Is tennis the most elite sport? I think so and here are 5 reasons why

[joemanblues]

1: If you are a male player and you start playing tennis by age 8, it might already be too late for you to even make it to the ATP tour.

Is there any other sport, (gymnastics have a short life span of only being able to compete in your teens and early twenties) other than tennis where you miss the train at such a young age, it seems tennis is a sport you cannot just pick up even if you are talented at it the fact that its mental as well just weeds out so many people at an early age.

2: Thousands upon thousands play tennis because they love it, and about 99.99999% of us could never even make it to a D-1 team and 99.99 % of them are not good enough for the tour, the level of skill just to compete at the lower echelons is already so high, I doubt any other sport has such depth.

3: In baseball you need to skills..swing a club at a ball coming to a predetermined small box and run your beer belly *** as fast as you can in a straight line..and catch a ball once in a while, in tennis..serve, lob, slice, forehand, backhand, return, run sideways, forwards, backwards, split step, volley, drop shots..when you miss you lose.

The variety of skills necessary just to be competent in tennis is wide, how many other sports..(perhaps basketball ?) needs such a vast amount of skills just to be able to play a decent game, i.e USTA 4.5 and above

4. The level of play is so high that the a 32 year old player is retirement age..Andy Roddick one of my favorite players..(very little talent but man he left no stone unturned in search for greatness and killer work ethic) recently retired..his serve lost some pop and he couldn't take the injuries any more..then there is Derek Fisher with the OKC thunder is 40 years old and about to retire.. Steve Nash pretty much same thing, even at the NBA elite level being 27 and 28 is considered entering your prime, Bernard Hopkins. is there any other sport where 32 is your exit age ?

5: Most matches easily go over 1 hour at a time..basketball..48 minutes with breaks between quarters..half time, soccer..maybe..still only 90 minutes most matches go over this, marathon..yeah but any ******* can run one as seen by the many marathons everywhere.


Is there any other sport where the athletes have to be so good and need to start at such an early age just to even make it to a college team ? Share your thoughts


Ill leave this here http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/elite

I think tennis players are successful

 

[El Diablo]

Check out the definition of "elite" because it's not what you're talking about here.

 

[Kobble]

Tennis is probably the best sport all around. It is more of an art.

However, all the racquet tech and slower courts will make it a PED party.

 

[Bartelby]

Yes, he just means 'difficult'.

 

[jdubbs]

The only argument I have against tennis is that if you took some of our best athletes from other sports like basketball and baseball, they would likely dominate tennis. The sheer athleticism needed to succeed would mean they would have an edge.

I think technique could be learned pretty easily with enough coaching and repitition.

I think golf is probably the harder sport, but then again I suck at golf so maybe that's just my impression.

 

[TheStranger]

How you can you write reason #2 but later say grand slam winner Andy Roddick has "very little talent"?

 

[ultradr]

Is there any other sport where the athletes have to be so good and need to start at such an early age just to even make it to a college team ? Share your thoughts

• Since 2003, tennis has become more approachable baseline game though much more physical.
• The average age of top 25 player are getting older. I think lots of players can make their career until 35+. We have 32 year old Federer and Ferrer at #4 and 7.

Tennis has widened the spectrum of its audience.

 

[suppersready]

Lol, I don't like the term elite when used in context w/ tennis. It kind of represents the negative image that the Gen public seems to have of the sport. Now the word 'difficult' I can get on board with. What other sport has so many strokes(and also variations of those)required just to play a decent game. Tennis is the ultimate game of skills as well as artistry!

 

[OTMPut]

Check out the definition of "elite" because it's not what you're talking about here.

It is also elite in that sense as well!

 

[jbm]

Nice post and do agree with everything you have stated. Unfortunately, the business of sports takes a different attitude. The top 100th baseball player makes so much money he may never have to work post retirement. The top 100th tennis player barely can cover his expenses. Business unfortunately doesn't care who is a better athlete like we do.

 

[90's Clay]

Rafa himself said Tennis is not THAT difficult to master. Especially nowadays with nothing but slow courts and 99 percent baseline play. Whats so difficult about learning this sport? It used to be FAR more difficult to master when you had diversified conditions and all court player (something you don't need anymore)

 

[jdubbs]

Rafa himself said Tennis is not THAT difficult to master. Especially nowadays with nothing but slow courts and 99 percent baseline play. Whats so difficult about learning this sport? It used to be FAR more difficult to master when you had diversified conditions and all court player (something you don't need anymore)

Then again you had a bunch of big serve specialists that probably wouldn't do well on today's slower courts.

