Debate: Is tennis the best sport?

K

Kirijax

Hall of Fame
Came across an interesting site called Debate.org. You can pretty much put two things up against each other and see which gets more votes/comments. Some one put up the debate question; Is tennis the best sport? The reasons for believing tennis is the best sport are pretty convincing.

Is tennis the best sport?
 
I like tennis.


......And that is the only reasonable thing I can say about it.



What's better, jazz or rock... tennis or football... green or red?


OK.
 
Best in what terms? Most viewed? Most fun to play? most fun to watch? I'm pretty sure the free market has spoken and that internationally soccer is the best sport. I doubt tennis makes most people's top 3.
 
Yeah, I made the assumption that football is the most popular sport in the world but I like tennis more than football.

In things like sport/music/whatever, the most popular is just that: the most popular.

This reminds me of a couple of recent hilarious threads over at odds and ends.
 
zam88 said:
Best in what terms? Most viewed? Most fun to play? most fun to watch? I'm pretty sure the free market has spoken and that internationally soccer is the best sport. I doubt tennis makes most people's top 3.
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I guess it's completely from your view point. Soccer is the most international or played sport, simply because you can play it if you have a ball. But I think many people consider other factors that soccer doesn't have that make tennis better than soccer. Easy to play or easy access doesn't make a sport the best.
 
No shizzle.

Many people consider other factors for why tennis is the best, or for why football is the best, or for why cricket is the best...

Many football fans could simply argue that part of what makes it the best sport is that it's so easy to pick up and play because you need such little equipment. Many people probably find ease of access important.


There is no definitive best sport, though there are definitive most popular sports. All I can say is that tennis is probably my favourite sport, on balance.
 
Kirijax said:
I guess it's completely from your view point. Soccer is the most international or played sport, simply because you can play it if you have a ball. But I think many people consider other factors that soccer doesn't have that make tennis better than soccer. Easy to play or easy access doesn't make a sport the best.
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World cup gets massive viewership also. Big difference
between playing and spectator.

But soccer has both
 
It could be if they would a address the PED issue and stop acting like it's not a problem. Be up front with what's going on... As if stand it to me is the most interesting, but this one issue they have glaringly neglected is a huge black eye cconsidering sports that are more about the show like football/basketball/hockey/baseball have all had stricter testing and big name busts for much longer...
 
I did Karate in my younger days. Played cricket for school. I love football(what Americans call 'soccer'). I enjoy rugby as well. Maybe I prefer tennis over other sports now but I love sports, all of 'em.

And no, I don't think tennis is the best sport. Every sport is fun when you start playing it.
 
Solo said:
No football is.

Arsenal arsenal !!!!!
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:):)

I would say tennis is one of the best to play for a lot of reasons, but I gotta give it to football (soccer) as the best sport to watch.

I really do think tennis is the sport or one of the sports that requires you to have skills in every category. Also, a tennis match is never over. For instance, you can't get up in the beginning of the match off a lucky deflection and stall the game out. Tennis players always have to take the match for themselves, rather than just waiting for their opponent to lose.
 
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There is no best sport. There is sports people you like and sports you dont. The world loves soccer. Alot of people hate soccer. America loves football. Most of the world could care less. Canadians think Hockey is the greatest sport ever invented. A guy from Brazil thinks Hockey is silly.
 
insideguy said:
There is no best sport. There is sports people you like and sports you dont. The world loves soccer. Alot of people hate soccer. America loves football. Most of the world could care less. Canadians think Hockey is the greatest sport ever invented. A guy from Brazil thinks Hockey is silly.
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Ding a ling.
 
It is subjective,no?
I say it is the best sport.

But all my neighbors disagree. They say that Cricket is the best.
 
Superhero valiant men, and scantily-clad beautiful women, in single combats of skill, power and nerve -- where else but tennis?
 
Nathaniel_Near said:
Ding a ling.
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I am the only one I know at my work who watches tennis and loves it. One day I turned on a Nadal, Joker match it was in a grandslam cant remember which one. I was watching it and had about 10 work buddies around watching it to. They were like dude how in the hell can you like this crap? Needless to say I couldnt convince them to like it:)
 
For me it is my favorite to play and second or third favorite to watch with American football being number one and hockey or tennis being second.

