Who is the best athlete in men's tennis?

[manley0702]

I've seen some posts talking about "he's the better athlete". My question is who is truly the best athlete in tennis. The standard is comparing their athleticism as it would translate to other sports. If you had a competition between ATP players where they will compete in the following, how do you rank them? My top 5 would be Monfils, Murray, Rafa, Tsonga, Dimitrov.

1. European football
2. American football
3. basketball
4. cricket/baseball
5. racquetball/squash
6. 100 meter run
7. 400 meter run
8. Boxing/MMA
9. Hockey
10. Volleyball

 

[smoledman]

I've seen some posts talking about "he's the better athlete". My question is who is truly the best athlete in tennis. The standard is comparing their athleticism as it would translate to other sports. If you had a competition between ATP players where they will compete in the following, how do you rank them? My top 5 would be Monfils, Murray, Rafa, Tsonga, Dimitrov.

Nole is the best athlete in men's tennis and that helps him be #1. His pure tennis skills aren't as good as Roger but he's 6 years younger and being Mr. Gumby you can't hit anything past him.

 

[netlets]

Monfils is the best athlete on tour. I've heard many commentators/coaches say it as well

 

[jm1980]

Djokovic playing football:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6RpqnjzxmI

 

[manley0702]

Nole is the best athlete in men's tennis and that helps him be #1. His pure tennis skills aren't as good as Roger but he's 6 years younger and being Mr. Gumby you can't hit anything past him.

Djokovic is definitely a great athlete, and he's currently the best player in tennis by a long shot. But do you see him beating Monfils is 5+ of the sports I listed above?

 

[manley0702]

Djokovic playing football:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6RpqnjzxmI

That's incredible. No doubt he played a lot of football as a kid.

 

[Russeljones]

It has to be Monfils.

 

[Pouet156]

I guess RF is pretty good at football too, and Rafa is too if I'm correct. I find your selection of sports not very "general". No really endurance sports, nothing like swimming, or cycling, or climbing.
There's more than athleticism in the sports you chose, a lot of skills are required.

 

[Elektra]

Gael Monfils would be considered the best athlete in men's tennis because his skills translate outside the court. He has fast twitch muscles which makes him explosive. He is a basketball player, breakdancer and good runner.

He was not a tennis player he would have been a basketball player and track and field athlete.

 

[Team10]

Monfils by far.

 

[tipsa...don'tlikehim!]

Probably Murray

 

[FEDisanAlien]

Monfis by far .
no debate close threat

 

[vanioMan]

Taylor Dent.

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

While Djokovic is extremely talented and probably the most flexible, Monfils is the most athletic overall. Federer is very adept a quite a few sports. His other sports include basketball, squash, badminton, futbol/soccer, and table tennis.

I guess RF is pretty good at football too, and Rafa is too if I'm correct. I find your selection of sports not very "general". No really endurance sports, nothing like swimming, or cycling, or climbing.
There's more than athleticism in the sports you chose, a lot of skills are required.

Some years back an ESPN panel of experts rate 60+ sports on the perceived athletic demands of these sports. There was undoubtedly something of an American bias in the perception and ranking of these sports. However, it does provide some insight into what many experts consider important categories of athleticism.

Their 10 skills/categories for athleticism: Endurance, Power, Strength, Speed, Agility, Flexibility, Hand-Eye Coordination, Durability, Analytic Aptitude, and Nerves.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/sportSkills
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