 

[Maximagq]

I think tennis players have superior intelligence and technique than other athletes because racket skills require such fine motor ability. I don't think they are as athletic as a football player or basketball player, however.

 

[easywin]

It may seem so at first but I honestly believe that players like Karlovic and Isner would not have succeeded in any different sport that requires athleticism.

In tennis, there are some ways to be good with less "skill" needed.
Take any athletic guy and teach him serving consistently and moonballing every shot for a month and he will propably win matches against people that train every shot for years (insert Nadal joke here) - you would be surprised how well moonballing works even against good players especially on clay (I'm from europe so bascially every court outside is a clay court).

It's true that earning money with playing tennis is virtually impossible. No other sport that is so big offers so little chances to become a pro yourself.
It's also true that the tour is very very taxing on your body. The schedules are ridiculous if you want to stay on top of the rankings.
But you can't compare the effort you put in 1 hour of tennis to 1 hour of effort in another sport.
After the german cup final Bayern Munich - Borussia Dortmund many players were talking about cramps even though they "just" played 90mins + extra time - even though football is a sport that is 70% about you being able to run and keep on running. You can't even compare those 2 hours of football to most 4-5 hour matches in tennis.
Any ******* can run a marathon ? Yeah maybe in 5 hours - now I challenge you to get close to 3 hours and then we are talking.
Youre disrespect for other sports is not real :neutral:

 

[aldeayeah]

It kinda combines the "hard to master" quality of golf with the "physically unforgiving" quality of track and field.

 

[dominikk1985]

1: If you are a male player and you start playing tennis by age 8, it might already be too late for you to even make it to the ATP tour.

Is there any other sport, (gymnastics have a short life span of only being able to compete in your teens and early twenties) other than tennis where you miss the train at such a young age, it seems tennis is a sport you cannot just pick up even if you are talented at it the fact that its mental as well just weeds out so many people at an early age.

that is true for most technical sports like gymnastics you mentioned, baseball, soccer, ice skating, table tennis...

2: Thousands upon thousands play tennis because they love it, and about 99.99999% of us could never even make it to a D-1 team and 99.99 % of them are not good enough for the tour, the level of skill just to compete at the lower echelons is already so high, I doubt any other sport has such depth.

that is true tennis is one of the most played sports, however even more kids play soccer and there is no social selection like tennis which recruits mostly out of the richest 10% of mankind- i.e. no third wolrd countries

3: In baseball you need to skills..swing a club at a ball coming to a predetermined small box and run your beer belly *** as fast as you can in a straight line..and catch a ball once in a while, in tennis..serve, lob, slice, forehand, backhand, return, run sideways, forwards, backwards, split step, volley, drop shots..when you miss you lose.

yes tennis is one of the most well rounded sports

The variety of skills necessary just to be competent in tennis is wide, how many other sports..(perhaps basketball ?) needs such a vast amount of skills just to be able to play a decent game, i.e USTA 4.5 and above

4. The level of play is so high that the a 32 year old player is retirement age..Andy Roddick one of my favorite players..(very little talent but man he left no stone unturned in search for greatness and killer work ethic) recently retired..his serve lost some pop and he couldn't take the injuries any more..then there is Derek Fisher with the OKC thunder is 40 years old and about to retire.. Steve Nash pretty much same thing, even at the NBA elite level being 27 and 28 is considered entering your prime, Bernard Hopkins. is there any other sport where 32 is your exit age ?

that is true for many sports like swimming, badminton, most track and field disciplines
5: Most matches easily go over 1 hour at a time..basketball..48 minutes with breaks between quarters..half time, soccer..maybe..still only 90 minutes most matches go over this, marathon..yeah but any ******* can run one as seen by the many marathons everywhere.


Is there any other sport where the athletes have to be so good and need to start at such an early age just to even make it to a college team ? Share your thoughts


Ill leave this here http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/elite

I think tennis players are successful

see bold answers.

 

[heninfan99]

It's definitely not easy to motivate a youngster to spend thousands of hours fine tuning the many shots of tennis. This is why many greats had obsessed, crazy parents.

I think technique could be learned pretty easily with enough coaching and repitition.

 

[heninfan99]

Golf sure is difficult but is not very sporty. No running or jumping involved. It's more of a game like shooting pool which is also difficult to become great at.

I think golf is probably the harder sport, but then again I suck at golf so maybe that's just my impression.

