Bobby Jr
G.O.A.T.
It was a weak era for sure. :twisted:
Most Difficult Sport
- Thread starter Kirijax
- Start date
westside
Hall of Fame
Badminton is on the list below fencing, luge and ski jumping
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH3J9VtktIo
Because American's think this how badminton is played...in the backyard with a drink in your hand.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH3J9VtktIo
furryballs
Banned
rugby you get bashed,soccer you have to run.....have you ever been ankle tapped?thats what a tackle from behind is like in soccer.they outlawed it.nothing worse than a kick in the cobblers either.
furryballs
Banned
ok before we get into arguments about the term "football"...it goes back to the days when rich people played their sport on horseback and anything the peasents played was called football because they ran around on foot.
furryballs
Banned
you dont get to sit down every 3 or 4 minutes in squash......man id take squash as a lot more physically demanding but far less skill.
Fugazi
Professional
555 wins, that was in the 80s... Squash and badminton are much more physically demanding than tennis, but less technical.
LuckyR
Legend
Excellent article from a leader in the field of sport commentary (who is not a tennis specialist) on the subject of "best" sports:
http://www.npr.org/2014/02/11/275307171/double-axels-and-death-spirals-yes-figure-skating-is-a-sport
Audio link for the story (the transcript is just an intro and misses the article)
http://www.npr.org/2014/02/11/275307171/double-axels-and-death-spirals-yes-figure-skating-is-a-sport
Audio link for the story (the transcript is just an intro and misses the article)
Excellent....rework the list using this guy's definitions
I like it. Thanks for posting!
I like it. Thanks for posting!
Tenez101
Banned
True. I think a guy like (prime) Tyson would destroy the MMA just like he did boxing, but for the weaker hitters they'd have a lot of trouble.
Sylvia was fat and out of shape in the Mercer match, but Mercer was pushing 50 and also nowhere near top condition, so there's no excuse for Sylvia. It was also originally only a boxing match, and then the Sylvia camp got it changed to MMA 2 days before. I honestly think Sylvia was just afraid of Mercer, as this kind of desperate tactic to throw him off shows. Obviously, when a fearless/top condition fighter like Slice is in the ring, it's a different story.
dominikk1985
Legend
yes. Physically badminton is insane. super intense, fast and extremely hard. every ball is hit with full intensity. badminton is 20-25 seconds of play on many points often with only like 10-15 seconds in between. tennis is 5 seconds of play followed by 30 seconds of buttpicking.
however while badminton is extremely demanding athletically and physically it does not take as much skill as tennis because you can only hit the ball flat. tennis has another variable with the spin which makes it more difficult.
but the phyiscal level in badminton is insane
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI8Od4jBpUc
FIFY youre welcome
It'll be a safety issue, not a point deduction for having a rubbish costume.
A bit like Murray getting a penalty for dropping his balls at Wimbledon a couple of years ago. Not a safety issue, just something they have to penalise.
I can see that. There are similar rules in tennis but.....it's a FEATHER!
cork_screw
Hall of Fame
Haven't played it, but you keep hearing that Golf is the most difficult sport. People play it for their whole lives and they still can play very poorly on any given day.
cork_screw
Hall of Fame
Gymnastics is really difficult. The age that most athletes retire because they are no longer in the peak range is pretty young. I think in womens they retire at age 22-24, but there are a lot who retire at 19-20. When you're too old to play a sport at 22-24, then that must mean there are significant limitations to the body in combo with how strenuous the sport is. I hear that in women's gymnastics, with age you lose the ability to do a back flip on the balance beam because you develop a fear for it that you didn't have when you were younger. When you're young you do things without fear because you don't fully grasp the danger in it, when you get older and some of those things come into realization, it starts to creep in on your confidence and I believe it takes a lot of edge off your ability.
Oddly enough I heard that dart throwing (many variations, not the "bullseye" that most people think of) is also difficult.
Oddly enough I heard that dart throwing (many variations, not the "bullseye" that most people think of) is also difficult.
rufus_smith
Professional
I would think an experienced tennis player could pick up badminton or any other racquet sport and play okay the first day. A badminton player or other racquet baller trying to play tennis for the first time would be a mess on the first day. The grip changes, the sun, the wind, heavier ball and racquet, the serving difficulty are all nightmares for any beginning player.
They have a sport called soft tennis in Japan. It's uses a light rubber ball and a lighter racket. They don't change grips for forehand and backhand and you have to whack the fire out of the ball to get anything on it. Lots of kids up thru middle school play it, as well as older folks. The kids that played it thru mid school sometimes join my high school tennis team and it is almost impossible to get them to fix their backhand.
