Which players are tough enough for the SAS?

ninman · Apr 27, 2011

There was a few series of shows in the UK to find out if very fit members of the public could pass SAS selection.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UZD6Dr8iLU&feature=related

Which players from the atp do you think could pass that test? I'd be curious to find out just how fit they really are.

Strateon · Apr 27, 2011

Its really more mental than physical.

Nadalfan89 · Apr 27, 2011

Verdasco is probably the most physically prepares for SAS. Nadal is the most mentally prepared.

I would say Nadal would pass the test.

zak425 · Apr 27, 2011

Nadalfan89 said:
I would say Nadal would pass the test.

What a surprise.

LameTennisPlayer · Apr 27, 2011

cool series....good to watch
but i dont think any player atm would be able to pass the test

Bender · Apr 27, 2011

zak425 said:
What a surprise.

Unsurprising sure, but not invalid.

Rock Strongo · Apr 27, 2011

Maybe Muster would, but then again, that guy didn't sleep. Instead, he waited for the sun to rise over the savannah to run through Africa while being chased by cheetahs.

Deleted member 21996 · Apr 27, 2011

Nadal hunts lions and kills them with his thumbs, so Nadal definitely!!!

plus anyone wearing a Vamos Rafa shirt, by seducing the instructors!!!

vive le beau jeu ! · Apr 27, 2011

Gorecki said:
Nadal hunts lions and kills them with his thumbs, so Nadal definitely!!!

plus anyone wearing a Vamos Rafa shirt, by seducing the instructors!!!

well, i'm not sure a banana injury time-out onboard a moonraker, 10 seconds before the destruction of any life on the whole world, would really help for the achievement of the mission... :|
(ok ok i don't know anything ! james bond is probably more a SIS than a SAS...)

Deleted member 21996 · Apr 27, 2011

vive le beau jeu ! said:
well, i'm not sure a banana injury time-out onboard a moonraker, 10 seconds before the destruction of any life on the whole world, would really help for the achievement of the mission... :|

may i ask why?

vive le beau jeu ! · Apr 27, 2011

Gorecki said:
may i ask why?

well, mister M'rax... next time you post something like this, please warn me before... so that i'm not drinking something at the same time, please !

thx for the big laugh !!!

ninman · Apr 27, 2011

People saying Nadal would pass need to remember that you have to be able to walk very large distances carrying a 50kg bag on your back, and do it in a short amount of time. That would put a huge strain on his knees...

Lsmkenpo · Apr 27, 2011

If Nadal got a blister on his foot he would call Uncle Toni to come pick him up in the KIA.

He can't even eat a banana, first time he tried to eat some dehydrated ration he would choke to death.

ninman · Apr 27, 2011

Thing is that's a reduced version of SAS selection, which only lasts 10 days. The real thing takes over 6 months, and normally they get around 200 people applying to go on it, out of that only 8 will actually pass.

Thing I'd be interested to see is the Escape and Evasion followed by Interrogation phase, just to see how they could cope with that. Having to stand in stress positions for about 6 hours, followed by having some guy constantly shouting at you, threatening you and so on, and all you can say is "I cannot answer that question sir", any other answer results in instant failure.

Lsmkenpo · Apr 27, 2011

The guys on tour that would make it, are the ones that don't try to act tough, never call the trainer, rarely retire matches, and play through injuries:

Federer, Ferrer, Davydenko, Soderling, Roddick

some who wouldn't make it:

Nadal, Del Potro, Murray, Djokovic, pretty much all the French players with the possible exception of Tsonga.

wy2sl0 · Apr 27, 2011

Lsmkenpo said:
The guys on tour that would make it, are the ones that don't try to act tough, never call the trainer, rarely retire matches, and play through injuries:

Federer, Ferrer, Davydenko, Soderling, Roddick
some who wouldn't make it:

Nadal, Del Potro, Murray, Djokovic, pretty much all the French players with the possible exception of Tsonga.

I would agree with these for sure. Ferrer just has that mentality, so does Rod. Fed on the other hand has probably played through alot of injuries that he just doesn't mention.

Lsmkenpo · Apr 27, 2011

Thinking about it I will have to take back what I said about no French players would make it, I think Mahut proved he is tough along with Isner at Wimbledon.