 

[Russeljones]

Golf sure is difficult but is not very sporty. No running or jumping involved. It's more of a game like shooting pool which is also difficult to become great at.

The number of hours spent walking about are no joke.

 

[dh003i]

Rafa himself said Tennis is not THAT difficult to master. Especially nowadays with nothing but slow courts and 99 percent baseline play. Whats so difficult about learning this sport? It used to be FAR more difficult to master when you had diversified conditions and all court player (something you don't need anymore)

And Bobby Fischer says chess is easy too.

 

[mbm0912]

The only argument I have against tennis is that if you took some of our best athletes from other sports like basketball and baseball, they would likely dominate tennis. The sheer athleticism needed to succeed would mean they would have an edge.

I think technique could be learned pretty easily with enough coaching and repitition.

I think golf is probably the harder sport, but then again I suck at golf so maybe that's just my impression.

Very few could do what Djokovic & Nadal do. Very few. Actually, I disagree that any baseball player could be of any significance in tennis.

 

[Red Rick]

I would look to basketball players if you'd want players from other sports do dominate. They're huge and very, very athletic for their size.

 

[FormerNadalFan]

Watching my daughter through the years (who's now a professional ballerina) gives me plenty of fuel for an valid argument against the OP. However, I will hold back knowing that pretty much nobody on this board will buy into in

 

[ShahofTennis]

Many tennis pros came to a point where they had to pick a sport and roll with it. Isner had to choose between tennis and basketball, and most European players(Federer, Nadal, Ferrer, Djokovic, Murray) have a religious love for Football(Soccer); so I think they would give football their vote as the most elite sport.

 

[dominikk1985]

I would look to basketball players if you'd want players from other sports do dominate. They're huge and very, very athletic for their size.

yeah, more john isners and ivo karlovics.

there are some great athletes in basketball but I think overall the athletic level is lower than in soccer because players recruit from a small talent pool. I read that only 0.000..x" of 6 feet tall americans play in the NBA but nearly 20% of all 7 footers play in the NBA (actually considering all ages which means that if you are 7 feet and healthy and normally coordinated you are almost certain to play in the NBA)
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/re...playing-nba/fNnbP8zybYfXZtsw0eYPDK/story.html

of course there are 7 footers like dwight howard who are great athletes but there are also non athletes like shawn bradley that play in the NBA just because they are tall.

 

[Flint]

I have been learning Tennis over the past year and playing doubles. I also play badminton.

2 hours of badminton requires so many more times more energy than 2 hours of tennis. But I would say the Tennis requires more skill.

Although maybe thats because I haven't played it very long and have played badminton my whole life.

 

[mbm0912]

I would look to basketball players if you'd want players from other sports do dominate. They're huge and very, very athletic for their size.

How many huge tennis stars are there?

 

[Raphael]

Rafa himself said Tennis is not THAT difficult to master. Especially nowadays with nothing but slow courts and 99 percent baseline play. Whats so difficult about learning this sport? It used to be FAR more difficult to master when you had diversified conditions and all court player (something you don't need anymore)

I agree with you!

 

[SQA333]

Tennis is not hard if you have RPM blast strings and a Babolat Aero Pro Drive. It is hard if you are using gut strings and a 90-square-inch Wilson 6.1

 

[sureshs]

On the flip side, tennis requires minimal athletic ability and talent to make it to a reasonable level, and even at the pro levels, it doesn't require any exceptional physical ability. Compared to golf, someone could put 100 times from 5 feet away and still not make one, while tennis has a wide target range and allows a variety of mistakes to be made with margin. Even though taller players have an advantage, height is not an eliminating factor as in basketball or volleyball.

Tennis is also free from one-time pressure. A swimmer who goofs it up at the grand moment is finished, as is an Olympic runner or baton passer. In cricket, when a batsman is out, he is out. In tennis, you can make many errors and still hang in there.

 

[Sadyv]

yeah, more john isners and ivo karlovics.

there are some great athletes in basketball but I think overall the athletic level is lower than in soccer because players recruit from a small talent pool. I read that only 0.000..x" of 6 feet tall americans play in the NBA but nearly 20% of all 7 footers play in the NBA (actually considering all ages which means that if you are 7 feet and healthy and normally coordinated you are almost certain to play in the NBA)
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/re...playing-nba/fNnbP8zybYfXZtsw0eYPDK/story.html

of course there are 7 footers like dwight howard who are great athletes but there are also non athletes like shawn bradley that play in the NBA just because they are tall.

