Why the hell is there no small men on tour?

[ilovecarlos]

actually Agassi seems to be very,very close to 5ft11. And not in his dreams.

I bet you money that he's 5' 9'

 

[Janne]

5'7 is 174cm, right?

 

[Golden Retriever]

It is kind of hard to judge someone's height visually. Especially when it comes to celebrities. I would say the normal/tall ones (5' 11 or above) don't inflat their heights but the short ones do.

 

[Mikael]

I think someone on these boards once reported they were watching Gambill practice with Agassi and at one point Agassi said "so, how tall are you?" and Gambill replied "6'3" to which Agassi laughed "yeah right if you're 6'3 then I'm really 5'11".

I was right next to Gasquet and he's at least as tall as me (6' 1/2).
A lot of guys inflate their height like Agassi or Hewitt, but some also are taller than what they're listed (Enqvist taller than 6'3, Roddick taller than the 6'1 he was listed for many years, Philipoussis possibly taller than 6'5 ...)

 

[LeftyServe]

It is kind of hard to judge someone's height visually. Especially when it comes to celebrities. I would say the normal/tall ones (5' 11 or above) don't inflat their heights but the short ones do.

I think 6' to 6'1" is the magic inflationary range. The 6 footers like to go to 6'1", and the 5'10-5'11",s like to go to 6'. I, myself, at 5'11" have inflated up to 6' on occasion.

 

[superman1]

Agassi said he was 5'10 and 3/4" in a press conference.

 

[BreakPoint]

Roddick taller than the 6'1 he was listed for many years,.....

Roddick is definitely taller than 6' 1". I'm 6' 1" and when I stood next to him he was at least 1 or 2 inches taller than me.

 

[quest01]

It's interesting that the two greatest players of recent times are virtual doppelgangers. Pete and Fed are about the same height and weight. (And both right-handed. Similar games. Identical down to racquet and clothing endorsements!)

Late 70s, top men Mac, Connors, and Borg were 5'10, 5'11. Seems like it wasn't until Lendl, Becker, Edberg, etc. that the highest-ranked guys were over 6'0".

Always been a handful of very tall or very short players. But their success has been limited. The dimensions of the court appear to favor a particular range in height and its associated mobility/reach/etc. I suppose this could change with dramatic changes in say, equipment.

Sampras and Federer in my opinion are the perfect height. They arent too short where they have to do a lot of running and have problems serving and they arent too tall where they have a lack of quickness around the court or problems with low balls. So i think the ideal height for the perfect player is right around 6'1. Not to tall and not to short.

 

[fastdunn]

5'7 is 174cm, right?

67" x 2.54 = 170 cm.

 

[jmsx521]

The only sport that I can think of that benefits from having short athletes is equestrian. On the ATP/WTA, the shorter you are the better the chances for the opponent to crush you. But still there are some short players who manage to stick with the tour. I still remember seeing -- likely -- the shortest WTA pro at the NASDAQ this year. I had already posted about this before. She was well under 5ft. and was using an over-sized powerful racket with very loopy swings... kind of like Amanda Coetzer if anyone remembers her.

 

[hewittboy]

David Ferrer - 5 feet 9 inches
Lleyton Hewitt - 5 feet 11 inches
Tommy Robredo - 5 feet 11 inches

Arnaud Clement (once a slam finalist, still ranked in the top 40 today) - 5 feet 8 inches

 

[tbini87]

height is an advantage, just like in many other sports (basketball, boxing, football, volleyball, etc) but players who are not the tallest can still be very succesful (parker, nash, and iverson are "short" in the nba). height plays a small role when compared to other things such as mechanics, mental approach, confidence, determination, natural ability, etc.

 

[tennis_hand]

Why the hell do you need small men on tour?

 

[hewittboy]

Oh yeah I forgot Olivier Rochus.

 

[slack hack]

...and, in addition, both were born in August (and are Leos), exactly a decade apart-Sampras in '71 and Federer in '81. Fed may actually the first person to be reincarnated from another person who IS STILL ALIVE!

Laver, Fed, and Sampras all celebrate bdays within days of each other. Pretty cool, as they're the three most touted as GOAT.

 

[FiveO]

In the ATP's Top 100:

11 players listed as 5'11"*

7 @ 5'10" #5 Davydenko, Kohlschreiber, Santoro, Becker, Benneteau, Goldstein and Guzman

4 @ 5'9"; #15 Ferrer, Montanes, Koubek and Grosjean

2 @ 5'8"; Clement and Michael Russell

1 @ 5'5" Olivier Rochus

That 5'11" number of 11 is probably a little larger in that 21 players in the top 100 list themselves at 6'0" a portion of which is probably rounding up more than a little.

 

[DarkTennis]

Grosjean, Coria, Davydenko, Gaudio, Nalbandian, Hewitt, Rochus 1, Rochus 2

nalbadian small? i thought always thought he look big on tv

 

[gerikoh]

here's why, the shorter you are, the weaker your potential in making a faster serve is. the shorter you, the shorter your reach is, the worse your potential your volleying is, the lesser you can go for a top spin is. the shorter you are, the shorter your maximum court coverage in a given time is.

but here's the advantages: the shorter you are, the better your backswing can be. the shorter you are, the quicker you return your shots.

but there's just too many advantages when you are tall compared to the advantages when you are shorter.

but i think the most descent minimal height for men is 5'8".