Soft Tennis
Soft Tennis
Bobby Jr
G.O.A.T.
Well, to be fair badminton players also barely ever move more than 3m from where they are. The intensity is insane but the claim that it's more physically demanding than tennis is hard to back up.
Tennis for example requires tons more upper body strength and endurance than badminton - the racquets weigh a lot more and there are tons more completely distinct shots you need master compared to badminton (and squash for that matter). The duration of tennis matches is also generally longer than badminton and they sometimes have to play in conditions which top 35 degrees - which badminton players never have to.
Where I think badminton and squash have it over tennis is in the short-term intensity which is more about lung capacity and endurance in your legs. Tennis players put far more miles on the clock - if even with less average intensity - and have to work harder overall imo.
Ditto for squash which is even further down the scale of skillset required to play at the top level. If you also consider the tactical options tennis is more demanding than badminton and untold moreso than squash.
Russeljones
Talk Tennis Guru
But we're discussing 'difficult'. So we can't simply say skill > physical demands. I don't want to see chess, for example, crowned as the most difficult sport.
I think F1 racing as a sport should be high up there. I remember an episode of Top Gear where the presenter almost snapped his neck when he drove a car for a short distance. Those guys are seriously fit and need fighter pilot brains.
I think F1 racing as a sport should be high up there. I remember an episode of Top Gear where the presenter almost snapped his neck when he drove a car for a short distance. Those guys are seriously fit and need fighter pilot brains.
Sid_Vicious
G.O.A.T.
You sure? It is very hard to believe.Especially now, when you consider how physical the game is now.In squash many of the top players are guys in their 30s who are going strong. I don't think we will ever see that in tennis. Federer is the only 30 year old going deep in majors and its not like he wins. He gets outclassed and looks half a step slower in big matches now.
When I watched Pro Squash, what impressed me the most is not the physicality of the game, but rather how amazing their reflexes are. It is probably so much harder to react to a powerfully struck shot in squash than it is to react to a 150 mph serve.
Bobby Jr
G.O.A.T.
Tennis puts a lot more miles on your clock imo - not least the duration of the average pro match is probably double that of squash and the top guys play more matches per year too generally.
Edit: the #1 squash player played about 70 matches last year. Only 19 of them went over an hour long, approx 35 of them were 45 minutes or less in length and only 2 went over 90 minutes.
Disagree on this one. As someone who played squash for many year that aspect of it rarely ever entered my mind. Squash shots can be hit by darting your arm out and swinging with little regards of flighting the ball or worrying you'll hit it out - that's where they are vastly different sports. The tennis player has to consider so many more aspects of the shot so they generally can't just stick their arm out on returns - so it's not so much the speed that makes returning in tennis hard but that you have to do a lot more than squash to get it back over the net, in the court and somewhere where the next shot isn't a gimmie for your opponent.
Squash is also played in brightly lit courts with extremely high contrast between the wall and the ball.
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Sid_Vicious
G.O.A.T.
Very interesting hearing this from someone who has played a lot of Squash. Thanks for the info. So what is the most difficult part of Squash? Would you agree that it is physically rougher than tennis?
Bobby Jr
G.O.A.T.
Legs/lungs are the most difficult aspect of squash physically. It can be truly brutal but entails a different type of movement to tennis - mostly one or two steps/lunges only and then recover to the middle. There's far less focus on body/feet positioning which are absolutely critical in tennis, and the upper body aspect - the strength and demands put on it - are nothing close to tennis. (dexterity and skill level are whole other story. Tennis requires so much more overall skill and variety of different shots than squash it isn't funny)
With regards to the mental aspect the nerve needed to play squash is bordering on zero compared to tennis because there is almost no way to lose a point instantly by hitting the ball out. You can see whole matches where the ball goes out only once. When in trouble in squash the defensive player is much more able to hit deep/high and reset the point. It's harder for the attacking guy to keep them under their thumb until they really have them nailed. Winning at squash is generally not about flare it's about maintaining an insane monotony of consistency which the other person can't break you out of.
Also - in the majority of rallying situations in squash if a ball gets past you you get a second chance to hit it off the back wall.
