tennis pro's and fatigue (baseball pitchers?)

[tom-selleck]

huge hullabaloo here in canda with people looking at the women's no-shows at rogers cup... i was surprised. tennis got alot of publicity from non-tennis type people... and some good points raised. here are some of them.

1) no one too mad at women pro's. i think most people think it was legit. people think the tour is too grueling.

2) a columnist said bjorn borg retired because of the gruelling schedule

3) why do baseball pitchers get 4 days rest (at least - off-day too??)??? tennis players play often every day (occasionally twice a day - rusedski in montreal). are baseball pitching and tennis serving somewhat similar? i agree, although i think pitching is alot harder on your arm.

anyhow thought people would find this interesting... other comment in press and from friends who went - some of these women are huge (unnaturally so??)

 

[VAmazona]

The exchange is (in my mind):

Pitchers pretty much break blood vessels and stretch ligaments every pitch they throw.

Tennis players have to overcome the weight and manipulation of an artificial extemity and the arm suffers as a result, albeit over a longer length of time.

A pitcher does not run. they are too close to be able to field balls unless they are bunted or the play calls for them to back up the 1st baseman or homeplate.

A tennis players runnning is constantly likened to that of a marathoner, with some professional matches running in excess of 4 hours.

A pitcher gets relief and there are coaches and a catcher to dictate the pitches thrown.

A tennis player is out there on their own, no coaching, etc. and the mental fatgue is more of a factor.

There was a little blurb in Tennis magazine comparing tennis players to other athletes. Pretty interesting and along the lines of what you are talking about, but I, at first, dismissed it as propaganda. Had it been in ESPN the mag or Sports illustrated, i may have given it more of a chance.

again, these are my observations. Your miles may vary.

 

[bcaz]

Much of the shock of pitching is the violent stress on the shoulder and arm when the ball is released; if they never let go of the ball, it wouldn't hurt nearly as much! Try throwing your racquet at maximum velocity 100 times; you will need several days to recover, and BTW, you would be out about $15,000 to $20,000 for racquets and string.