How FAST are tennis players?

I am Sam wrote:

Have you actually played football at a decent level where if you were to 'stand around' for half the time you wouldn't be in the team?

I have seen world elite level soccer with my own eyes, and they didn't lie to me. And once again, they're only out there 90 minutes in any case. Only limited overtime.

Men's pro tennis matches can go over 4 or even 5 hours. Soccer players would collapse from exhaustion long before then.

Lol, Djokovic would certainly be faster in the mile out of those three you're listing. Not even close. Guessing Djoko could be around 4:25. Jeez, I mean I've run 4:50 at 36 yrs old without much running at all.

However no tennis player is coming close to De Minaur. This guys quickness and speed is unmatched in tennis and I doubt more than a few can match in any other sport.

I wouldn't be surprised if this guy can run a 100 in 10.5 but also run a mile in 4:15.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/de-minaur-milan-2018-speed-feature-atp

GRUNT

Quick movements side to side has absolutely nothing to do with endurance running. I've run with Federer. If he got anywhere close to 6 in the mile I would be shocked. I was primarily a basketball player and played through summers for many years for 6+ hours per day. When I started running I was garbage. I could cross the court very quickly, change orientation very fast and cover the court quick. I was smart and knew how to use my arm length to my advantage. Maybe if he took some months he could be okay for a hobbyjogger. Right off the bat, trash. Federer with no training could not ever be close to breaking 6:30 and I'm being very generous. Sub 7 would be great for him. I'm not joking or exaggerating. Being able to move quickly for 1 or 2 seconds to get to the other side of a tennis court has nothing at all to do with endurance I don't understand why this keeps coming up here.

Wozniak was no slouch at the marathon and Steffi Graff apparently had great 400 potential.

Coco Gauff is an excellent runner.

I get that most people here understand at least a little of basic physiology. I get people thinking soccer players can be elite runners just because Galen Rupp was a soccer player first. The premise makes sense. It does not make any sense at all why someone would think a pro tennis player could easily be a distance runner. Yes tennis can last for hours and can be exhausting but it has nothing to do with aerobic endurance! They move hard for seconds and rest. They repeat this for hours and eventually get tired. That's completely unrelated to sustained running.

What in the? wrote:

Lol, Djokovic would certainly be faster in the mile out of those three you're listing. Not even close. Guessing Djoko could be around 4:25. Jeez, I mean I've run 4:50 at 36 yrs old without much running at all.

However no tennis player is coming close to De Minaur. This guys quickness and speed is unmatched in tennis and I doubt more than a few can match in any other sport.

I wouldn't be surprised if this guy can run a 100 in 10.5 but also run a mile in 4:15.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/de-minaur-milan-2018-speed-feature-atp

Other lightning fast guys:

* Fabric Santoro (even into his 30s was one of the quickest guys on tour)

* Nadal in late teens

* Michael Chang

So you've "run" with Federer? I guess he realised you were an average hobby jogger and allowed you to keep up. He sure as hell wasn't racing.

Your comments are ridiculous. I could run faster times at aged 12 than what you say he can - and I was not elite athlete. Like most top pros, he is - and would be highly-conditioned so that he could play a succession of 5-setters over the course of a tournament.

Tennis is an explosive sport - I've played it for years - but at higher levels it is also a game of gruelling endurance. It can be wind-sprints for hours. I've seen players die out there. And clowns like you don't think athletes of the highest level - which players like Federer are - would be no better than hobby joggers if put on a track or a road.

ShilohDoesntCare wrote:

I get that most people here understand at least a little of basic physiology. I get people thinking soccer players can be elite runners just because Galen Rupp was a soccer player first. The premise makes sense. It does not make any sense at all why someone would think a pro tennis player could easily be a distance runner. Yes tennis can last for hours and can be exhausting but it has nothing to do with aerobic endurance! They move hard for seconds and rest. They repeat this for hours and eventually get tired. That's completely unrelated to sustained running.

Clearly, you have never interval trained - which is closer to the demands of elite tennis.

Our you guys serious in thinking that players like Federer and and Nadal couldn't break 5 minutes? Of course they could do it. Just based on their amazing conditioning and natural athleticism they would be approaching the mid four and half minute range.