Deleted member 21996 · Apr 28, 2011

vive le beau jeu ! said:
well, mister M'rax... next time you post something like this, please warn me before... so that i'm not drinking something at the same time, please !

thx for the big laugh !!!

oki....

if the keyboard is ruined send me the bill.

and the funniest part of that movie is that the Bond Girl is named Holly Goodhead, What gives???? :twisted:

Deleted member 21996 · Apr 28, 2011

now on topic, you guys are telling me that Mid to Upper class boys raised in top tennis academies with all the demands and previleges would be SAS material?

cucio · Apr 28, 2011

The only tennis pro I think has what it takes is Serena Williams, she would make a magnificent drill sergeant.

1970CRBase · Apr 28, 2011

Lendl when he was in his physical prime I'm sure would've tough enuff. He was once in the Czech army, unlike these other mollycoddled privileged academy brats.

rossi46 · Apr 28, 2011

cucio said:
The only tennis pro I think has what it takes is Serena Williams, she would make a magnificent drill sergeant.

Have to agree with you on that, I think she likes being drilled.

ninman · Apr 28, 2011

The SAS is men only by the way. No women allowed.

Nadalfan89 · Apr 28, 2011

Federer? The guy who spends his spare time yachting with celebrites? The guy who has the upper body mass of a 10 year old girl?

Yeah, okay.

accidental · Apr 28, 2011

Lsmkenpo said:
The guys on tour that would make it, are the ones that don't try to act tough, never call the trainer, rarely retire matches, and play through injuries:

Federer, Ferrer, Davydenko, Soderling, Roddick

some who wouldn't make it:

Nadal, Del Potro, Murray, Djokovic, pretty much all the French players with the possible exception of Tsonga.

Tsonga? thats guy's injured more than all the players above combined. Of the French players Simon is easily the toughest mentally. imo

Dilettante · Apr 28, 2011

ninman said:
The SAS is men only by the way. No women allowed.

You seem eager to keep women out. I'm not surprised since you wanted to strip and punish Nadal.

zak425 · Apr 28, 2011

Nadalfan89 said:
Federer? The guy who spends his spare time yachting with celebrites? The guy who has the upper body mass of a 10 year old girl?

Yeah, okay.

Someone spends a lot of time studying guys physique...not that there's anything wrong with that.

ninman · Apr 28, 2011

Dilettante said:
You seem eager to keep women out. I'm not surprised since you wanted to strip and punish Nadal.

You know I would reply to your trolling, but I don't need to, you can just read your signature.

Nadalfan89 · Apr 28, 2011

zak425 said:
Someone spends a lot of time studying guys physique...not that there's anything wrong with that.

Doesn't take much studying to know that Verdasco is more physically suited for a special forces unit than Federer...

1970CRBase · Apr 28, 2011

Lsmkenpo said:
Thinking about it I will have to take back what I said about no French players would make it, I think Mahut proved he is tough along with Isner at Wimbledon.

Actually, I am now certain that Mahut would have won WW2 singlehandedly if he were playing back then.

Bender · Apr 28, 2011

rossi46 said:
Have to agree with you on that, I think she likes being drilled.

Yeah, if you've seen those Topspin 4 ads featuring Serena Williams, somehow I won't be surprised...

ninman said:
The SAS is men only by the way. No women allowed.

We're not talking about women here, we're talking about Serena

zak425 · Apr 28, 2011

Nadalfan89 said:
Doesn't take much studying to know that Verdasco is more physically suited for a special forces unit than Federer...

Just having muscles wouldn't simply qualify you for something like this. If that were the case all the dudes who can bench 1 1/2 times their weight would be in special forces. Personally I don't think any tennis player could do it, because its a completely different career, they have nothing in common with each other. Why not daydream about what player would be the hardest worker at Pizza Hut? Because thats about as non-sequitur as this discussion is.

msc886 · Apr 29, 2011

Nadalfan89 said:
Doesn't take much studying to know that Verdasco is more physically suited for a special forces unit than Federer...

physique =/= strength. Federer's an ectomorph so he'll always be skinny regardless of how strong he becomes. Considering how much power and heaviness he hits with using the smallest frame on tour, that's gotta mean something..

Verdasco's mentality isn't that great. He'll probably just surrender.

Beryl · Apr 29, 2011

zak425 said:
Why not daydream about what player would be the hardest worker at Pizza Hut?

At first, it would seem like it would be Monfils. He would be running around and serving like crazy, showing off his party tricks to please the customers, but I don't think he could last an 8 hour shift.

