1 in 8 men think they could score a point on Serena Williams in a tennis match

I think that letsrun proves it every day that 1 in 8 men are idiots.

zcxvzxcv wrote:

She's got to get an unforced error at some point, right?

Ya she probably won't serve in bounds EVERY time. And if she holds back a little to be more accurate maybe I could get a lucky hit. No way I'd beat her in a full match, or a set or even a game, but if she has to win 48 straight points, I doubt that will happen. At some point she will probably hit it out of bounds or screw up two straight serves.

Flagpole wrote:

nailed it wrote:

It's not silly if points are awarded for those things.

It is if you COUNT on them happening. Serena (and she is getting older, but in her prime), is good enough to be very careful as to NOT have unforced errors and not let the vast majority of men score a point on her.

No way 1 in 8 men could. Could 1 in 8 men who actually play a lot of tennis do it? Probably.

Men who are in the top one eighth in terms of athletic ability could almost certainly win a point against her. They're going to have strength and speed very comparable to hers.

It's a different game... wrote:

The #1 boys tennis player at any HS with a halfway decent tennis program would mop the court with Serena.

This is not just my opinion. It's essentially a direct quote from John McEnroe back in the day, in reply to some idiot asking him how Serena and Venus would do if they played on the men's tour.

Maybe, but they wouldn't be able to out bench press her

nailed it wrote:

Flagpole wrote:

It is if you COUNT on them happening. Serena (and she is getting older, but in her prime), is good enough to be very careful as to NOT have unforced errors and not let the vast majority of men score a point on her.

No way 1 in 8 men could. Could 1 in 8 men who actually play a lot of tennis do it? Probably.

Men who are in the top one eighth in terms of athletic ability could almost certainly win a point against her. They're going to have strength and speed very comparable to hers.

The highly athletic men are not going to have strength and speed comparable to hers. Their strength and speed are going to be far superior to hers.

Tennis isn't very popular anymore so I'm guessing many people don't know or have forgotten how difficult the game is and/or have no concept about how bad they are. Being very athletic doesn't really help at all if you aren't an experienced, regularly practicing, competitive player. That being said, golden matches are extremely rare, even in futures qualifying where there can be matches between up and coming top level talents against locally competitive types. Serena Williams is very erratic, double faults a lot, and is likely to blow some easy shots. 48 in a row is tough. It's kind of like asking a man if he thinks he could win a single skin playing head to head against a top woman golfer over 54 holes. Or asking if they think they could score a single point one on one against a professional basketball player of similar height in a game to 50.

One man in eight, if they were lucky, might be able to hit a ball served by Serena Williams. I'm talking about getting the racket on the ball. Returning it in play is another matter. In the unlikely event you get it back over the net she slams the ball down your throat. Point Ms. Williams.

She's not going to double fault. She only does that when she's serving near the top of her ability. Against some shlub off the streets? She'll serve at 90% and mop the floor with him.

A good local tennis player could take a point off of her. Probably most of the men's ATP tour could beat her, but these are the very best tennis players in the world (sometimes it's hard to remember that the 738th ranked player on the tour is a tennis playing powerhouse who could kill ordinary humans, even if he's dog meat when facing Djokovic).

If in fact we are talking about a match and not a single game as other's have pointed out the likelihood of scoring a single point is fairly high as even the best tennis players make unforced errors or double fault from time to time even when they are serving conservatively.

Also people can get lucky or just have a good shot from time to time. Twenty years ago I attended a charity fundraiser match / exhibition between Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras. Gates was actually a decent tennis player but Bezos had never played until a few weeks before the match when he started to take some lessons to get ready for the match. Needless to say he was pretty awful but still got a few good shots off and at one point scored a point off Sampras who proceeded to hit very hard and ace Bezos on his next serve (previously he was serving full speed to Agassi but taking it very easy on Bezos.

I know it was doubles and not a singles match but the point is that anyone can get a lucky shot and score one point out of 48. I think 1/8 is pretty good odds.

Now to the point someone made about Serena getting mopped by a good high school player that is ludicrous. In her prime she was serving over 125 MPH and even at age 39 she's still managed to hit 124 at the Aussie open this year. Most boys tennis players don't top 100 or 110 mph and while there are probably a few that can hit as hard as Serena its very rare and I can guarantee you they aren't as accurate. There is a huge difference between a very good or even exceptional tennis player and the world top 500 for men. Currently the best tennis player under 18 is ranked 497th in the world and the second best 674. There are only 5 under 19 players in the ATP top 500.

I'd place my money on Serena to win any and all matches against high school students.

I remember Serena playing a player who was ranked either 200 or 500 on the tour. He toyed with her and beat her 6-0 and 6-1. She gets slaughtered by a good college player. She doesn't have the speed.

sparky polastry wrote:

That being said, golden matches are extremely rare, even in futures qualifying where there can be matches between up and coming top level talents against locally competitive types.

There have been at least three golden matches in the last five years.