I feel like from a popularity standpoint tennis probably isn't even in the top 5 here in the USA, but worldwide it seems to be in the top 3 maybe even as high as second. Soccer/football is obviously number one in popularity.
 
mavsman149 said:
For me it is my favorite to play and second or third favorite to watch with American football being number one and hockey or tennis being second.

I feel like from a popularity standpoint tennis probably isn't even in the top 5 here in the USA, but worldwide it seems to be in the top 3 maybe even as high as second. Soccer/football is obviously number one in popularity.
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As far as popularity to watch in the USA I am not even sure if its in the top 10. I think it might still be as at least the majors and some of the 1000s in the later rounds are shown on broadcast so that says they are still getting some ratings.

In the USA I think sports probably rank like this

1. FOOTBALL nothing else in the same planet
2.Basketball/ Baseball
3. Nascar
4. Golf
5. Hockey
6. Soccer
7. Maybe tennis? I dont know.

I will edit that and say that as far as playing it I live in the southwest USA and in my city we have courts everywhere and people are playing all the time. Its very popular to play where I live.
 
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insideguy said:
There is no best sport. There is sports people you like and sports you dont. The world loves soccer. Alot of people hate soccer. America loves football. Most of the world could care less. Canadians think Hockey is the greatest sport ever invented. A guy from Brazil thinks Hockey is silly.
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:)

In my area no one ever watches soccer except my friend from Guatamala but I know many like it worldwide.
Tried to watch it quite a few times, when a goal is scored some of them run around the field, "I scored a goal!!!".
Hockey, the same, can't get into it.

Tennis is exciting, american football, baseball and basketball all good.

Golf but only watching, beautiful scenery and relaxing, good for taking little naps on and off.
 
Talker said:
:)

In my area no one ever watches soccer except my friend from Guatamala but I know many like it worldwide.
Tried to watch it quite a few times, when a goal is scored some of them run around the field, "I scored a goal!!!".
Hockey, the same, can't get into it.

Tennis is exciting, american football, baseball and basketball all good.

Golf but only watching, beautiful scenery and relaxing, good for taking little naps on and off.
Click to expand...

Yea but there is no denying soccer is more popular in the USA than say 20 years ago. I mean we actually have a consistent pro league that is doing pretty well. I never thought I would see that day. Also there are tons of european soccer fans in the states. They love to watch Arsenal or whomever. Which is weird to me in a way. In that european soccer is probably the least competative sport as far as which teams will do well. The same teams from the same leagues win all the time. Americans dont really like that.
 
insideguy said:
As far as popularity to watch in the USA I am not even sure if its in the top 10. I think it might still be as at least the majors and some of the 1000s in the later rounds are shown on broadcast so that says they are still getting some ratings.

In the USA I think sports probably rank like this

1. FOOTBALL nothing else in the same planet
2.Basketball/ Baseball
3. Nascar
4. Golf
5. Hockey
6. Soccer
7. Maybe tennis? I dont know.

I will edit that and say that as far as playing it I live in the southwest USA and in my city we have courts everywhere and people are playing all the time. Its very popular to play where I live.
Click to expand...

I'm embarrassed for my country about number 3...you are right though (it isn't a sport though)
 
Mostly no, I would say. I think, personally, that tennis CAN be the best sport at any given moment. This would be when you have two people who are very technically proficient, and who are both playing as well as they can play, and the match is competitive. When these conditions are met, I believe tennis becomes the "best" sport not only to watch, but to participate in. This is because the margins are very small, because of the mental/ strategic aspect of tennis, because of how much focus it requires at every moment, because it can be so artistic, and because there are ultimately so few rules that actually dictate play.

The problem with tennis from a spectator standpoint especially, is that tennis is not a timed contest, and honestly if you had to go through and look at all of the greatest moments in sports, most of them occur in clocked contests. The clock automatically exerts pressure at all times. Also, with tennis, you only have one point value, and you have a limited amount of time in between points. So there's no excitement from scoring a lot of points at any given moment, and then if something phenomenal does happen, play must go on. Also the crowd must be silent, for the most part, which makes it less raucous.
 
