What is the ideal height of a tennis player?

[EloQuent]

Some sports like basketball and football have a clear advantage to bigger and taller athletes but tennis isn't a contact or near contact sport. Taller players are usually stronger servers but have other weaknesses.

Obviously we will be influenced by the actual top players and neither of Federer or Nadal stand out for their height, are both 6'1". But would they be even better with another couple inches?

If you were designing the perfect tennis player in a laboratory, how tall would he be?

 

[Druss]

These days to be a multiple slam winner, the 'perfect' height would be 1.82m - 1.90m (6'0" - 6'3").

 

[IowaGuy]

6'1"

Federer. Sampras. Nadal.

Enough said

 

[tegg96]

I think around 6'1"-6'2" would be perfect. This height enables good serve height mixed with good ground movement and reach.

Taller players over 6' 3" have a serving advantage but aren't quite as good court movers, sort of awkward, eg Isner, Karlaovic.

Shorter players often have excellent court movement but their serves often let them down, eg Hewitt, Ferrer.

 

[Smasher08]

If you were designing the perfect tennis player in a laboratory, how tall would he be?

His real height is the stuff of legend.

 

[Aitkers]

Shorter equals low to ground excellent movment and agility, great ability to take ball early. Serve suffers big time

Taller means serve better. movement declines a lot

6 foot 1 or therabouts is perfect middle ground between the two. Shorter serve suffers, taller movement suffers

 

[Aitkers]

Shorter equals low to ground excellent movment and agility. Serve suffers big time

Taller means serve better. movement declines

6 foot 1 or therabouts is perfect middle ground between the two. Shorter serve suffers, taller movement suffers

 

[Aitkers]

Shorter equals low to ground excellent movment and agility. Serve suffers big time

Taller means serve better. movement declines

6 foot 1 or therabouts is perfect middle ground between the two. Shorter serve suffers, taller movement suffers

 

[kailash]

6'1"

Federer. Sampras. Nadal.

Enough said

I agree.

Expanding the list...5 or more grand slam winners in the open era:

Federer : 6'1"
Nadal : 6"1"
Sampras : 6'1"
Djokovic : 6'2"
Borg : 5'11"
Connors : 5'10"
Lendl : 6'2"
Agassi : 5'11"
Mcenroe : 5'11"
Wilander : 6'0"
Edberg : 6'2"
Becker : 6'3"
Laver : 5'8"
Newcombe: 6'0"

The other two from the recent Big 5 list:

Murray : 6'3"
Wawrinka : 6'0"

The other 3 from the career grand slam list:

Fred Perry : 6'0"
Don Budge : 6'1"
Roy Emerson: 6'0"

 

[Deleted member 716271]

6'1. That's my height, so it must be perfect

 

[Tennis_Hands]

I am 6'0" and used to be 6'2", so for me it varies.

Is that the answer you are looking for, OP?

 

[Deleted member 756486]

5 ft 7.

(Just trying to make Schwartzman feel better about himself in case he reads this thread)

 

[van_Loederen]

the optimum is shifting from 6'1 towards 6'2
as modern racquet tech tends to compensate for inferior movement.

5'11 (Borg, Agassi) is already worse than 6'6 (Cilic, Potro) nowadays.

 

[vive le beau jeu !]

shouldn't the ideal height be expressed in the ideal unit system ?

 

[Aitkers]

I am 6'0" and used to be 6'2", so for me it varies.

Is that the answer you are looking for, OP?

You used to be 6"2? What happened?

 

[EloQuent]

I wonder if Delpo's wrists had held out and he had a more impressive career we'd see 6'6" as the best height. Between him, Cilic, Zverev - it's a pretty common height in elite tennis.

 

[Tennis_Hands]

You used to be 6"2? What happened?

Age.

 

[Deleted member 716271]

the optimum is shifting from 6'1 towards 6'2
as modern racquet tech tends to compensate for inferior movement.

