michael_1265
Professional
A match tough 3.5 with some shots, beside fetching and pushing, should beat almost any 4.5 woman.
If nothing else, the 3.5 should have a serve that puts the woman on the defensive, and then he can stand in and go for a punishing forcing shot to start most of his service points.
However, if he pushes pancake serves in, then maybe not..
I dont think thats true. A 4.5 woman will have much greater consistency. They could win the match by just denfending and waiting for the errors to pile up.[/QUOTE]
In the end, there are too many variables to make generalizations. Just like a normal match, how your strengths and weaknesses match up makes a huge difference. On average, I think .75 is about the difference between the sexes, but not everyone is average. This girl plays mixed at the 8.5-9.0 level, so I am fooling myself if I think I can push her off the court with my serve. I really have to push the issue to win points, because she handles pace off the ground really well. As a 3.5, such play leads to errors. She forces me out of my comfort zone. I am a better player than the last time we played, but I think she might be also.