While squash had its own set of challenges, I don't think I ever thought of squash as a "sport". It was more of an exercise option. If I wanted to exercise I could play squash, but if I wanted to play a sport, I would play tennis. It probably just comes from how squash is looked at in my country, but I think subconsciously that si how I categorized the two sports. Reading Bobby Jr.'s posts have made me reevaluate that thinking a bit.
mental midget
Hall of Fame
agreed. imo it is also more 'difficult' than mma. i've done both, neither at an elite level of course, and i always found boxing to be way more punishing, and just flat-out tiring.
not that grappling doesn't take tremendous skill, but there is an intuitive element to it that doesn't exist in boxing. an exceptional athlete on the mat can often make it competitive, at least for a little while...but if you haven't boxed, it's very difficult not to look foolish and get taken out right away, regardless of your athletic skill.
not trying to feed the boxing v. mma war, just one person's experience.
Start da Game
Hall of Fame
cricket....
Russeljones
Talk Tennis Guru
If we're talking early 20th century boxing, then I'd be more inclined to agree. But in it's present format, I wouldn't say it rates among the most difficult sports.
GoaLaSSo
Semi-Pro
You have a point, but I see it as man vs man is the most difficult because there is someone across the net (arena, ring, etc.) that wants to defeat you and will do whatever it takes to win. Nature is random and doesn't care about people competing against it.
Man vs man, you can tap out, concede, walk away, quit, or give up and the other guy stops punching you.
Man vs nature, you can say... "Stop, I surrender, I quit, and give me my mommy and security blanket".....
Nature don't care, might hear you, but not heed your surrender.
Try paddling out on a 6' day, and you will know, surfing is not all that easy, because mother nature can be relentless at her worst days, and totally accomodating on her best, to bait you out there later on during her worst.
Man vs nature, you can say... "Stop, I surrender, I quit, and give me my mommy and security blanket".....
Nature don't care, might hear you, but not heed your surrender.
Try paddling out on a 6' day, and you will know, surfing is not all that easy, because mother nature can be relentless at her worst days, and totally accomodating on her best, to bait you out there later on during her worst.
Rock Strongo
Legend
That man tried some less than appropriate things, realized it didn't work, and thought he'd make a good gymnast instead.
tennisdad65
Hall of Fame
Gymnastics for me..
Most of the rest on that list I have done or tried. The only thing I can do in Gymnastics is take a bow.
Most of the rest on that list I have done or tried. The only thing I can do in Gymnastics is take a bow.
Rock Strongo
Legend
I have to say this, having played it a few times before and avidly watching it whenever the winter Olympics are on, that curling is actually monstrously difficult. It's either trying to stay balanced on a teflon-coated outsole, sweeping the ice while gliding with said sole on your foot, controling exactly how much to sweep, or setting the stone in motion (this one is actually surprisingly difficult to do correctly). Then you come to the strategy part and most people would suffer from immediate aneurysms. And then imagine the weight you have to put on and the cigarettes you need to smok- no wait, that's golf.
So yeah. It doesn't look terribly difficult but it actually is.
So yeah. It doesn't look terribly difficult but it actually is.
Of course, curling is a difficult sport. Anything competitive can be difficult.
But will you lose your limb if you fail? Will your ego be destroyed if you fail? Is death ever a consideration upon failure? What is the penalty for failure? Remember, other sports are in the running here.
Stunt plane flying? Racing cars or motorcycles? Hydroplanes?
The most DANGEROUS sport now embraced by young well do to folkes is.....
KITEBOARDING. Over 50 died each year, from 1999 thru 2007. Lately, with a huge decrease in actual participants, only 20 or so die yearly, around the world.
How about simple river kayaking. Year 1995, at least 30 reported deaths in US alone! I, as a novice for a couple of years, witnessed TWO guys die from being pinned on underwater rocks, and while I watched, the river level rose and drowned them. You might ask, why didn't I do something? I tried, but in both cases, either StateTroopers or CHP officers drew down on us rescuers, keeping us away from the pinned kayaker, because THEY had to be in control, not us.
But will you lose your limb if you fail? Will your ego be destroyed if you fail? Is death ever a consideration upon failure? What is the penalty for failure? Remember, other sports are in the running here.
Stunt plane flying? Racing cars or motorcycles? Hydroplanes?
The most DANGEROUS sport now embraced by young well do to folkes is.....
KITEBOARDING. Over 50 died each year, from 1999 thru 2007. Lately, with a huge decrease in actual participants, only 20 or so die yearly, around the world.
