How fast are tennis players?
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borg number one
Legend
Sheer top speed for a tennis player may be constrained by the limits of the court and the need to pivot and get back in position for the next shot. Yet, on certain points, you can see a Nadal or Djokovic really sprint fast and cover quite a bit of territory. Yet, besides just top speed, tennis players have no substitutions, no passes they can make to another player, and they play outside in the heat, just for starters. Plus, they are using the upper body torso quite fully and constantly point after point. So, you are talking full body workout and outside. Playing at that level game after game and set after set with sometimes no idea how long matches may last is in many ways much more difficult than the running involved even in sports like soccer, basketball, and football. Having said that, even the fastest tennis players probably run 40m significantly slower than a NFL cornerback, wide receiver, or tail back. Those other athletes though don't have to face certain challenges that pro tennis players face. That's why many NBA players have mentioned that pro tennis players are in fact great athletes.
Um. I highly doubt it. probably runs like a 45 second 400m at he slowest.
newpball
Legend
I happens when people get corrected by facts and they have a hard time admitting it
Considering the pros run 43.5-46, that's about right
Goosehead
Legend
nice try at trolling but you make it too obvious, :lol:
so it just looks like untrammelled clownery..
dr. godmode
Hall of Fame
No a kid at my high school in Gr 11 ran a 47s 400 and holds the school record
roberttennis54
Semi-Pro
People here keep mentioning 400 and 800 metre runners like they are not lightning. Everyone who does a track event is lightning quick.
Tennis players as a whole don't seem particularly quick. Monfils is probably the quickest and he is sub 11.
Someone like Murray while quick on a tennis court is by no means fast in general sporting standards.
toddrobert38
Rookie
LOL. I don't even know why I read this drivel.
He posted that in response to my saying Monfils didn't run a sub 10sec 100. Winning the French championships is very impressive, but there is a very long way to go between that and being a world class sprinter, making an Olympic finals, and being one of the 100 fastest people ever. Those were the claims made by his coach, and in my experience, youth coaches grossly over estimate how good their athletes are. So I mock because using that quote as fact in a debate is ridiculous.
I happens when people get corrected by facts and they have a hard time admitting it
We obviously have different definitions of 'corrected' and 'facts'.
Thank you for a great post.
HRB
Hall of Fame
In other words...BS! LOL
HRB
Hall of Fame
Funny stuff, sorry for not reading whole thread...so I apologize if logic has already been expressed.
The fact is at the top level of sports you are trained ultimately with specificity..ie...you condition to mimic the EXACT conditions you face in your sport.
Running straight ahead as fast as you possibly can for 100m does nothing for the skills of running in ALL directions, back pedalling, accelerating but then ,even harder the body, decelerating on a dime. All the while trying to anticipate the proper direction to go, and then worrying about getting a racquet on a ball!
In short tennis players (pros) are extremely quick, and thus "fast"...but their training prohibits them from ever excelling at a specific sprint longer than the actual court they play on.
Trust me. if any world class athlete (ie.. in sports in which speed counts obviously) specifically trained for the 100m you'd see there times drop and improve.
The fact is at the top level of sports you are trained ultimately with specificity..ie...you condition to mimic the EXACT conditions you face in your sport.
Running straight ahead as fast as you possibly can for 100m does nothing for the skills of running in ALL directions, back pedalling, accelerating but then ,even harder the body, decelerating on a dime. All the while trying to anticipate the proper direction to go, and then worrying about getting a racquet on a ball!
In short tennis players (pros) are extremely quick, and thus "fast"...but their training prohibits them from ever excelling at a specific sprint longer than the actual court they play on.
Trust me. if any world class athlete (ie.. in sports in which speed counts obviously) specifically trained for the 100m you'd see there times drop and improve.
Eh? You need to actually read the thread. Prior to your post:
jackson vile
G.O.A.T.
It is not about speed, it is about ability to change direction, and accelerate. That is why they are so thin.
There is a 17-year-old Japanese guy named Yoshihide Kiryu and he ran 10.01 seconds for the 100m earlier this year to tie the under-18 record.
Coolio
Professional
Djokovic recorded faster speeds than most soccer players, only maybe Arjen Robben being faster and they get a much longer distance to reach peak speeds.
Murray up there aswell. Nice to see because their athleticism is massively underrated by the average person.
Murray up there aswell. Nice to see because their athleticism is massively underrated by the average person.
mightyrick
Legend
Tennis players would be comparable only at very short distances. But as the distance gets a bit longer, their performance would degrade significantly. There's no way a tennis player could hold an average top speed at the distance of a professional footballer -- much less a professional sprinter.
Although that initial short-distance speed burst is really impressive.
Although that initial short-distance speed burst is really impressive.
Chanwan
G.O.A.T.
I gotta call BS on this.
1) How on earth is Novak and Andy 10 and 9 km/t faster than Roger and Rafa? And 13 km/t faster than the fastest woman? In percentages, we're talking above 50 % faster than Halep and just shy of 40 % faster than Roger and Rafa. No f*cking way. Translated into 100 meter times presuming they can keep their speed, that's like saying Rafa can run the 100 meters in 13,8, but Novak is 10,0.
2) How on earth are you supposed to reach a speed of 36 km/t on a tennis court while also avoiding running into the net? From the net post to the opposite deuce corner is 16 meters.
Usain Bolt doesn't reach an average speed of 36 km/t and above in the 10-20 meter phase in the 100 meters. Yet Djoko reaches that speed on a sprint that's not much more than 15 meters, where he also has to break?
http://speedendurance.com/2008/08/22/usain-bolt-100m-10-meter-splits-and-speed-endurance/
3) again, how are Novak and Andy supposed to reach higher top speeds than the fastest footballers, who have an endless amount of pitch to build up their speed and reach their top speed in as opposed to a tennis court, where you would be hard pressed to run more than 15 meters straight at any point in time? http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34884849
TheMaestro1990
Hall of Fame
Monfils and Nadal, and back in the day Borg
Limpinhitter
G.O.A.T.
I hate when I respond to a post and then realize it was from 3 years ago.
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