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insideguy said:
Yea but there is no denying soccer is more popular in the USA than say 20 years ago. I mean we actually have a consistent pro league that is doing pretty well. I never thought I would see that day. Also there are tons of european soccer fans in the states. They love to watch Arsenal or whomever. Which is weird to me in a way. In that european soccer is probably the least competative sport as far as which teams will do well. The same teams from the same leagues win all the time. Americans dont really like that.
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Of the top 5 European leagues, this is true only in Germany. I think (what you call soccer) football teams are a lot more complex than Americans give them credit for being. There are national and international (Champions League, Financial Fair Play, number of nationals, number of academy players etc.) considerations that vary from league to league. I am sure it would be easier to associate with something closer to home. I hope the rising popularity of (what you call soccer) football in North America brings about a higher degree of understanding of the game to the average neutral.
 
Russeljones said:
Of the top 5 European leagues, this is true only in Germany. I think (what you call soccer) football teams are a lot more complex than Americans give them credit for being. There are national and international (Champions League, Financial Fair Play, number of nationals, number of academy players etc.) considerations that vary from league to league. I am sure it would be easier to associate with something closer to home. I hope the rising popularity of (what you call soccer) football in North America brings about a higher degree of understanding of the game to the average neutral.
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I know how it works. But lets face it who is going to win the spanish league this year? They have had two teams win the league in the last 9 years.

That aint gonna change anytime soon. Lets look at England. Its Manchester, Chelsea, Manchester throw in Arsenal for a little competetion. Its the same teams over and over who are able to compete. American sports are way more compeatative. Not sure why you brought up the german league that seems to be the most competative as far as european leagues go.
 
insideguy said:
I know how it works. But lets face it who is going to win the spanish league this year? They have had two teams win the league in the last 9 years.

That aint gonna change anytime soon. Lets look at England. Its Manchester, Chelsea, Manchester throw in Arsenal for a little competetion. Its the same teams over and over who are able to compete. American sports are way more compeatative. Not sure why you brought up the german league that seems to be the most competative as far as european leagues go.
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50 games undefeated, more than 20 points ahead of the 2nd placed team? Give me the equivalent in an American league? You can't.

Spain is a good example, It's one of two team mostly. England is a bad example. Very close league. 2012 was decided in the last seconds of added time, for example. Champions League? The most prestigious European competition. Hasn't been won by the same club in back-to-back years ever. Isn't this a sign of competitiveness? I commented in view of the assertion that there is more competitiveness in America. I think it's a very difficult point to argue and far removed from the sport this forum is centred on. But I will indulge you if you like :)
 
Personally, soccer is one of the the most boring sports to watch. And it boggles my mind that the schedule the matches, teams travel for thousands of miles, fans take off from work and destroy the family budget, the media builds up and promotes the game for months, sponsors pay gazillion dollars to be included in the hoopla and then the game ends in a 0-0 draw and everyone seems to go home happy. What the fricketty frack. Finish the darn game.
 
This probably isn't the least biased place you could ask this question, OP. :) Tennis is and always will be my favorite sport, though.
 
Russeljones said:
50 games undefeated, more than 20 points ahead of the 2nd placed team? Give me the equivalent in an American league? You can't.

Spain is a good example, It's one of two team mostly. England is a bad example. Very close league. 2012 was decided in the last seconds of added time, for example. Champions League? The most prestigious European competition. Hasn't been won by the same club in back-to-back years ever. Isn't this a sign of competitiveness? I commented in view of the assertion that there is more competitiveness in America. I think it's a very difficult point to argue and far removed from the sport this forum is centred on. But I will indulge you if you like :)
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As usual things get lost in translation between europeans and americans. When I am talking about competative leagues I am talking about a league where the same teams do no win all the time. The german league has had four champions in the regular season over the last seven years. Thats pretty competative. The english league is the same teams all the time!

Lets look at american football here are the champions in the last 10 years.

2004- New England
2005- New England
2006- Pittsburgh
2007-Indianapolis
2008-New York
2009-Pittsburgh
2010-New Orleans
2011-Green bay
2012-New York
2013- Baltimore
2014-Seattle.

