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How would the top 5 ranked woman fare against a male counterpart

  • Would lose to a <500 ranked tennis player

    Votes: 44 64.7%
  • Would lose to a 400-500 ranked tennis player

    Votes: 2 2.9%
  • Would lose to a 300-400 ranked tennis player

    Votes: 3 4.4%
  • Would lose to a 200-300 ranked tennis player

    Votes: 4 5.9%
  • Would lose to a 100-200 ranked tennis player

    Votes: 6 8.8%
  • Could compete with a top 100 player

    Votes: 9 13.2%
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Who is the highest ranked player that Serena Williams could defeat?

25K views 97 replies 58 participants last post by  Hian-GOAT 
#1 ·
"Given that men are always quick to say women are a lot worse ... I'd love to see her play in a (lower-level) men's tournament and see how they deal with her. It's easy to talk. On the court, it would be different," the 10th-seeded Sara Errani said.

"I've practiced with a lot of guys ranked 400th or 500th," Errani explained. "I've never played with a man who hits as hard as she does."

Errani is one of the few people actually in a position to objectively assess this. Given her comments, would the top ranked women players be equivement to the mens: 300th, 200th, 100th?

Interesting discussion I think.
 
#44 ·
"I've practiced with a lot of guys ranked 400th or 500th," Errani explained. "I've never played with a man who hits as hard as she does."

Serena is just 175 cm and 68kg. Means many males have 15cm+ and 20kg+ on her. Men have about a 20% advantage even at equal weight due to lower fat percentage among other things.

Even the smallest guys like Rochus who is only 167 cm is still 65kg. I think even Rochus could match up vs Serenas "power"

Sara is simply talking bullshit to defend her own fiasco performance.

Serenas power is far from "special" from a male perspective. Among women it's obviously special but if some WTA stars spent less time looking in the mirror and more in the gym they'd match up better.
 
#45 ·
First of all, I happen to know men (actually college players) who practised with Serena and Venus when they were younger, and be sure that the girls cannot match their power (and they were barely in the 400s at the time).

In general, any guy in the top 700 is going to be both faster, hit harder and more explosive than any top female pro. A top female might be able to hang with a 500-1000 by virtue of accuracy and point construction, but its a very tall order. The girls will even struggle against a top junior player.

Part of the reason Errani thinks that Serena hits so hard, is that they play with different balls than the men, but more than that, its very hard to simulate real life game speed in practise.
 
#47 ·
Every now and then on every tennis board this comes up. The main thing isn't just the power which is obvious.

It is the spins (the women barely use them) on the serves and groundstrokes and ESPECIALLY court coverage. The men would be returning supposed winners with interest more often than not.
 
#49 ·
Despite the fact that Serena is the best womens player on the tour, I don't think her game matches up against men very well at all. She wins because she hits harder and with more spin than the other WTA players. In other words her game is more like that of a man than the rest of the WTA tour. A weak man. Even outside the top 500 she would play men who did everything she did, only far better and with much better physique.

If anything, I think someone like Hingis would stand a somewhat better chance, simply because her game offers something different. i could potentially see a lowly ranked "headcase" lose against Hingis if he self-destructed. I don't see that happening against Serena because she just plays a poor version of a generic male game plan.
 
#51 ·
Not sure this topic belongs here, but Serena used to routine Roddick in their early teens before they went off on different paths. Who knows what women could achieve if there was only one mixed tour? Over time some women might even be able to sneak into the top 100. Clearly Serena would have been part of that elite few. Obviously it's too late for her to be expected to beat top 100 guys now but if she'd been brought up to compete in a mixed tour who knows what she may have been able to do ? She might have even managed to win a challenger or two. Would have dominated the futures circuit...probably leading that to evolve into a separate women's tour lol

Not sure why this topic always comes up (especially since it tends to attract sexist and racist trolls) while there is never any speculation about male players who might not even be able to cut it on the WTA. I can think of a few.
 
#52 · (Edited)
Not sure this topic belongs here, but Serena used to routine Roddick in their early teens before they went off on different paths.
Irrelevant for a few reasons. Btw Roddick was nothing special at that age. Here's a picture of a guy that beat him then



Who knows what women could achieve if there was only one mixed tour? Over time some women might even be able to sneak into the top 100. Clearly Serena would have been part of that elite few. Obviously it's too late for her to be expected to beat top 100 guys now but if she'd been brought up to compete in a mixed tour who knows what she may have been able to do ? She might have even managed to win a challenger or two. Would have dominated the futures circuit...probably leading that to evolve into a separate women's tour lol
Good ACC campaigning here, one of the silliest things I've seen on MTF in a while. If she'd have been brought up to compete in a mixed tour nothing would be different except maybe she could return men's serves slightly better. The simple fact is that competent futures players are all stronger, faster, serve as hard or harder, and hit with much more spin. Absolutely no contest.

Not sure why this topic always comes up (especially since it tends to attract sexist and racist trolls) while there is never any speculation about male players who might not even be able to cut it on the WTA. I can think of a few.
Yes, there are guys losing in futures qualies that couldn't cut it on the WTA. But past that, no...
 
