It's underranked in nerve and flexibility (IMO) and other than a few specific all-around disciplines like the decathlon/heptathlon, I don't think there's a sport that demands quite as much.

 

Yeah I agree. I am guessing you think tennis should be ranked higher as well?

How do you feel tennis players compare to footballers and basketballers in terms of fitness? Do you think they are on par, or below them fitness wise?

 

Basketball ahead of tennis. Also ahead, probably the most underrated sport, water polo. Even when those guys are “resting” they are treading water, and there is a LOT of physical battling going on underwater.

 

Why do you think basketball is ahead of tennis, just out of curiosity?

 

Tennis players very underrated here.

The combination of technique, athleticism, strategy and mentality, all at an elite level is required to be up wth the best of the best tennis players. No coach when you are out there playing (unless you are Stefanos), you're on your own.

 

Also, in tennis there is more pressure on you since you are on your own. You can't really fall back on or depend on your team like in football or basketball. Just my opinion though.

 

I have mixed feelings about those ratings. I have played soccer, basketball, and tennis, and I rate soccer and basketball ahead of tennis, in terms of fitness and athleticism. In tennis, you get a breathing time between the rallies, but that is not the case with soccer and basketball, if you play those sports seriously. Baseball too, you get a breathing time, even more than tennis.

Never played boxing and ice hockey though, so, I cannot make an accurate comment comparing them with other sports. However, in boxing, you have to keep moving your hands and legs all the time and have good reflexive movements to avoid punches from the opponent, basically keeping yourself on your toes, so, I can see why it is rated higher than other sports. This is based totally on my observation.

 

I have mixed feelings about those ratings. I have played soccer, basketball, and tennis, and I rate soccer and basketball ahead of tennis, in terms of fitness and athleticism. In tennis, you get a breathing time between the rallies, but that is not the case with soccer and basketball, if you play those sports seriously. Baseball too, you get a breathing time, even more than tennis.

Never played boxing and ice hockey though, so, I cannot comment comparing them with other sports. In boxing, you have to keep moving your hands and legs all the time and have good reflexive movements to avoid punches, so, can see why it is rated higher than other sports.

Can't you get subbed out in football and basketball if you get tired though? You can't really do that in tennis. Also, football has a halftime IIRC were players get to rest and catch their breath, which you can't do in tennis. Even the breaks you do get in tennis are much shorter than a halftime. I think the same also applies for basketball except it is in quarters rather than halves.

Also, maybe I shouldn't comment on this since I don't really watch football much, but from the matches that I have seen, most footballers either jog or just stand around, especially when they are in their own half passing the ball around. Its not like they are running 24/7. Again though, that is just from what I have seen.

 

I came across this ESPN article the other day and it was really interesting seeing how they ranked various sports in terms of their difficulty, effectively comparing the athleticism of the players in various sports by creating particular categories i.e. speed, endurance, strength, agility, hand eye coordination.

ESPN.com: Page 2 - Sport Skills Difficulty Rankings

Out of 60 sports, tennis ranked at number 7 overall, behind various sports like boxing, American Football, Ice Hockey, Basketball, Wrestling and Martial Arts but ahead of other sports like Football, Baseball, Rugby and Cycling. Tennis was ranked very highly in terms Endurance, Hand eye coordination, Power and Agility, but ranked poorly in Nerve, Strength and Flexibility.

This is an old article, so maybe quite a few things have changed, but what do people think about these rankings? Is tennis rated and ranked fairly in your view, or is the sport being very underrated here? I feel like they could have ranked Tennis higher in some areas, particularly nerve, since it takes alot of courage (particularly in 5 set matches) to serve out a match and convert match points, and it doesn't help that there is no one really there to give support to tennis players like in team sports. What does everyone else think?

Dear Titan, I am not native speaker.
What is the difference between power and strength?

 

Dear Titan, I am not native speaker.
What is the difference between power and strength?

The definitions are at the end of the article:

STRENGTH: The ability to produce force. Example: NFL linebackers. POWER: The ability to produce strength in the shortest possible time. Example: Barry Bonds.

 

I don't understand those definitions.

 

I just assume that strength means how much someone can lift, and power means how much force someone can generate.

