I said sprinting, not running, and although a sprinter differs from the kind of speed people associate with tennis players, I'm fairly certain there would be a very strong correlation between how fast you can run generally and how fast you are on the court.
Yes, absolutely. Like everything else it is a balance. But yeah, Rafa as an example is very explosive, no surprise he can generate so much spin and get to so many balls (at least in his prime). Totally different to someone like Simon or Medvedev.
Zoid said:
All throwing motions aren't created equal...I never said they did, I'm not sure what you meant by this - I don't know how late or how elite a player you are talking of, but I agree baseball studs would probably have a great serve. In my experience guys with a quick arm get away with technical flaws a hell of a lot easier - see Steve Johnson, Brad Klahn, Andy Roddick, Nick Kyrgios, but they still have worked on the specific motion A LOT. My argument was a bodybuilder v a tennis player - I take the tennis player every time. It's like when you see pro arm-wrestlers half the size completely destroy strongmen/bodybuilders - doesn't matter how much you work the muscle, it's usually nowhere near specific enough or trained in the correct form and so much strength (of outcome) is in technique.
Not just technique but natural build. A "quick arm" is usually a shorter arm. Tennis, and baseball even more so, favors a shorter arm than basketball or football. This is one of the technical reasons why Michael Jordan sucked at baseball, his arms (while perfect for almost every basketball task) were just too long and therefore too slow. That's why he was not a great thrower and an even worse batter.
Zoid said:
I don't know how flexible a bodybuilder is, but I think all that muscle would impinge on their performance across so many disciplines that they are pretty much terrible at every sport.
No argument from me on this one, I'm not into BBing and I think it's kind of silly, especially the pageantry part of it.
The few guys I know who are really into "the gym" and getting big are not really good at any sport per se. That is their sport. That or strongman/Scotsman/lumberjack type stuff.
Novak is obviously a better athlete than Roger lol
Again, it depends on what specific ability you are talking about, no?
Novak has better flexibility, better stamina, better core strength.
Roger has more coordination in his arms/hands/feet and his naturally broader shoulders enable him to hit shots that Novak can't.
They are similar but not the same. It's not like Djoker does every single thing better, he doesn't. But his strengths have been more effective than Fed's since 2014.