Nadal would get fired pretty quickly for picking his butt in the workplace. As would Djokovic for his long service times. Nalbandian would keep sneaking pizza slices away during his shift. Federer would be way too arrogant for the job.

I would guess a hard worker like Ferrer would do best.

cucio · Apr 29, 2011

Beryl said:
I would guess a hard worker like Ferrer would do best.

As long as you keep him away of arsenal duty.

ninman · Apr 29, 2011

zak425 said:
Just having muscles wouldn't simply qualify you for something like this. If that were the case all the dudes who can bench 1 1/2 times their weight would be in special forces. Personally I don't think any tennis player could do it, because its a completely different career, they have nothing in common with each other. Why not daydream about what player would be the hardest worker at Pizza Hut? Because thats about as non-sequitur as this discussion is.

Did you even watch the show? They got 29 members of the public who passed a fitness test to take a reduced version of SAS selection. It's a TV show to see if very fit members of the public could make it. No one on that show has any military training, and they are all amateur athletes, that's the whole point, hence the reason I asked the question.

Nadalfan89 · Apr 29, 2011

msc886 said:
physique =/= strength. Federer's an ectomorph so he'll always be skinny regardless of how strong he becomes. Considering how much power and heaviness he hits with using the smallest frame on tour, that's gotta mean something..

Verdasco's mentality isn't that great. He'll probably just surrender.

Verdasco wouldn't make the SAS, but this conversation is about who is most suited, not who could actually do it. No tennis player could survive SAS training.

Also, Federer is beyond ectomorph. With his level of muscularity, he simply cannot be that strong. Maybe he's strong relative to his size, but he's laughably weak compared to SAS soldiers. It doesn't take strength to hit the ball like he does. It takes perfect timing and fluidity.

ninman · Apr 29, 2011

Nadalfan89 said:
Verdasco wouldn't make the SAS, but this conversation is about who is most suited, not who could actually do it. No tennis player could survive SAS training.

Also, Federer is beyond ectomorph. With his level of muscularity, he simply cannot be that strong. Maybe he's strong relative to his size, but he's laughably weak compared to SAS soldiers. It doesn't take strength to hit the ball like he does. It takes perfect timing and fluidity.

As I said, watch the show. It's not about who could survive the full thing, that's why they reduced the selection from 6 months down to 10 days, and took out the Jungle section.

The second series SAS jungle had such a high rate of people leaving that they didn't even have evictions, and is the toughest game show on UK TV ever.

Joe Pike · Apr 29, 2011

ninman said:
There was a few series of shows in the UK to find out if very fit members of the public could pass SAS selection.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UZD6Dr8iLU&feature=related

Which players from the atp do you think could pass that test? I'd be curious to find out just how fit they really are.

Steffi Graf!

Oh, you said ATP.
None of them, I think ...

Strateon · Apr 29, 2011

Military training is completely different from normal athletic activities. Its not about whose physically most capable. You don't start off an activity fully-rested and prepared. You are tired before you even begin, being sleep deprived from your previous missions, physically worn out.

The real challenge is to convince your body to serve through the pain, knowing that the end of the mission, signifies the start of a new one. It is difficult to press on when the end isnt in sight. Thats all mental.

With that said, off the top of my head, federer, nadal, ferrer, soderling, davydenko and to some of you maybe surprisingly, safin would make it. Not because they are physically strong, but because they have steel in them. You can venture a good guess from their eyes.

dominikk1985 · Apr 29, 2011

of course it's tough, but ATP players are professional athletes. they are the fittest people in the world.

I would say everyone in the top100 could do it. seriously: who is fitter than a world class tennis player?

zak425 · Apr 29, 2011

ninman said:
Did you even watch the show? They got 29 members of the public who passed a fitness test to take a reduced version of SAS selection. It's a TV show to see if very fit members of the public could make it. No one on that show has any military training, and they are all amateur athletes, that's the whole point, hence the reason I asked the question.

So let me get this straight. Its a reality game show seeing if people can become a member of the SAS. But they dont really go through any of the qualifications or tests, they just do a few days of training? That seems like a monumental waste of time, not that any reality show isn't. Whats the prize a free shirt?

Do they receive merit badges and get "light" missions like saving cats out of trees?

Gut Check · Apr 29, 2011

dominikk1985 said:
of course it's tough, but ATP players are professional athletes. they are the fittest people in the world.