Shawn Bradley was a very good athlete for his size. Bradley's problem was that he wasn't dedicated to basketball with great intensity. He didn't love it, and didn't work on his game or try to get stronger physically. Bradley was 7'6, but spent most of his career around 240 lbs and was skinny as a rail. Guy's a foot shorter than him were stronger and could shove him out of the way. To put his size for that height into perspective, Muresan was the same height roughly and was pretty lean himself but weighed over 300 lbs. Bradley was 60 lbs lighter than a guy who was already on the thin side at that height.

You can see some his potential looking at the box scores. On occasion he would be inspired and he'd put games with lines of like 22 points 20 rebounds and 8-10 blocks. Then he'd disappear for the next 10 games.

 

[BorderLine]

"Most elite sport"

I like it because it is a relatively affordable recreational sport that has many great attributes.

I would emphasize finesse and the aspect of momentum swings.

I love the fact that children and all genders can play relatively equally versus many other sports that I love. Also, height has some advantages, but it isn't critical to be competitive. It is also a great sport to get back into in order to get back into exercising and recreation. It can be a life long sport and is an individual and team (doubles) sport. I like the character of the pros.

Great thread and post - look forward to more post.

 

[ttbrowne]

Hate the word elite pertaining to tennis.

 

[ttbrowne]

The only argument I have against tennis is that if you took some of our best athletes from other sports like basketball and baseball, they would likely dominate tennis. The sheer athleticism needed to succeed would mean they would have an edge.

I think technique could be learned pretty easily with enough coaching and repitition.

I think golf is probably the harder sport, but then again I suck at golf so maybe that's just my impression.

I'm just thinking of pro basketball and baseball players trying to make it through a 4 hour match. Not likely.

 

[TennisCJC]

I agree that tennis is a demanding sport because it requires high skill, high level of athleticism and high level of mental skills (no coaches).

But, I think you guys underestimate some of the other sports.

A center fielder or shortstop in baseball requires a high level and variety of skills and typically are tremendous athletes.

Basketball and soccer requires high skill level and an outrageous level of fitness.

Skill level players in the NFL are also through the roof as far as skills and athleticism.

To me, most sports at the world class level require tremendous skills, fitness and mental capacity.

But, I have always thought tennis is certainly one of the toughest overall sports and it very well COULD BE the most elite or difficult or demanding.

 

[Aurellian]

Tennis is an elite support. It takes money to play.

I have been playing tennis for about 2.5 years and HAVE NEVER PLAYED A PERSON THAT IS A BETTER PURE ATHLETE THAN ME. I am sure they are out there, but I have not found them in the country clubs, public parks, or tennis camps I have been at. There are maybe two guys at Baskin park that have my wheels...but they are much better tennis players than me and dont play with me

I played D1-AA football (Ivy League) and of the 10 or so receivers on the squad I was prolly middle tier in terms of pure athleticism...just an average athlete for my position with very good but not elite speed.

I ran track my frosh year and ran a 100m best 10.95.

My homie Kadar ran a 10..6 and was the fastest receiver in the Ivy League by far.

 

[octogon]

As the previous poster said, Tennis is an elite sport, but not neccesaarily in a good way. It takes money to play, and isn't open to most or all (like say, athletics, soccer or basketball). Therefore, you will never see an optimal talent pool with tennis. There are potentially players out there even better than a Roger Federer, but because of the elite nature of the sport, they may never be identified. It's not hard to identify the fastest person in the world, or the best soccer player, because so many people are allowed to take part in those activities.

I think that's why despite being such a great sport, Tennis for many years has been derided by other athletes from other disciplines as being a soft, "country club" sport. They knew full well that while he might be a great tennis player, someone like John McEnroe would never make it in the NFL, or as an Olympic sprinter or in most disciplines that required a high degree of altheticism.

I believe that perception has changed now, particularly with the ascent of Rafael Nadal. Most people recognise him as someone who would be a tremndous athlete in other major sports, and that's given tennis a lot of respectability to fans of other sports. Novak Djokovic as well is someone that people feel could be a world class athlete in other sports. But for a long time, there was a feeling that you didn't need to be a great athlete to be a great tennis player.

 

[Aurellian]

As the previous poster said, Tennis is an elite sport, but not neccesaarily in a good way. It takes money to play, and isn't open to most or all (like say, athletics, soccer or basketball). Therefore, you will never see an optimal talent pool with tennis. There are potentially players out there even better than a Roger Federer, but because of the elite nature of the sport, they may never be identified. It's not hard to identify the fastest person in the world, or the best soccer player, because so many people are allowed to take part in those activities.

