John McEnroe did not say that any high school boys tennis player at a halfway decent program could beat Serena William. STFU.
If match then 1/8 is probably about right. She has to make a mistake at some point 1/8 matches. It game has to be much much lower than 1/8.
The track analogies are not good given that you don’t make “unforced errors” in track. That would be more in line with 1/8 men think they could beat Serena Williams which is not what this is.
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.
Good HS athletes are always better than the top women in the world. Viz. consider LeBron jumping from HS to being one of the best in the NBA, and more recently the HS guy who ran 3:34+ and the incoming Harvard freshman who went 13:27.
Here are the leading prep 400 meter runners. Where does the new lady collegiate record holder Mu's time rank on this list?
46.26 *Khamari Terrell (Shoemaker, Killeen, Tx)
46.40 *Justin Braun (Central, Westerville, Oh)
46.63 Weston Baptiste (Academy, Montverde, Fl)
46.74 Bradley Favors (Stephenson, Stone Mountain, Ga)
46.84 Markevus Jackson (Osceola, Kissimmee, Fl)
46.95 Sean Watkins (Aquinas, Ft Lauderdale, Fl)
47.01 *Will Sumner (Woodstock, Ga)
47.02 Calob Larson (Legacy, Bismarck, ND)
47.05 Torrie Cox (Chaminade-Madonna, Hollywood, Fl)
47.20 *Jayson Ward (Bird, Chesterfield, Va)
speedy demon wrote:
Here are the leading prep 400 meter runners. Where does the new lady collegiate record holder Mu's time rank on this list?
46.26 *Khamari Terrell (Shoemaker, Killeen, Tx)
46.40 *Justin Braun (Central, Westerville, Oh)
46.63 Weston Baptiste (Academy, Montverde, Fl)
46.74 Bradley Favors (Stephenson, Stone Mountain, Ga)
46.84 Markevus Jackson (Osceola, Kissimmee, Fl)
46.95 Sean Watkins (Aquinas, Ft Lauderdale, Fl)
47.01 *Will Sumner (Woodstock, Ga)
47.02 Calob Larson (Legacy, Bismarck, ND)
47.05 Torrie Cox (Chaminade-Madonna, Hollywood, Fl)
47.20 *Jayson Ward (Bird, Chesterfield, Va)
Better yet - where does the drugged to the max world record holder Marita Koch's 47.60 fall on this list?
I reckon if I played with her the ball would just knock me out tbh. They go so fast I'd be dead from a tennis ball imprint to the skull!!!
Why not?
She never double faults?
The Unkle wrote:
Why not?
She never double faults?
To be fair, if she were playing some schmuck who took a survey she could take something off her serve so that it was safely in play and still win every point against the guy.
No, one in eight men do not think they could score a point against Serena. One in eight of the men who completed one survey think they could score a point against Serena. Not even remotely the same thing.
If Serena tried to play her very best against me, I think I could win a point or two because she might double-fault.
If she played at less than her best, and just tried to put the ball in play when she served, then I can't see how I would get a point off her. I wouldn't be able to count on an unforced error.
Okay, I see that previous posters made the same points. Sorry for the duplication.
What point are you trying to make? You just listed the top prep 400 meter runners nationally. The claimed McEnroe comment was any dude on a good high school tennis team. Do you not understand how vastly different these things are?
A better example would be looking at a top 10% HS XC team and comparing their 5k time against Letesenbet Gidey. Good luck with that... Although admittedly the gap shrinks as distance gets shorter.
highhoppingworm wrote:
What point are you trying to make? You just listed the top prep 400 meter runners nationally. The claimed McEnroe comment was any dude on a good high school tennis team. Do you not understand how vastly different these things are?
Actually, the claim was "the top guy on a good HS team".
Words matter.
Ok. Fair point. Would you say that most "top guys" on a "good high school team" are in the top 20 nationally in the 400? Seems like a pretty ridiculous standard.
Reading Comprehension wrote:
highhoppingworm wrote:
What point are you trying to make? You just listed the top prep 400 meter runners nationally. The claimed McEnroe comment was any dude on a good high school tennis team. Do you not understand how vastly different these things are?
Actually, the claim was "the top guy on a good HS team".
Words matter.
Also...wasn't the actual comment "halfway decent" vs "good". I don't really think the semantics matter but this is a bit of a pot/kettle situation.
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/1149699495002853376Discus.
One in eight men don’t even play tennis, so, this is a ridiculous assertion. She would mop the floor with 49 out of 50 men or maybe 99 out of 100.
However, having played competitive tennis, I would, no doubt, take a point from her. More than one if we are talking a match. If we are only talking one game and she’s on serve, well, then it would be unlikely, not impossible, but improbable.
I’d just jump on every serve she makes, hit it as hard as I can. I’d be bound to get lucky and get one past her. In a two set match she’d have to serve out at least 6 times, and need 4 points each time. That’s 24 opportunities for me to steal one.
I doubt I could win anything on my serve. I’d be trying too hard and would double fault each time
I have played a fair amount of tennis (just for fun) in my days on Earth, and I could not score a point against Serena. Counting on unforced errors or some lucky-ass shot is silly.
Flagpole wrote:
Counting on unforced errors or some lucky-ass shot is silly.
It's not silly if points are awarded for those things.
If we are talking about a match that is 348 consecutive points won. I am actually not sure it is that silly. Agree if it is just a game then it is totally ridiculous. I would completely unscientifically put the over/under at maybe 200 consecutive points.
At my best, I was a 4.5 USTA player as well as a runner. I probably could have gotten 2-3 points off Serena at most. The average non-tennis player would get 0 points against her. You have to remember that when the top pros make unforced errors, they were facing a pretty difficult inbound shot against other top pros. Against non-tennis players, it would be 48-0 pretty much every time.