I would say everyone in the top100 could do it. seriously: who is fitter than a world class tennis player?

Seriously? I wouldn't even rank tennis players as the fittest group of racket sports athletes. Badminton and squash are both more difficult sports IMHO from a purely purely physical perspective (both have more varied and explosive movement, at a higher intensity with less rest periods between points compared to tennis), although there's way more dollars available as a pro tennis player.

I have no doubt that pro tennis players are fantastic athletes and very well conditioned for their chosen sport, which has different physical requirements than other sports (NFL linebackers aren't going to dominating pro tennis any time soon). Just if I were looking for a group of athletes to pass the physical requirements of SAS type testing, tennis wouldn't be the first place I'd look.

Better on average than even the fitter members of the general populace? Sure, that's a no-brainer.

Nadalfan89 · Apr 29, 2011

dominikk1985 said:
of course it's tough, but ATP players are professional athletes. they are the fittest people in the world.

I would say everyone in the top100 could do it. seriously: who is fitter than a world class tennis player?

Most ridiculous post of the year.

dominikk1985 · Apr 29, 2011

:neutral:

Gut Check said:
Seriously? I wouldn't even rank tennis players as the fittest group of racket sports athletes. Badminton and squash are both more difficult sports IMHO from a purely purely physical perspective (both have more varied and explosive movement, at a higher intensity with less rest periods between points compared to tennis), although there's way more dollars available as a pro tennis player.

I have no doubt that pro tennis players are fantastic athletes and very well conditioned for their chosen sport, which has different physical requirements than other sports (NFL linebackers aren't going to dominating pro tennis any time soon). Just if I were looking for a group of athletes to pass the physical requirements of SAS type testing, tennis wouldn't be the first place I'd look.

Better on average than even the fitter members of the general populace? Sure, that's a no-brainer.

could be right about that. badminton has certainly higher requirements for aerobic capacity.

tennis players are nowhere the best but they are very well rounded:
-not super fast like a running back but still quick
-good endurance (not top notch of course)
-solid flexibility
-good lower and upper body strength (although the last a little asymmetrically)
-very good coordination

I think you need a well rounded athlete for that challenge and tennis players are well rounded. no specialist in anything but solid in many things.

certainly better suited than a super fast football player that is exhausted after 20 seconds or a 115 pound distance runner who can't lift anything.

I think tennis players would be some of the best for this. maybe a decathlete would be a little better suited because he is stronger and more explosive but not much.

Rock Strongo · Apr 29, 2011

Wouldn't Amos Mansdorf fit in the SAS? I don't know much about him as he retired about the time when I was born, but he used to be an Israeli army officer, and that alone would say something about his strengths (or the Israeli army system but let's not derail this thread).

ninman · Apr 29, 2011

zak425 said:
So let me get this straight. Its a reality game show seeing if people can become a member of the SAS. But they dont really go through any of the qualifications or tests, they just do a few days of training? That seems like a monumental waste of time, not that any reality show isn't. Whats the prize a free shirt?

Do they receive merit badges and get "light" missions like saving cats out of trees?

You see that link I posted? If you click on it then you can watch the show and find out the answer to all of those questions for yourself.

Here's a spoiler for you, at the end of the show when they are trying to decide who the winner is, the SAS guys are sitting around and Sgt. Eddie Stone says that he didn't think anyone would even make it that far. So he himself was surprised they could last even 10 days.

ninman · Apr 29, 2011

gunnd5000 said:
None. I mean to start you have to be brittish and well murray aint passing

Lol, how many people have actually bothered clicking on that youtube link? See the guy in charge? Sgt. Eddie Stone? You know where he comes from? Yes, that's right, Scotland.

FeVer · Apr 30, 2011

ninman said:
Lol, how many people have actually bothered clicking on that youtube link? See the guy in charge? Sgt. Eddie Stone? You know where he comes from? Yes, that's right, Scotland.

When I last looked, Scotland was in Britain...

li0scc0 · Apr 30, 2011

Lsmkenpo said:
The guys on tour that would make it, are the ones that don't try to act tough, never call the trainer, rarely retire matches, and play through injuries:

Federer, Ferrer, Davydenko, Soderling, Roddick

some who wouldn't make it:

Nadal, Del Potro, Murray, Djokovic, pretty much all the French players with the possible exception of Tsonga.

Agree on every person. Roddick was the first one to come to mind when I saw this thread.

Which players are tough enough for the SAS?

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