5'7" Diego Schwartzman reached ATP #11

[Fedinkum]

Good to have some variety on the ATP tour. Diego is doing his bit.

 

[Fedinkum]

Imagine what his ranking would be if he was actually 5'7".

 

[taster]

Yes. The logic of:

"Look, here is one single exception to a rule, therefore that debunks the whole rule."

Tantamount to people saying: "Look, my gramps smoked like a chimney through his whole life and lived to a hundred and didn't get lung cancer, therefore smoking means almost nothing in terms of developing lung cancer. Q.E.D."

And so on.

It's logic alright – just very bad logic.

Every meaningful indicator tells us that height clearly plays a big role in a person's chance of reaching the top of tennis. Cherry-picking a single player for confirmation or disconfirmation of this rule means jack squat. You have to look a the field more broadly and compare it with the general population.

In most countries, how many men are there who stand between, say, 5ft7 and 5ft10? Very, very many. (In the US, where the average height is 5ft9, this would be right in the middle of the bell curve.) And there are a fair few of them in the top 100 on tour as well, but they make up a very small share of those winning big titles in tennis. How many in the general population stand 6ft5–6ft6? Not very many. It's well to the right on the bell curve. Yet, such people are vastly over-represented in pro tennis compared to how widespread they are in the general population. Certainly so if you compare them with players who are equally many standard deviations below average height (pretty much non-existent in pro tennis). Why? Simple. Because height is a huge advantage in pro tennis. Doesn't remotely mean that the odd short player cannot defy the rule and become very good in spite of their height.

excellent post.
And by extension, i guess other sports would have an optimum height range too - basketball = tall, gymnasts = small.

 

[Sabratha]

He's done well for himself. Too bad I don't see him climbing any higher.

 

[Nostradamus]

When someone mentions Schwartzman , it is like a booby prize.
Yea, short players can technically make it to pro, and Schwartzman is the given example.
But no one really mentions it in a serious context.
He is dismissed as if he's an ATP 500.
A mere technicality.

I had no idea 5'7" Diego Schwartzman reached ATP #11
He is currently a top 20 player. TOP 20.

If 5'7" can reach top 10, then height is vastly overrated in tennis.
He is ahead of tens of thousands of taller players.

and he has a big serve for a little guy. he can serve around 132 MPH

 

[Shaolin]

Another great example. I saw him in person too and I think he was shorter than Diego.

Both guys are not much bigger than the racquet bag. I love that about tennis, you can be a champion at any size.

 

[Fedinkum]

He's done well for himself. Too bad I don't see him climbing any higher.

He can correct that with her long legs and incorporate that feature in Schwartzman 2.0

 

[Sabratha]

He can correct that with her long legs and incorporate that feature in Schwartzman 2.0

 

[VashTheStampede]

Both guys are not much bigger than the racquet bag. I love that about tennis, you can be a champion at any size.

Exactly. They're definitely an inspiration for shorter and even average-height players, especially the ones with big aspirations in the sport.

 

[Shaolin]

Exactly. They're definitely an inspiration for shorter and even average-height players, especially the ones with big aspirations in the sport.

Absolutely. As a coach I always tell my players that smaller guys with great footwork can be way tougher than the giants with just a monster serve. I've certainly found that myself at the ~5.0 level. It's nice to be able to point to guys like Schwartzman, Nishikori, Nishioka etc that are smaller but threaten the big guys.

 

[Im(moral) Winner]

But they haven't won any meaningful tournaments...

 

[VashTheStampede]

Absolutely. As a coach I always tell my players that smaller guys with great footwork can be way tougher than the giants with just a monster serve. I've certainly found that myself at the ~5.0 level. It's nice to be able to point to guys like Schwartzman, Nishikori, Nishioka etc that are smaller but threaten the big guys.

That sounds like good coaching. I remember Robby Ginepri said he was a runt as a kid, so he really looked up to Michael Chang as his favorite player.

The tours need these small players to serve as role models. They might not be at the very pinnacles of success, but one can argue that they can inspire others in ways that the genetic specimens can't.