The point is everyone is in it or almost everyone in most american sports. Much more so than European soccer the way its set up at least in its countries leagues. Thats just a fact.
 
insideguy said:
As usual things get lost in translation between europeans and americans. When I am talking about competative leagues I am talking about a league where the same teams do no win all the time. The german league has had four champions in the regular season over the last seven years. Thats pretty competative. The english league is the same teams all the time!

Lets look at american football here are the champions in the last 10 years.

2004- New England
2005- New England
2006- Pittsburgh
2007-Indianapolis
2008-New York
2009-Pittsburgh
2010-New Orleans
2011-Green bay
2012-New York
2013- Baltimore
2014-Seattle.

The point is everyone is in it or almost everyone in most american sports. Much more so than European soccer the way its set up at least in its countries leagues. Thats just a fact.
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Really? How many clubs participate in the FA Cup?
 
mavsman149 said:
I'm embarrassed for my country about number 3...you are right though (it isn't a sport though)
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Do you think I have that rated about right? Tennis is a hard one to kind of figure out in popularity. I mean the masters that we have and of course the grand slam are all very well attented. So that says something about the popularity of it.
 
insideguy said:
LOL yea I agree:) Rickey Bobby baby:)
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I cannot hate on that movie haha. I'm still waiting on a great tennis movie, I had such hope for that movie 5 years ago with Seann William Scott as a tennis coach but it was awful. Match Point was pretty good but mostly because Scarlett Johansson........is really smart. The tennis in the movie was embarrassingly bad though, the main character doesn't even look like a 3.0 in USTA leagues but he "could have kept up with the greats like Agassi and Rusedski" lmfao
 
Russeljones said:
Really? How many clubs participate in the FA Cup?
Click to expand...

Why do you keep doing this? I am talking about the countries individual leagues? Why do you bring up FA cup what are you talking about?

Here are the last 10 years of baseball champions.

2003 Florida Marlins
2004 Boston Red Sox
2005 Chicago White Sox
2006 St. Louis Cardinals
2007 Boston Red Sox
2008 Philadelphia Phillies
2009 New York Yankees
2010 San Francisco Giants
2011 St. Louis Cardinals
2012 San Francisco Giants
2013 Boston Red Sox

I keep telling you that in respective leagues that American leagues have a larger variety as to what and who can win. You keep bringing up FA cups or whatever.
 
mavsman149 said:
I cannot hate on that movie haha. I'm still waiting on a great tennis movie, I had such hope for that movie 5 years ago with Seann William Scott as a tennis coach but it was awful. Match Point was pretty good but mostly because Scarlett Johansson........is really smart. The tennis in the movie was embarrassingly bad though, the main character doesn't even look like a 3.0 in USTA leagues but he "could have kept up with the greats like Agassi and Rusedski" lmfao
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They have that problem alot in athletic movies though. Baseball is always really bad. Its hard to find an actor who can actually look like he has ever played baseball. Charlie Sheen in Major League was probably the best lol.
 
mavsman149 said:
I cannot hate on that movie haha. I'm still waiting on a great tennis movie, I had such hope for that movie 5 years ago with Seann William Scott as a tennis coach but it was awful. Match Point was pretty good but mostly because Scarlett Johansson........is really smart. The tennis in the movie was embarrassingly bad though, the main character doesn't even look like a 3.0 in USTA leagues but he "could have kept up with the greats like Agassi and Rusedski" lmfao
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Shaakkkke n Bakkkkke:)
 
Only American sport I really follow is basketball but at the same time it's frustrating to watch the regular season when I could just wait for the playoffs to start.
 
Nathaniel_Near said:
Only American sport I really follow is basketball but at the same time it's frustrating to watch the regular season when I could just wait for the playoffs to start.
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I used to be a huge NBA fan but I haven't followed it as much as of late. They really need to fix how the game is called, way too many travels, "superstar calls", etc.
 
Kirijax said:
Came across an interesting site called Debate.org. You can pretty much put two things up against each other and see which gets more votes/comments. Some one put up the debate question; Is tennis the best sport? The reasons for believing tennis is the best sport are pretty convincing.

Is tennis the best sport?
Click to expand...

To those who like tennis most, tennis is the best sport.
 
Solo said:
No football is.

Arsenal arsenal !!!!!
Click to expand...
In-Arsene-We-Trust.png
 
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