I think that's why despite being such a great sport, Tennis for many years has been derided by other athletes from other disciplines as being a soft, "country club" sport. They knew full well that while he might be a great tennis player, someone like John McEnroe would never make it in the NFL, or as an Olympic sprinter or in most disciplines that required a high degree of altheticism.

I believe that perception has changed now, particularly with the ascent of Rafael Nadal. Most people recognise him as someone who would be a tremndous athlete in other major sports, and that's given tennis a lot of respectability to fans of other sports. Novak Djokovic as well is someone that people feel could be a world class athlete in other sports. But for a long time, there was a feeling that you didn't need to be a great athlete to be a great tennis player.

A true sport is one where you get knocked down at least 2x a game.

Djookovic could not play any other sport sans tennis. The two doping Spai***** might be able to play soccer. I don't see Nadal as a starting forward for AC Milan or whatever.

I laugh when they say Isner had to choose between basketball and tennis. Isner is tall, so he could have played ball in college, but you gotta be smoking PCP if you think he would even be considered for a NBA roster.

the only top tennis player that has top end athletic ability is monfils. I am sure he could play ball in some Euro league...but he lacks the size--he is a tweener--to be an NBA player.

Verdasco could probably play rugby.
tennis requires more learned skill--like music--than it does raw talent. This should be lauded, but not confused

 

[mightyrick]

Is there any other sport where the athletes have to be so good and need to start at such an early age just to even make it to a college team ? Share your thoughts

If this is your criteria, then in my opinion, the sport you are looking for is competitive gymnastics. In that sport, you have to start at around age 5 to 10 and give up your whole life.

To put this into perspective. Here are some top gymnasts and they age they started:

Nadia Comaneci : 5 years old
Mary Lou Retton : 8 years old
Bart Conner : 10 years old
Larisa Latynina : 11 years old
Olga Korbut : 8 years old

Even the men... Nikolai Andrianov. 11 years old.

For national and olympic training, a common schedule is 4 hours of training followed by 3 hours of school followed by 4 more hours of training. That is every single day with maybe one day off on the weekend.

IMHO, there are no athletes in the world who train and sacrifice like gymnasts.

 

[octogon]

A true sport is one where you get knocked down at least 2x a game.

Djookovic could not play any other sport sans tennis. The two doping Spai***** might be able to play soccer. I don't see Nadal as a starting forward for AC Milan or whatever.

I laugh when they say Isner had to choose between basketball and tennis. Isner is tall, so he could have played ball in college, but you gotta be smoking PCP if you think he would even be considered for a NBA roster.

the only top tennis player that has top end athletic ability is monfils. I am sure he could play ball in some Euro league...but he lacks the size--he is a tweener--to be an NBA player.

Verdasco could probably play rugby.
tennis requires more learned skill--like music--than it does raw talent. This should be lauded, but not confused

I think you are wrong. Nadal's Uncle, Miguel Angel Nadal played for FC Barcelona througout the 90's as a defender. Barcelona is one of the greatest clubs in international football (Lionel Messi currently plays for them). Miguel Angel was nicknamed "the beast" and was an amazing athlete. It's pretty damned obvious that Nadal's athletic potential is genetic, and if he were to have gone for soccer instead of tennis, he'd have been at least as succesful as his Uncle Miguel, who was without question a world class soccer player. Nadal being a great athlete simply runs in the family.

Djokovic's parents were professional skiers, so sport runs in his family as well. I'm pretty certain Novak could be a very succesful football/soccer player as well. He's got all the neccesarry attributes to succeed in that sport. Djokovic's flexibility is also sort of freakish. I think if he'd started training early enough, he could have been an Olympic standard gymnast.

Both Nadal and Djokovic could be world class athletes in other sports. That's really, really obvious. Monfils is probably likely to be a better basketball player than either of them, but not neccesarilly a better soccer player.

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

Check out the definition of "elite" because it's not what you're talking about here.

Not sure why the discussion went past this. Golf, horseback riding & polo are more elitist sports than tennis. Reasons given by the OP do not make tennis an elite sport.

 

[BagelMe]

Polo, water-skiing, rugby, YACHT RACING?!!!

 

[BagelMe]

I take back rugby, but it does seem like a lot of posh boarding school kids I met in England played rugby.

 

[The Green Mile]

I take back rugby, but it does seem like a lot of posh boarding school kids I met in England played rugby.

EVERYONE plays rugby where I am from, posh or not.