How about simple river kayaking. Year 1995, at least 30 reported deaths in US alone! I, as a novice for a couple of years, witnessed TWO guys die from being pinned on underwater rocks, and while I watched, the river level rose and drowned them. You might ask, why didn't I do something? I tried, but in both cases, either StateTroopers or CHP officers drew down on us rescuers, keeping us away from the pinned kayaker, because THEY had to be in control, not us.
Netzroller
Semi-Pro
It should be even clearer than in the GOAT debate that there is no correct answer here.
How on earth do you want to compare the accuracy of an archer or golfer to the strength of a weightlifter or footballer? How difficult each task is for you is mostly dependent on the assets you have. Many people would never be able to ski down a mountain with over 130km/h with two planks tied to their feet, but if you're some insane guy who just doesn't give a crap and loves the adrenalin, it might not even be that hard for you. Hell, for some people competetive eating would be the most difficult sport.
You can compare stuff like statistical risk of serious injury, calories burned per hour, time necessary to reach a certain level etc. but any assignment of a certain 'difficulty' to those factors will just be highly subjective.
How on earth do you want to compare the accuracy of an archer or golfer to the strength of a weightlifter or footballer? How difficult each task is for you is mostly dependent on the assets you have. Many people would never be able to ski down a mountain with over 130km/h with two planks tied to their feet, but if you're some insane guy who just doesn't give a crap and loves the adrenalin, it might not even be that hard for you. Hell, for some people competetive eating would be the most difficult sport.
You can compare stuff like statistical risk of serious injury, calories burned per hour, time necessary to reach a certain level etc. but any assignment of a certain 'difficulty' to those factors will just be highly subjective.
If that's your argument, wouldn't you then rather go with mountain climbing or cave diving or stuff like that? Sure, waves can be cruel but the shore is always in sight. But when you're on top of the K2 where not even a helicopter can reach you and break you're leg and a storm comes up, that's a whole different level of being screwed.
Djokovic2011
Bionic Poster
edberg volleys
Hall of Fame
When it comes to pure SKILL, darts is, IMO, the most difficult sport by a mile along with snooker. But when a physical part is taken account, I actually have no idea whatsoever, rugby, boxing, pankration. I dunno. Oh shi.t, as a Finn, how can I forget F1, shame on me...
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edberg volleys
Hall of Fame
F1 is quite a demanding sport. There is kind of stereotype in general, that it's nothing, just to drive 40-78 (Monaco) rounds but it requires nothing more than 1 'nanosecond' lapse of concentration and that's it. Of course I'm quite subjective with my opinon (Rosberg x 2), HÄKKINEN, and Räikkönen. As a Finn.
The bold part is the MAN compared to any other driver from Finland.
Well, only a subjective opinion. And Senna is GOAT.
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Someone sort of mentioned this, but the difficulty of a sport would depend on the god-given talents of that person as well. Tennis came relatively easy to me but I loved and really enjoyed it so that has something to do with it. However when I tried golf, had no talent for it whatsoever, hated, did not enjoy it and could not wait for my brother-in-laws to finish up so we could get out of there.
You could also say that tennis was more difficult for Lendl than it was for McEnroe. The ease and artistry that McEnroe played with just seemed to be natural talent, while Lendl's style seemed to be earned through hard work and sweat.
You could also say that tennis was more difficult for Lendl than it was for McEnroe. The ease and artistry that McEnroe played with just seemed to be natural talent, while Lendl's style seemed to be earned through hard work and sweat.
counterloop
Professional
Table tennis.....very difficult at the professional level. Of course, Americans suck at it so it doesn't get the respect it deserves.
N
Nathaniel_Near
Guest
You reckon darts is more difficult than snooker for pure skill, or indeed golf or tennis? I do like me some darts, but found it easy to pick up on an amateur level along with things like badminton and table tennis. I found tennis natural but immediately realised its greater variance, volatility and depth compared to those sports in terms of the initial learning curve (at least in my experience). Snooker and golf are the most harsh and unforgiving sports I have ever tried, as they require one to walk a tightrope regarding execution, however, they lack the physical elements of many other sports.
I should imagine that boxing is hugely difficult.
edberg volleys
Hall of Fame
True that. I have been in the top 50 in my prime time in Finland, tbh, no bs. But it wasn't anywhere near as a 'prof' level game. The best players of the world are so good that it's just so SICK. :-o.
Actually, when I was teenager, I kind of liked my chances in squash compared to table tennis and tennis but squash was way
toooooo tough at least for me at that time. Now it's only tennis and I loveeeeee it.
. And it was absolutely the best choice. . So much different spins and so on....
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