Some time back I did try to find information online of how Nadal trains. Apparently he does virtually all his training on the tennis court. That is different than what Bjorn Borg did back in the day. Borg did long training runs.

But rest assured, Nadal's training on the tennis court includes drills of sustained sideline to sideline running after tennis balls that would approximate the interval training an elite miler does.

You are talking about guys who are not that tired after 4 hours of a marathon tennis match.

Armstronglivs wrote:

ShilohDoesntCare wrote:

I get that most people here understand at least a little of basic physiology. I get people thinking soccer players can be elite runners just because Galen Rupp was a soccer player first. The premise makes sense. It does not make any sense at all why someone would think a pro tennis player could easily be a distance runner. Yes tennis can last for hours and can be exhausting but it has nothing to do with aerobic endurance! They move hard for seconds and rest. They repeat this for hours and eventually get tired. That's completely unrelated to sustained running.

Clearly, you have never interval trained - which is closer to the demands of elite tennis.

That's the point though. The brief recovery breaks make it completely different from actual racing over any distance, SOME tennis players would have good running ability or even great but they are not above average runners just because they play tennis.

There's video of guys doubled over after a lengthy rally that is a bit too close to what might be considered a race.

See? They are hobbyjoggers or slightly better.

https://www.sportskeeda.com/running/5-tennis-stars-who-have-run-marathon/5

sticks in craw wrote:

Armstronglivs wrote:

Clearly, you have never interval trained - which is closer to the demands of elite tennis.

That's the point though. The brief recovery breaks make it completely different from actual racing over any distance, SOME tennis players would have good running ability or even great but they are not above average runners just because they play tennis.

There's video of guys doubled over after a lengthy rally that is a bit too close to what might be considered a race.

A lengthy rally is more like repetitive 100m sprint starts. If you start a 100m sprint, running 5-15 meters 50x in a row I would think anyone would double over in exhaustion.

How often have you seen a 100 shot rally, especially a high speed one?

As usual, so many "experts" here who have never played competitive tennis. You can't get to the top now without serious speed combined with endurance.

I was an ok amateur player and a good but not elite athlete. I could run a 12sec 100m and a 4.30 mile on the road. There's no way that I would have been a better athlete than Nadal, Djokovic, Federer or Murray.

Armstronglivs wrote:

As usual, so many "experts" here who have never played competitive tennis. You can't get to the top now without serious speed combined with endurance.

I was an ok amateur player and a good but not elite athlete. I could run a 12sec 100m and a 4.30 mile on the road. There's no way that I would have been a better athlete than Nadal, Djokovic, Federer or Murray.

But not because of lack of running ability. Those guys almost certainly can't run that fast. Monfils could smoke those guys and they still outrank him.

Still, the question was likely applied to pro tennis players in general.

Murray is trying to come back with a fake hip and Federer at 40 with repaired knees. No runner does that.

sticks in craw wrote:

Armstronglivs wrote:

As usual, so many "experts" here who have never played competitive tennis. You can't get to the top now without serious speed combined with endurance.

I was an ok amateur player and a good but not elite athlete. I could run a 12sec 100m and a 4.30 mile on the road. There's no way that I would have been a better athlete than Nadal, Djokovic, Federer or Murray.

But not because of lack of running ability. Those guys almost certainly can't run that fast. Monfils could smoke those guys and they still outrank him.

Still, the question was likely applied to pro tennis players in general.

Murray is trying to come back with a fake hip and Federer at 40 with repaired knees. No runner does that.

You don't think elite runners will have surgeries, and still be competing in their thirties - and even their forties? Even so, Federer and Murray are not the players they were - and never will be again. But I have seen top pros like them on court and their combination of speed and stamina is outstanding. They may not have quite what a top track athlete has - and don't do the same kind of training - but none of them would only be an "average" runner or even hobby jogger, as some here have suggested. I played a 1.46 800m runner at tennis - and beat him - and he was nowhere near as fast around the court as a pro tennis player.

There's "quickness" and then there's running speed. All cats are quick even though a cheetah can run twice the speed of any others.

Your example just proves that running speed and endurance does not matter as much.

Here's some video of Novak training. Actual running seems like a rare event. Check out the parts where he's actually running. He sort of marches in place as if he fell on his racket.

But of course that's typical form of a n 11 second guy with near four minute mile ability.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Coo9MSruQWE