Could Top Tennis Players Complete Iron Man or Half Iron Man?

[McEnroeisanartist]

I know this is a completely random question, but could guys like Federer, Nadal, or Djokovic complete an Iron Man or even a Half Iron Man? I was watching a youtube highlights video of the Iron Man and just stunned at the fitness and mental toughness of the finishers. I know to complete this event would require aerobic fitness, and less anerobic fitness, but what do you think?

 

[Bobby Jr]

They would be fit enough without doubt to do a half ironman at least. Whether they can swim or are proficient bike riders or not is another thing.

 

[rommil]

Rafa can do it on clay, no guarantee on other surfaces

 

[RF-17-GOAT]

I think no. To each his own imho.

 

[OldFedIsOld]

Half-Iron man only, Complete Iron man probably none of them because I don't know how good they are at other sports.
Federer- Probably
Nadal- Yes
Djokovic- Probably
Murray- Yes
Berdych- No
Tsonga- Heck No
Ferrer- No
Tipsarevic- No
Del Potro- No, you are crazy
Juan Monaco- No, he would manage to lose in straight sets still.

 

[GoaLaSSo]

I think some of them could complete it. With their current training, they would not be very fast, but they would finish.

 

[citybert]

I think they would have to train for a period of time and they should be able to finish easily.

IMO, think it's a different type of fitness the mental aspect plays a lot into it. Once saw a guy from West Point straight off boot camp in the best shape of his life and he couldn't do tennis drills for an hour, but give him a few of weeks of tennis and he'd probably be able to go 8 hrs straight of drills. They just need to adapt. Could be completely wrong here since just one case but just one thing i noticed.

 

[hedera]

Didn't Jenson Button do this?

 

[THESEXPISTOL]

Half-Iron man only, Complete Iron man probably none of them because I don't know how good they are at other sports.
Federer- Probably
Nadal- Yes
Djokovic- Probably
Murray- Yes
Berdych- No
Tsonga- Heck No
Ferrer- No
Tipsarevic- No
Del Potro- No, you are crazy
Juan Monaco- No, he would manage to lose in straight sets still.

Ferrer and Murray would do it probably easily than the others...

 

[SStrikerR]

Rosol could do it

 

[Magnetite]

An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) consisting of a 2.4-mile (3.86 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.25 km) bike and a marathon 26.2-mile (42.2 km) run, raced in that order and without a break. Most Ironman events have a strict time limit of 17 hours to complete the race, where the Ironman race starts at 7:00 AM, the mandatory swim cut off for the 2.4-mile (3.9 km) swim is 2 hours 20 minutes, the bike cut off time is 5:30 PM, and all finishers must complete their marathon by midnight.

Given the 17 hour limit, I'm sure guys like Ferrer and Nadal could finish if they can swim and ride decently. Federer, Murray and Djokovic too. Delpo I don't think so.

 

[Sophitia36]

Ferrer would be an obvious candidate. He's extremely fit.

I don't know what he's like as a swimmer, but since he comes from Valencia, by the sea... It seems safe to assume that he's a decent swimmer.

He's known to be a very good runner and used to do a lot of running for his training. And now, I've read that he'd had to cut down a little on the running (because it ruins your articulations) and to take up cycling.
So he's definitely a very good runner and a very good cyclist.

 

[ChanceEncounter]

I think people are underestimating the amount of endurance it takes to compete in the Iron Man. It's called the Iron Man challenge for a reason. Not many people could finish it.

This is not to say the tennis greats can't do it, but they can't just roll out of bed and do it in ordinary tennis shape. They'll need to train for months to get into that kind of shape.

 

[Badger]

These responses surprise me. I don't think any of them would be able to do it. I'm assuming OP means on the fitness levels they've achieved to play tennis, no way. They could train for months and be able to do it, but not straight away. Lance Armstrong once said doing the New York marathon was the toughest challenge of his life. Never mind other top-class athletes trying an Iron-Man.

 

[Wilander Fan]

Half-Iron man only, Complete Iron man probably none of them because I don't know how good they are at other sports.
Federer- Probably
Nadal- Yes
Djokovic- Probably
Murray- Yes
Berdych- No
Tsonga- Heck No
Ferrer- No
Tipsarevic- No
Del Potro- No, you are crazy
Juan Monaco- No, he would manage to lose in straight sets still.

Ferrer has some superhuman genes that keep his hear rate down. He is probably the best conditioned athlete in the ATP and runs marathons....and smokes like a chimney to boot. There are stories of Ferrer leaving for a smoke in between sets...he denies it now because of the political pressure, but as a smoker, I have little doubt he relaxes after a hard match in his hotel with a fine scotch and some cigarettes. Puffin away at the city night skyline.

 

[Alchemy-Z]

It's a constant movement sport....no stopping to towel off...sit down for a drink etc..

I think it would be very tough for them.