#53 ·
I would understand some reactions on here given the general top of womens game, but if you look at how Serena Williams plays, whether it is the spots she hits or the speed/pace of her ball, or how clutch she is, numbers don't lie. certainly her competition plays a big role, but this is laughable that you all think a rank 500 mens player would beat her. when she was 17 she took 2 games off a rank 200 guy (maybe he was not 100% focused but whatever) in that exhbition and she is 5x the player she was then now, the logic is just so ill founded
 
#56 ·
errani is a fucking clown

'i've practiced with a few guys'

well i hope it was something other than tennis you were practicing, because it's fucking practice! they aren't going to play like that during a match

nadal hits flat shots, federer fannies around with a double handed backhand, murray plays playstation and djokovic just clowns around. it's practice, the word speaks for itself

serena is 30, past her prime and still winning. that says more about the WTA than her

she would be trashed by any guy in the top 1000

i don't know why this topic even exists in the first place. the only thing they have in common is racquets and a ball, otherwise they're two different sports, apples and oranges
 
#57 ·
She might be able to outhit some low ranked guys, but if she played regularly her ranking would be around ~500, probably worse.

If she was fitter though she might be able to challenge the Top 100/200 if she played on the ATP Tour regularly.
 
#60 ·
:facepalm:

I used to train with some really talented juniors. One boy and a girl. When I started training with them, the boy was 12, and the girl was 14. The girl was imo the more talented of the 2 and used to beat him. This all changed when the boy's physique started to change. He started completely blowing her off the court just because he hit so much harder. Right now, the girl is 17 and the boy just turned 15, but she'll be lucky to win a few games. Mind you, the boy is still quite small for his age..when he starts growing and develops more muscles, the girl won't win a single game.

This is just to illustrate what the difference in physique does to the game. Yes Serena is an exceptional female tennis player, but beating a guy from the top 1000? I don't think so.
 
#64 ·
I'm thinking about this and... 500? Nah... 1000? Still not... Guy with limited weapons and going through a mental crisis? Still... Donald Young? Hell, even he'd praise God for giving him such a holiday opponent.

I really can't imagine... Probably someone self-destructing on a very bad day.
 
#68 ·
Something like this.

The difference between Men and Women seems underappreciated by some. No female ever, not even Graf, would be able to compete with contemporary Men unless there were something seriously wrong with them or they were genuinely far down the rankings. The Karsten Braasch-incident proved that ranked 300 kills the best Women very easily indeed even while having a glass or two inside.
 
#71 ·
29th of November, 2009 on indoor hard:
Thomas Muster (42 years old) - Sybille Bammer (ranked 55 at that time): 6-3 6-2

Now let's look at the H2H of said Bammer against Serena Williams: 2-0 for Bammer
2007: Sybille Bammer (ranked 56) - Serena Williams: 3-6 7-5 6-3
2009: Sybille Bammer (ranked 29) - Serena Williams: 7-5 6-4


Now let's look at some of Muster's results at age 42, ALL ON CLAY:

Thomas Muster - Gianluca Naso (ranked 418): 3-6 4-6
Thomas Muster - Conor Niland (ranked 165): 2-6 1-6
Thomas Muster - Alessio Di Mauro (ranked 173): 3-6 2-6
 
#72 ·
Not this shit again :facepalm:

Serena is the only WTA player I like, but there are thousands of male players who could beat her.
 
#74 ·
Maybe she hits harder than top 500 players, but is she as fit, is she as constant in her game?

It's not a given she would win against these guys.
 
#75 ·
She has more power than Murray. She could best a top 200 on a off day imo
 
#77 ·
This is hard to say, but i don´t think ranking is criterium here, she can beat someone like others mentioned - some clay-courters on grass or indoors on relatively fast HC in today´s era, or vice versa, big server on clay-i am talking of course about lower ranked guys, she wouldn´t stand a chance vs anybody in top 100 at least. She can serve maybe better than some guys in top 100, even have more power on her groundstrokes but that´s it, stamina, movememtn, speed wise she can´t compete with men so she would loose. But ranking to choose - say beloow this ranking she is better, or so is impossible to choose

1.- we can´t say exactly unless we see her play some man
2. it depends on surfaces and style of that player

for example i can see her loose vs some big server who is playing futures, or maybe challengers is really ranked low, but simply Serena don´t know what it means to face big server, because she is biggest server on WTA so if some guy who´s game sucks, but can serve 135mph aces would play Serena indoors he can win say in tie-breaks, and can be really super low ranked.
 
#82 · (Edited)
Here is a player that Patty Schnyder beat:

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Ma/P/Patrick-Mayr.aspx

I've read somewhere that spectators of that match were actually laughing to how bad he was playing!

It was in 2002 in St.Anton...

Patty also played a match against Daniel Kollerer in 2002 and lost 6:2 6:4

She also played against Thomas Schiessling ( the guy who once beat Marat Safin ) in 2004 and lost 6:1 6:3

He said after the match:

" A very funny situation playing a girl in front of such a big crowd. I haven´t played such a good girl before and Patty showed that she is a very smart player. For me it was nice training for national Championships and about the scorline you know it was an unusual situation, she plays different than the opponents I normally play and I needed time to get her game but her game couldn´t harm me or any other pro player, men just play too powerful for women. "
 
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