Top Amateurs vs. Pros

The Baseline · Feb 11, 2012

Ive seen a lot of top amateurs hitting and ive seen a common theme. Most of the amateurs are using a lot more energy than the pros. I know theres exceptions to the rule like players like Gonzalez and Tsonga, but is it all about technique and energy for the majority of the upper echelon players. Its hard for me to understand but look at players like Murray, nalbandian, and safin that make the game seem so effortless, but theres exceptions and relentless top pros like David Ferrer that kind of throw the whole technique arguement out of the water. For instance I watched a college match and the technique was terrible, its like they were trying to hit as hard as possible, then you have a player like Murray who has that great footwork and technique. Whats the biggest difference between top amateurs and pros?

jackson vile · Feb 11, 2012

Tennis is a technique sport, you not need to be strong, powerful, fast. Look at Raonic as example, super skinny kid right? He hits serves all the way up to 130+ mph with precision.

ben123 · Feb 11, 2012

jackson vile said:
Tennis is a technique sport, you not need to be strong, powerful, fast. Look at Raonic as example, super skinny kid right? He hits serves all the way up to 130+ mph with precision.

he weighs around 200lbs lol and is tall as a house. you really gave us an excellent example.

thats not skinny for me. i dunno in which world you live.... and idc if his arms dont look big

The Baseline · Feb 11, 2012

jackson vile said:
Tennis is a technique sport, you not need to be strong, powerful, fast. Look at Raonic as example, super skinny kid right? He hits serves all the way up to 130+ mph with precision.

i just talked to some college players and they said players like davydenko and murray hit the ball maybe the same pace as them, maybe lighter its just that they get to more balls. They said thats the biggest difference.

The Bawss · Feb 11, 2012

Murray can hit the ball huge at times, he is not a good example.

ben123 · Feb 11, 2012

The Baseline said:
i just talked to some college players and they said players like davydenko and murray hit the ball maybe the same pace as them, maybe lighter its just that they get to more balls. They said thats the biggest difference.

just btw college players ... are college players you shouldnt believe everything they say or do they play all the time with people like davydenko. if they dont i wouldnt take their statements too seriosly

The Baseline · Feb 11, 2012

ben123 said:
just btw college players ... are college players you shouldnt believe everything they say or do they play all the time with people like davydenko. if they dont i wouldnt take their statements too seriosly

so whats the biggest difference. I mean ive seen pro groundstrokes and college groundstrokes, theyre not that much different to be honest.

nereis · Feb 11, 2012

Saying that top amateurs can hit the ball as hard as the best in the world can is like saying that a top amateur can serve as big as the biggest servers in the world and hit as hard as Federer. It isn't happening.

They're great players, but if they think that a guy who can crank it up to 100mph on groundies is in the same league as them they're not really thinking clearly.

helloworld · Feb 11, 2012

I can hit 100 mph forehands, but it will probably go out most of the time. I think the difference is consistency. Pros can hit hard with consistency and with much more variety.

Mike Sams · Feb 11, 2012

jackson vile said:
Tennis is a technique sport, you not need to be strong, powerful, fast. Look at Raonic as example, super skinny kid right? He hits serves all the way up to 130+ mph with precision.

Gilles Simon has hit some blazers. And he's a wimp if you look at him. Bony girl arms and his calves look smaller than a girl's.

Funbun · Feb 11, 2012

I definitely agree with the consistency part.

Additionally, I think there a lot of college players with weaker racquets, too. I'm certain that the average ATP pro swingweight is rather higher than the average D1 player. Thus, perhaps amateurs swing a bit harder than they should. Then again, I'm not sure at all.

Also, pros are capable of combining great placement with great strategy, more so than amateurs. I'm certain the top 20 players can place serves so well that don't even to start the point. And when they do start it, they know exactly what to do, so their body is used to those sort of situations. Amateurs flail a bit more because they're unprepared for the large variety of spins, trajectories, placements they receive at a specific spot on the court. Whereas, pros have played with people worldwide, enough to know what to expect.

snvplayer · Feb 11, 2012

The Baseline said:
so whats the biggest difference. I mean ive seen pro groundstrokes and college groundstrokes, theyre not that much different to be honest.

What college players are you referring to? Ones that are ranked in top 10?
The big hitters in top college tennis players can probably hit as hard as pros. I am sure some of them can hit harder than Davydenko, Murray, or Hewitt who are not really known for their power. I am not sure about mediocre D1 level players.

Simply put, Pros are just better players in pretty much every category - they are much more consistent, meaning they have few concentration lapses, mentally tougher, move better, and so on. If you really had to narrow it down between them, I would say it's the mentality - concentration, competitiveness, and resilience.

FearOfTheDark · Feb 11, 2012

My girlfriend has a friend who plays professionally and apparently he can hit just as well as the top 20 guys but it's all about consistency..