Here is the latest of those three matches.

burt parkss wrote:

I remember Serena playing a player who was ranked either 200 or 500 on the tour. He toyed with her and beat her 6-0 and 6-1. She gets slaughtered by a good college player. She doesn't have the speed.

He was ranked at #203 at the time, but had been ranked as high as #38 four years earlier.

And Serena was well before her prime.

SportyMcSportBall wrote:

Turns out that 1 in 8 men said they could win a point in a game of tennis against Serena Williams.

SOURCE:

https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/1149699495002853376

Discus.

8 of 8 Real men couldn't care less about this

Are we talking about a game, a set or a match? It's not clear from the question.

seen williams in the flesh at wimbledon. she is very wide and built like a truck, whereas venus was much slimmer but not a great mover either. anyone who can place their serves or move someone side to side will win points. professional womens players at equivalent to mens USTA level 5-5.5.

i saw them in doubles vs pliskova and someone else who i cant remember. pliskova has/had one of the most powerful serves amongst the women but placement wins out over power. power is all serena has so a decent male place who can work placement and spins will win games easily.

In my 20s when I was in good tennis shape? Absolutely could take one point over a MATCH:

In a single game (4 points to win. Need to win by 2) with Serena serving?

No way.

In a single game (4 points to win. Need to win by 2) with me serving?

No way.

In a match where the winner has to win 6 games twice?

Yes, I absolutely believe I could win one point. Here's why:

I have a friend, who played #1 at U-Va in the early 2000s. We hit the ball around casually (well, for me it was a hard effort. Ha) back in like 2006.

His serve, I could barely even touch. Like you're talking well over 100mph with pinpoint accuracy. He'd just see where I was positioned on the court, even when I was in the middle, pick a spot and hit it to where I wouldn't reach it. I could step way back from the baseline. Be near the baseline. Try to creep on the serve. Nothing worked.

I'm telling you, the power they hit the serve with is absurd.

I had an OKAY serve (Not overly powerful, but wasn't just lobbed in there..and I could place the ball well) and I was able to win a few points here and there. Mostly due to his return of my serve being more of a "reactionary" or "defensive" swing then anything. I'd be in control of my next shot...but honestly, anything beyond that, he was at the advantage and would just basically hit the shots wherever he wanted and I was either running for my life trying to get to the ball or watching the ball whizz by me.

Add in him missing a few shots with unforced errors and yes, I took some points.

No "average" male is going to win a single point over a match. Have you seen "average" people play tennis? They can barely hit the ball over the net, let alone keep it in the court. No weekend warrior is going to have a chance.

Someone who played in high school/college would have a chance for a single point over an entire match simply due to the fact that she'd have to hit 48 straight games without a single unforced error...and that is really, really hard, even for pros.

18rabbitskiing wrote:

Also people can get lucky or just have a good shot from time to time. Twenty years ago I attended a charity fundraiser match / exhibition between Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras. Gates was actually a decent tennis player but Bezos had never played until a few weeks before the match when he started to take some lessons to get ready for the match. Needless to say he was pretty awful but still got a few good shots off and at one point scored a point off Sampras who proceeded to hit very hard and ace Bezos on his next serve (previously he was serving full speed to Agassi but taking it very easy on Bezos.

Well, sure. If Sampras is screwing around in an exhibition match and wafting balls in your general direction to keep the people watching and the nice billionaires who are funding the whole thing happy, then you might hit one back. What if he's actually trying to play?

Oh, wait, you said that. He aced Bezos. So, there you go.

18rabbitskiing wrote:

Now to the point someone made about Serena getting mopped by a good high school player that is ludicrous. In her prime she was serving over 125 MPH and even at age 39 she's still managed to hit 124 at the Aussie open this year. Most boys tennis players don't top 100 or 110 mph and while there are probably a few that can hit as hard as Serena its very rare and I can guarantee you they aren't as accurate. There is a huge difference between a very good or even exceptional tennis player and the world top 500 for men. Currently the best tennis player under 18 is ranked 497th in the world and the second best 674. There are only 5 under 19 players in the ATP top 500.

I'd place my money on Serena to win any and all matches against high school students.

The rankings freeze due to Covid skews against the youngest players a bit because the players they'd be moving past are still holding on to 2019 points. There are many high school players who could beat Serena, although they are all exceptional. Top players are used to returning big serves from an early age. Serena has a powerful first serve, but her second serve is more attackable than the kicks they're used to seeing from high level 6'-4" types. Many boys hit as hard or harder than Serena, they just don't attempt to do so every shot because it's not smart to do so when you can't overpower inferior athletes the way Serena does to her lumbering, slow footed opponents. Many hit more accurately and create better angles than Serena, and all of them move much, much better. The last factor is really what it comes down to. Serena's footwork and particularly her ability to change directions is grossly inferior to any high level male opponent.

Here's an example of match between a 17 year old ranked in the 700s and a 16 year old with no ATP ranking. If you think Serena Williams has too much for either of them, that's your opinion.

Next survey should be:

Would you be able to hit a pitch from Jacob deGrom?

I'd bet 1 in 8 would say "yes" to that, too.

Morons.