5'11 (Borg, Agassi) is already worse than 6'6 (Cilic, Potro) nowadays.

I think taller than ideal, even by some amount is better than shorter than ideal (under 6'0 or maybe 5'11) because of what you said, but I doubt the overall ideal will rise much above 6'1/6'2. No amount of tech can compensate for agility/movement

 

[EloQuent]

Current top ten players by height (with cm this time). All straight from the ATP website.

1. Fed 6'1 185
2. Nadal 6'1 185
3. Cilic 6'6 198
4. Dimitrov 6'3 191
5. Zverev 6'6 198
6. Thiem 6'1 185
7. Goffin 5'11 180
8. Sock 6'3 191
9. Anderson 6'8 203
10. Del Potro 6'6 198

 

[J011yroger]

I'm 6'2" and can't even win the Al's Discount Tire Open so there must be more to it than that.

J

 

[EloQuent]

I'm 6'2" and can't even win the Al's Discount Tire Open so there must be more to it than that.

J

try heels

 

[Cenarius]

Anywhere between 185 to 190 cm range.

 

[Phoenix1983]

Fedr.

 

[Bukmeikara]

Federer 1.85
Nadal 1.85
Sampras 1.85
Djokovic 1.88
Murray 1.90

 

[Jonas78]

6'1'' to 6'2''.

 

[Wander]

Current top ten players by height (with cm this time). All straight from the ATP website.

1. Fed 6'1 185
2. Nadal 6'1 185
3. Cilic 6'6 198
4. Dimitrov 6'3 191
5. Zverev 6'6 198
6. Thiem 6'1 185
7. Goffin 5'11 180
8. Sock 6'3 191
9. Anderson 6'8 203
10. Del Potro 6'6 198

This, by the way, makes for an average height of ~191cm. The trends of modern tennis seem to be favouring taller players than the past decades. That said, I don't see the average height of the top 10 getting much taller than what it is currently. 190cm or so seems reasonable. Cilic, Zverev and Del Potro are in my opinion already at the upper margins of how tall an all time great could possibly be.

 

[Jonas78]

Federer 1.85
Nadal 1.85
Sampras 1.85
Djokovic 1.88
Murray 1.90

Murray isnt 1.90, Wiki and ATP site are both wrong. I think he said 1.87 or 1.88 when someone asked him on Twitter.

 

[van_Loederen]

^on pictures he looks 1.90

I think taller than ideal, even by some amount is better than shorter than ideal (under 6'0 or maybe 5'11)

true, it's not proportional.
maybe like this:
grade A: 6'2 = 6'1
grade B: 6'3 = 6'0
grade C: 6'4-6'6
grade D: 6'7 = 5'11
grade E: 6'8 = 5'10

but I doubt the overall ideal will rise much above 6'1/6'2.

me too.

my claim (it shifting fully over to 6'2) would already be a big leap as i imply that 6'3 would be as good as 6'1 then.
well, theoretically it's already the case, i believe. there are just quantitatively not so many strong players at 6'3 yet, but that will change in the next 15-20 years, i think ...as people are getting taller and more tall guys will try a tennis career.

 

[EloQuent]

This, by the way, makes for an average height of ~191cm. The trends of modern tennis seem to be favouring taller players than the past decades. That said, I don't see the average height of the top 10 getting much taller than what it is currently. 190cm or so seems reasonable. Cilic, Zverev and Del Potro are in my opinion already at the upper margins of how tall an all time great could possibly be.

yeah it seems that 198 (6'6) is the limit.

so I guess it's a range really, from like 182-198 with 190 as the sweet spot.

 

[tennis_pro]

These days to be a multiple slam winner, the 'perfect' height would be 1.82m - 1.90m (6'0" - 6'3").

I almost agree, I'd go a tad lower though and say 1.80m - 1.90m and the closer to 1.85m the better.

