I don't know if Brutal is still with us but even a modicum amount of common sense will tell you that most football players are too big to play tennis. There are some tall tennis players but they are lean. The average size of a maletennis player is roughly 5'11 160 is my guess give or take a few lbs. Barry Sander is 5'8" and 200 lbs which would be squat by tennis standards. Rafael Nadal the athletic winner of the French Open is considered big by tennis standards and he is roughly 6 feet one and 188 lbs. And like most sports the players are getting bigger like Andy Roddick.Lleyton Hewitt on the other hand is around 5'10" and 155 lbs. The point is for tennis you must be very light on your feet and change directions very quickly. Lateral quickness is needed as is first and second step explosion. So agility is absolutely very important in tennis. And keep in mind Barry Sanders, a player Brutal mockingly brought up,is often juking 255 lb linebackers. Tennis balls routinely travel at 90 mph plus speeds and serves for men reach 140 mph. So quickness and agility and reflexes are keys in tennis. Which is why they are smaller in general than football players. Which it is why it is nonsense to blurt out tennis players lack agility. Of course Kings and Queens and other luminaries in front row seatscome to watch participants and now that boxing has lost a lot of its luster many athletes who aren't pro tennis players will secretly admit that Wimbledon is the greatest crown in sports in a world wide sense..There was a time when that crown belonged to the Heavyweight boxing champ. And like boxing there is only you and the opponent. No hiding behind big lineman to do your dirty work.
Agility and tennis
- Thread starter sunshine
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Colonel_Reb
Hall of Famer
Good post sunshine! Just watching tennis, even for a short while, will convince you that they are great athletes. Better yet, try playing it for an hour or so. I've tried and it wore me out. I don't think any running backs could compare in agility with a good college tennis player, let alone a pro like Roddick.
White_Savage
Mentor
It was claimed there is a certain mix of agility and size unique to ********...
However, that claim makes no sense. If the musculure and neurogical arrangements of blacks gave an advantage in agility, then it seems to me small blacks would be more agile than small whites, not just large blacks being more agile than large whites.
Sprinting speed might be genetic, but "elusiveness" in most sense would fall under the heading of a skill, not a function of your anatomy.
However, that claim makes no sense. If the musculure and neurogical arrangements of blacks gave an advantage in agility, then it seems to me small blacks would be more agile than small whites, not just large blacks being more agile than large whites.
Sprinting speed might be genetic, but "elusiveness" in most sense would fall under the heading of a skill, not a function of your anatomy.
Colonel_Reb
Hall of Famer
I would tend to agree with that, as a lot of it has to do with training.