(My gf is top 60 in NZ)

syc23 · Feb 12, 2012

junbumkim said:
What college players are you referring to? Ones that are ranked in top 10?
The big hitters in top college tennis players can probably hit as hard as pros. I am sure some of them can hit harder than Davydenko, Murray, or Hewitt who are not really known for their power. I am not sure about mediocre D1 level players.

I always go by the thinking if these guys think they can hit as hard and consistent as the pros, they would be at the upper ATP rankings right now.

Masayoshi · Feb 12, 2012

syc23 said:
I always go by the thinking if these guys think they can hit as hard and consistent as the pros, they would be at the upper ATP rankings right now.

Except that statement only referenced the hitting "hard" part, not the consistency. I can believe that college players can hit massive ground strokes at about a pro-level in hardness, but I'm sure they'll hit them out 10 times as much. I'm a very crappy player overall, but someone clocked my serve at 123 mph once. It was well out, as is usually the case when I try to hit that hard, but that's well within the pro range for mph, no?

dr325i · Feb 12, 2012

The Baseline said:
i just talked to some college players and they said players like davydenko and murray hit the ball maybe the same pace as them, maybe lighter its just that they get to more balls. They said thats the biggest difference.

Those you talked to are clueless...
The Pros are as the name says -- Pros -- they dedicated their lives to this since they were kids, and they do it over and over EVERY day.
The college kids (or amateurs) cannot be compared to the Pros, especially the pros you mentioned.
It is not only the way they hit, it is EVERYTHING from technique, phycho, physical...

syc23 · Feb 12, 2012

Masayoshi said:
Except that statement only referenced the hitting "hard" part, not the consistency. I can believe that college players can hit massive ground strokes at about a pro-level in hardness, but I'm sure they'll hit them out 10 times as much. I'm a very crappy player overall, but someone clocked my serve at 123 mph once. It was well out, as is usually the case when I try to hit that hard, but that's well within the pro range for mph, no?

Not disputing the speed but consistency and accuracy of groundstrokes is what separates pros from amatuers. You put that college kid who can indeed hit huge serves and groundies in the USO final against Djokovic. That kid would be shaking too much to even hit 1 reliable shot even though he can do it a million times in practice with no pressure.

above bored · Feb 12, 2012

The Baseline said:
Ive seen a lot of top amateurs hitting and ive seen a common theme. Most of the amateurs are using a lot more energy than the pros. I know theres exceptions to the rule like players like Gonzalez and Tsonga, but is it all about technique and energy for the majority of the upper echelon players. Its hard for me to understand but look at players like Murray, nalbandian, and safin that make the game seem so effortless, but theres exceptions and relentless top pros like David Ferrer that kind of throw the whole technique arguement out of the water. For instance I watched a college match and the technique was terrible, its like they were trying to hit as hard as possible, then you have a player like Murray who has that great footwork and technique. Whats the biggest difference between top amateurs and pros?

I would say the biggest difference is the consistency of the technique, but everything else is much better too so it all just snowballs. Technique is just one of many factors that takes a pros level way past that of a good amateur.

The Baseline · Feb 12, 2012

above bored said:
I would say the biggest difference is the consistency of the technique, but everything else is much better too so it all just snowballs. Technique is just one of many factors that takes a pros level way past that of a good amateur.

Ive been told by a top amateur before that one of the biggest differences is that professionals hit more angles. He also told me that if you notice on a college team, very often times you will see their number 1 player being the softest hitter. I went to a college match and it turns out he was right. The number 1 player had the best technique, used less energy, hit it lighter, but made very few errors.

snvplayer · Feb 12, 2012

syc23 said:
I always go by the thinking if these guys think they can hit as hard and consistent as the pros, they would be at the upper ATP rankings right now.

These college players are not claiming they have the consistency, just as hard. Big hitters in college tennis can definitely hit as hard as pros, probably not as consistently. It's where fitness and mentality comes in...

snvplayer · Feb 12, 2012

The Baseline said:
Ive been told by a top amateur before that one of the biggest differences is that professionals hit more angles. He also told me that if you notice on a college team, very often times you will see their number 1 player being the softest hitter. I went to a college match and it turns out he was right. The number 1 player had the best technique, used less energy, hit it lighter, but made very few errors.

You have to draw the line at some point...I wouldn't necessarily call D1 college players "amateurs". They are definitely not like recreational players at the level of 4.0~4.5. And, many solid D1 players already have good technique fundamentals.

The big difference between 5.0+ and 4.5 below or even between pros and amateurs is the lack of mistake, especially in the first two shots. You rarely see good college players miss the first 2~3 shots in the rally. And, they don't go for low percentage shots unless they get the chance..

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