I mean it's not a coincidence that almost all the players who won 4 or more Slams since 1970 are 1.80m - 1.90m, the only exceptions I believe are Vilas and Connors (and both aren't that far off considering they played in the 70s so the height range was a tad lower).

 

[EloQuent]

I almost agree, I'd go a tad lower though and say 1.80m - 1.90m and the closer to 1.85m the better.

I guess here's my question: if Fedal were 2-3 inches taller, would they lose anything? Gain anything?

Are they better players because they are exactly 185, or is it just how tall they happen to be.

 

[Kalin]

shouldn't the ideal height be expressed in the ideal unit system ?

Correct. The peRFect height for tennis has thus been established as '1 Fedr'

 

[Jonas78]

^on pictures he looks 1.90

Look at pictures of him and Djoko, Murray isnt any higher. And look at their shoulders, Andy's hair tend to make him a bit higher than Djokers playmobil haircut .

 

[tennis_pro]

I guess here's my question: if Fedal were 2-3 inches taller, would they lose anything? Gain anything?

Are they better players because they are exactly 185, or is it just how tall they happen to be.

Nadal could gain a slightly better serve but he'd lose some in his movement. Federer wouldn't gain anything because his serve is already top notch.

 

[EloQuent]

Nadal could gain a slightly better serve but he'd lose some in his movement. Federer wouldn't gain anything because his serve is already top notch.

His serve is good on placement etc, but he doesn't have the most power.

 

[tennis_pro]

His serve is good on placement etc, but he doesn't have the most power.

An extra inch wouldn't help him. Besides, I think Federer is capable of hitting 130-135mph serves, he just chooses not to.

 

[J011yroger]

An extra inch wouldn't help him.

You would have to ask Mirka about that.

J

 

[JoshuaPim]

7'6 might be the perfect height, 100 aces every match

 

[ojo rojo]

 

[Deleted member 756486]

You would have to ask Mirka about that.

J

You win this thread.

 

[vive le beau jeu !]

Correct. The peRFect height for tennis has thus been established as '1 Fedr'

now i'm trying to estimate the volume of sureshs in Fedr³...

 

[TennisCJC]

An extra inch wouldn't help him. Besides, I think Federer is capable of hitting 130-135mph serves, he just chooses not to.

Annacone said he didn't like to see Federer's average serve go over 120mph when he was coaching him. Federer averages in the 115-120 range and when he starts going above that, he is pushing too much and percentage and accuracy drop. 117 mph within 6 inches of the line with a lot of movement is sufficiently good to win 18 majors.

 

[J011yroger]

117 mph within 6 inches of the line with a lot of movement is sufficiently good to win 18 majors.

Some might even say 20.

J

 

[TennisCJC]

Some might even say 20.

J

Some would be correct. Thx

 

[EloQuent]

An extra inch wouldn't help him. Besides, I think Federer is capable of hitting 130-135mph serves, he just chooses not to.

He'd rather hit the slower ones more accurately. But if he had more power on his serve, he could hit 130s accurately, or 150s inaccurately. His serve is great! But is it possible to have a Karlovic serve and still be able to move and play the rest of the game?

 

[tennis_pro]

He'd rather hit the slower ones more accurately. But if he had more power on his serve, he could hit 130s accurately, or 150s inaccurately. His serve is great! But is it possible to have a Karlovic serve and still be able to move and play the rest of the game?

No, unless you're Roddick. But the Roddick we know lasted only 2 years.

 

[toby55555]

7'6 might be the perfect height, 100 aces every match

and the same score you would lose every set by.

 

[EloQuent]

No, unless you're Roddick. But the Roddick we know lasted only 2 years.

Roddick wasn't even that tall. 6'2 iirc

 

[Shaolin]

Sureshs is the perfect height.

Low enough to reach the keyboard and remote with ease, tall enough to get to the bag of Doritos in the kitchen cupboard.

 

[ChaelAZ]

6'0 to 6'2. Or in my case, 5'11