because tennis doesn't require players to run into each other, or doesn't use a time or a distance to report how good someone is, doesn't in any way mean we don't see some amazingly fit individuals. Think Lendl, Becker, Sampras, Muster, Nadal, Rafter, Hewitt, Chang, Federer, Cash.... so many more.

[mellofelow]

Interesting thread...

One thing for sure. The HEAVIEST, the STRONGEST & most MUSCULAR lady in the AO field just dominated the championship.

Heck, even a good player with extra 15 lbs in the gut (Nalbandian) can beat Federer once in a while... in 5 sets no less.

Tennis is a great sport however, during a match, an actual point lasts much shorter than between points. Add change overs and what-not, I'm not sure I can agree that tennis requires more endurance than other sports. Those of us with TIVO or PVR can watch a 3 hour match in less than an hour.

Imagine this though... maybe not in this era but one day, a player with bigger guns than Nadal and built like a Greek god, serves 140+ mph at 70% success rate, consistently hit 90+ mph groundies off both wings with 4 to 1 winner to error ratio... maybe is what it takes to dethrone Federer's dominance.

[OrangeOne]

Originally Posted by mellofelow

Tennis is a great sport however, during a match, an actual point lasts much shorter than between points. Add change overs and what-not, I'm not sure I can agree that tennis requires more endurance than other sports.

It requires proportional endurance in relation to the length of the match.

Throw a HR monitor on any male player - their HR will be at least in the working aerobic range for the duration of most matches (minus some changeovers). During some of the points it will peak to anaerobic, and in the time between points it will recover back down. No sport stays anaerobic for more than an hour or two, anything longer than this *pretty much* by definition needs to average out at aerobic or less, and pro tennis would certainly average out at aerobic. It's an endurance sport, especially over best of 5 at slams, especially in summer (which the sport pretty much lives in).

[Linda]

Originally Posted by Moose Malloy

I love watching Federer play, but is rather comical that high school basketball/football players who will never play sports professionally can bench more than him, & many are faster as well.

Tennis is what it is, & will understandably always be a tough sell in North America, because the players just aren't world class athletes the way other sportsman are.

not world class athletes? i wanna see a basketball/football player on a tennis court. wouldn't that be something funny? world class athletes need not be one dimensional. that is, the unusually strong/fast dimension.
why compare tennis to these sports? they require different things, don't you think?
it's irrelevent that high school athletes are stronger and/or faster than pro tennis players because as you said...they will never be pros. and why will they never be pros? my stab in the dark is that they don't have what it takes.
and it's a shame that tennis is a hard sell in north america...but on the other hand why would tennis need them if they can ridicule it on the basis that it is not a sport for 'muscle-bound freaks'? (sorry...that phrase was just too good to pass up)
and if tennis is not a sport for 'world class athletes' and if this is why north america cannot take it seriously...how can north america justify liking GOLF? golf...the only sport where you can be old and fat and still an outstanding pro.

[0d1n]

Tennis is not athletic enough for North A. Think how athletic so many Americans are, how powerful they have to be to consistently be able to lift and take all those huge size coke barrels (yes…BARRELS those are NOT cans or glasses) to their mouths...not even talking about the Big Mac’s...there's some serious athleticism there. Roger is a pathetic weakling when compared to them.
Moose Malloy is oh SOOOOOOO right .

PS. (edit) : Sorry, I forgot something else, if you believe this bunch, yeh …the same bunch that sits on the couch watching so called “football”(which is really just a mutant form of rugby) eating popcorn and saying tennis players are not athletes… there’s no such thing as FAT people anymore…they are all just “big boned” and “strongly built”.

[emerckx53]

Originally Posted by Moose Malloy

No, this myth is true. Look at the track & field stars, nfl receivers, nba, etc. Guys that are faster than Federer or Nadal can ever dream of being, possessing 34 inch verticals, etc. And they bench a ton, weigh a ton(compared to tennis players)

It isn't a coincidence they all have large muscles, you need them to be among the truly best athletes. And the extra weight sure as hell isn't slowing them down.

If the atp timed the players in a 20/40/whatever yard dash it wouldn't be pretty at all.
(I read that Andy Murray was shocked that he was slower than molasses when his trainer had him run sprints recently, because he never ran more than a few feet in his life before. People forget just how small a tennis court is. Its mainly about how you anticipate & hit the ball, not how you run, since you aren't really covering much ground at all)

I love watching Federer play, but is rather comical that high school basketball/football players who will never play sports professionally can bench more than him, & many are faster as well.

Tennis is what it is, & will understandably always be a tough sell in North America, because the players just aren't world class athletes the way other sportsman are.

Absolutely incorrect assumption on the quality of athleticism amongst tennis players...you can pick the top player in any sport you like...put a racquet in their hand and watch them look like a child..