 

Football definitely requires more endurance than tennis. I say this from personal experience. In football you are constantly moving. In tennis you are not. The football field is way way bigger than a tennis court. You cover it all. There are more sprints required in football. At full speed. You have to jump for headers from time to time. There are also some physical battles in football. An average footballer covered 10-11 kilometers in a 90 minutes match. Nadal and Djokovic covered 6km each in the AO 2012 final.
In my view, football is at least 2 times more demanding in endurance than tennis. Probably 3 times more.

 

Those rankings by ESPN shouldn't be taken seriously.. Always favouring main sports played in USA.

Soccer (like most team sports) depends a lot on the position, if you're a centre half that reads the game well you can cost through matches without spending too much energy. Centre midfield you'll likely be doing a lot more short sprints. On the whole it's a more physically challenging sport than tennis but tennis generally requires more fine motor skills.

NFL is so stop and start, relative to other sports not such a demand on endurance, although very explosive. Rugby for example has similar physical demands but the game doesn't stall as much, and they don't wear protective padding, it's a more physically demanding sport than NFL, but that's the American bias in the article.

But that's the problem with ranking team sports, physical demands vary depending on position. They also vary depending on play style, obvious in tennis. Isner, Opelka, Karlovic never needed great stamina because of their game. However in wrestling and MMA there's no place to hide, you have to have great conditioning to compete at the top level.

 

For "real" football, it also depends on the League. Series A, for example, is slower and less physically intensive. Premier League is the opposite, OTOH.

I mean, you can see how Cristiano Ronaldo being exposed massively when moving back to United. In England, a forward can no longer just chill out in the final third to wait for balls. A forward in Premier League over the last 5 years has to press opponent defenders and actively chase after balls - which is what Salah, Mane or Jota do every second.

 

What does everyone else think?

Missed opportunity to come up with a legitimate table? I looked through the "experts", but they clearly lack the experience inside 90% of the listed sports to make a legitimate judgement. "speed skating" is just as variable as "track and field running", yet they lumped it together. And clearly it's extremely outdated, using Lance Armstrong, Marion Jones and Barry Bonds as examples says enough.

 

MMA/Boxing > tennis > team sports.

Mma/boxing the opponent has a ton on influence what you do, one punch (etc) and its over

Tennis is a bit different because their best shot only wins a point, doesnt ko you, but makes you play really bad

Team sports call timeout and sub players when they break down, cant do that in the other sports mentioned.

Factor in the coaching between rounds (fighting) and every play in LOL team sports, they are like robots who follow orders. Thats where tennis seperates itself

 

True.. in MMA/Boxing you are gassed and drop performance after a few minutes.. while on team sports and tennis you can go for hours..
Just lets take a look at Ngannou vs Gane match of a few days ago..

 

If they didn't put tennis at the very top, it's BS.
But tennis also became so much more physical in the past 15 years.
I consider the most demanding--and i mean on the pro level, not the club player--in terms of co-ordination, endurance, cardio, strength, balance, so many factors they all have to functioning at a very high level.

An Olympic gold decathelete was once asked what was the most demanding/difficult sport--and decathalon is way up there--and he said "tennis."

 

Tennis players definitely deserve credit for their incredible endurance, agility, and hand-eye coordination. Nerve and mental toughness are essential parts of the game, especially in those crucial moments. Rankings can be subjective, but I believe tennis players bring unique skills to the court that make the sport exciting and challenging. I would also like to play it, but I only have time for work and the fitness studio. But maybe someday.

 

Anyone comparing a team sport is full of it, especially saying it's higher than tennis, because they are constantly being rotated off the feild when tired or not fresh or not delivering!
In tennis it's one guy stuck out there by himself the entire time, with no significant rests at all.
Only triatheletes can compare with endurance, but they have no hand eye coordination demands, etc. just doing the same thing for hours. Players run, slide, stop, hit the ball requiring incredible precision re spin, placement net clearance and tactics re where the opponent is etc. then have to be ready instantly to move in any direction for the next shot.
Tennis is the most demanding of all sports, when all aspects are taken into consideration.

 

It's an ESPN article, so I generally take them with a grain of salt as they're skewed towards American sports. Hand Egg isn't a top 5 five sport.