I played basket ball with a few tennis guys who played for college...and they were in great shape but would get winded quick with the constant play of basketball.

and I found tennis very easy to handle endurance wise comming from 7 years of hockey.

 

[citybert]

Ferrer has some superhuman genes that keep his hear rate down. He is probably the best conditioned athlete in the ATP and runs marathons....and smokes like a chimney to boot. There are stories of Ferrer leaving for a smoke in between sets...he denies it now because of the political pressure, but as a smoker, I have little doubt he relaxes after a hard match in his hotel with a fine scotch and some cigarettes. Puffin away at the city night skyline.

Does anyone have youtube link of ferrer smoking while hitting groundstrokes? Id imagine hed have to go to the one handed BH for this.

 

[YellowBall77]

I doubt it...tennis is different as has been said with stoppages. I personally find the endurance involved in a 5-6 hour tennis match to be amazing and more impressive than an ironman, considering the motor skill needed with each point.

 

[mental midget]

who knows, maybe? that is a loooong swim if you don't swim regularly, 2.4 miles is quite a ways for a recreational swimmer who doesn't do any endurance work in the pool.

 

[stormholloway]

I'd imagine only people who train for Ironman specifically can complete the Ironman.

 

[r2473]

An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) consisting of a 2.4-mile (3.86 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.25 km) bike and a marathon 26.2-mile (42.2 km) run, raced in that order and without a break. Most Ironman events have a strict time limit of 17 hours to complete the race, where the Ironman race starts at 7:00 AM, the mandatory swim cut off for the 2.4-mile (3.9 km) swim is 2 hours 20 minutes, the bike cut off time is 5:30 PM, and all finishers must complete their marathon by midnight.

Given the 17 hour limit, I'm sure guys like Ferrer and Nadal could finish if they can swim and ride decently. Federer, Murray and Djokovic too. Delpo I don't think so.

I think people are underestimating the amount of endurance it takes to compete in the Iron Man. It's called the Iron Man challenge for a reason. Not many people could finish it.

This is not to say the tennis greats can't do it, but they can't just roll out of bed and do it in ordinary tennis shape. They'll need to train for months to get into that kind of shape.

to put this in perspective, after you complete the swim, you have ~14.5 hours to do the rest.

if you "run" 12 minute miles (5 miles an hour.....), you can do a marathon in ~5.5 hours.

that would leave you 9 hours to bike 112 miles.

so basically anyone that can do the swim can finish the iron man, if finishing is their only goal, and they pace it.

the problem would be, anyone with any sense of competition would try to do it faster and could crash.

 

[jokinla]

Half-Iron man only, Complete Iron man probably none of them because I don't know how good they are at other sports.
Federer- Probably
Nadal- Yes
Djokovic- Probably
Murray- Yes
Berdych- No
Tsonga- Heck No
Ferrer- No
Tipsarevic- No
Del Potro- No, you are crazy
Juan Monaco- No, he would manage to lose in straight sets still.

Ferrer is as fit as anyone.

 

[6-1 6-3 6-0]

Rafa is the most likely candidate. He holds the surface-streak record of 81 and is only one 2013 slam away from breaking the Borg/Sampras/Nadal/Federer tie of winning 1 slam per year for 8 consecutive years. With Rafa's longevity, there are few doubts in my mind. :shock:

 

[15_ounce]

Geraldine Dondit, a former WTA player and best friend of Mirka and RF foundation staff member, was competing in Ironman Switzerland 2008, I think she finished number 55.

http://athlinks.com/result/61356/91421/38882369/38813799

Kimiko Date Krumm was a keen marathon runner before she came back to WTA tour again.

 

[Thud and blunder]

to put this in perspective, after you complete the swim, you have ~14.5 hours to do the rest.

if you "run" 12 minute miles (5 miles an hour.....), you can do a marathon in ~5.5 hours.

that would leave you 9 hours to bike 112 miles.

so basically anyone that can do the swim can finish the iron man, if finishing is their only goal, and they pace it.

the problem would be, anyone with any sense of competition would try to do it faster and could crash.

Agree; if you can run a marathon, you can probably limp round an Ironman course...you could even lie down for an hour after each leg.

My colleague just did the Nice Ironman...he's mid-40s, marathon runner, but never did anything like that...he suffered, and crawled round in 15+ hours, but there was no doubt he was going to make it.

 

[Sophitia36]

When I said Ferrer could probably do it, I did not mean he could without training specifically for it.

It seemed pretty obvious to me that no one can do this without training specifically for at least some time.

But I believe he is a marathon runner. At any rate, he runs a lot and is very good.
Running and cycling are the same type of endurance, someone quoted Armstrong but there's also Jalabert who took up marathons after he retired from his professional cycling career.

 

[OriginalHockeytowner]

I'd imagine only people who train for Ironman specifically can complete the Ironman.

Bingo! Specificity is the reason for a lot of different types of athletes, and their respective specialities