Could Serena Williams break 2:50 in the marathon if she trained for 6 months and lost 10 pounds?

Being a great tennis player is primarily a function of having terrific hand eye coordination, grooved and repeatable strokes, and a great deal of high level practice from young age.

Remember how much trouble Lance Armstrong had with the marathon. With years of practice he finally got his time down to 2:46. I think a lot of folks thought he could probably run 2:30 on his first try based on being a tremendous endurance athlete.

As I recall it was not long ago that she couldn't finish her own 5K. She hopped a taxi within a mile.

The english language wrote:

observer of nutjobs wrote:

Are you saying SW is NOT athletic?

SW is athletic of course but she's primarily a great tennis player. Even in tennis there have been better athletes like Steffi Graf.

Please provide the specific athletic activities that both Steffi and Serena have undertaken, and the documented results showing that Steffi is more athletic.

gonna need some data english wrote:

The english language wrote:

SW is athletic of course but she's primarily a great tennis player. Even in tennis there have been better athletes like Steffi Graf.

Please provide the specific athletic activities that both Steffi and Serena have undertaken, and the documented results showing that Steffi is more athletic.

Steffi was svelte. Serena makes Shaq look petite. Who do you think was/is more athletic?

-3/10

Screwball Jackson wrote:

gonna need some data english wrote:

Please provide the specific athletic activities that both Steffi and Serena have undertaken, and the documented results showing that Steffi is more athletic.

Steffi was svelte. Serena makes Shaq look petite. Who do you think was/is more athletic?

Serena hits harder, and is quicker and more explosive than Steffi. What is your measure of athleticism?

gonna need some data english wrote:

Screwball Jackson wrote:

Steffi was svelte. Serena makes Shaq look petite. Who do you think was/is more athletic?

Serena hits harder, and is quicker and more explosive than Steffi. What is your measure of athleticism?

What is your measure of quickness and explosiveness? Have you actually measured who is quicker and who was/is more explosive? You have done tests to determine who is the quicker and the more explosive of the two? Or are we relying on the "eyeball" test?"

The english language wrote:

SW is athletic of course but she's primarily a great tennis player. Even in tennis there have been better athletes like Steffi Graf.

Components of athleticism:

Speed: obviously she is fast

Strength: obviously she is strong

Coordination: obviously she is coordinated

Endurance: she has endurance, but not in a distance running way. she does play some long, grueling matches. however, i wouldn't generally put endurance at the top of the list for tennis players, especially females

Flexibility: Not her strongest point, but tennis players are pretty flexible

she can't run 5K wrote:

As I recall it was not long ago that she couldn't finish her own 5K. She hopped a taxi within a mile.

That was actually Mike Rossi in drag and blackface.

Serena fan wrote:

She has a bit of a wide girth now but losing 10 pounds would make her that much lighter on her feet. She is obviously a phenomenal athlete with world class endurance. After 6 months of marathon-specific training could she break 2:50?

Better question. Could you take a single game off Serena Williams if you played her in 10 games, she gave you two free points each game (i.e. you start each game at 30 - love), and she could only hit groundstrokes (i.e. no overhead serve), and she had to wear jeans and a hoodie?

thejeff wrote:

Most charts list about 5'10" 135 lbs for a sub-3:00 female marathon runner. That is 20lbs less than her listed weight and 25-30lbs less than her likely actual weight.

What charts list marathon time by height and weight??

gonna need some data english wrote:

The english language wrote:

SW is athletic of course but she's primarily a great tennis player. Even in tennis there have been better athletes like Steffi Graf.

Please provide the specific athletic activities that both Steffi and Serena have undertaken, and the documented results showing that Steffi is more athletic.

Graf trained with the West German track and field team for the 88 Olympics and was quick enough to qualify for the 400/800m.

"What is your measure of quickness and explosiveness? Have you actually measured who is quicker and who was/is more explosive? You have done tests to determine who is the quicker and the more explosive of the two? Or are we relying on the "eyeball" test?"

I asked for specifics and got an "eyeball" response as follows:

"Steffi was svelte. Serena makes Shaq look petite. Who do you think was/is more athletic?"

And the eyeball response was calculated to make Serena look bad - yeah, she makes Shaq look petite. Right. - while also apparently dismissing the athleticism of Shaq.

coach d wrote:

Why would she want to? Marathons are for losers that can't do anything else, and Serena obviously can do something else. And how badly would her power tennis game suffer if she started to train like a misfit marathoner?

Don't sit here and tell me that the talk of every college tennis locker room isn't about how good Eliud Kipchoge or Paula Radcliffe would have been at tennis if that's what they trained for

I too remember reading that steffi Graff had excellent 400 speed. Serena could be a good thrower

This is a crazy question. She is a power athlete. If she lost forty pounds and trained hard, she might run sub 3:30. If she lost twenty pounds, she'd probably be unstoppable in tennis, because she'd be quicker and wouldn't lose that much power if she did it right. And this is possibly the greatest women's tennis player of all time. (Steffi Graf's #'s were radically elevated by her fan's attack on Monica Seles, who at the time was dominant. Graf suddenly went on a great run after Parche attacked Seles--and Seles never felt safe again with Parche free and barely elevated security measures).

Not a chance in hell! She couldn't even finish her own charity 5k. Somebody dig up the thread from a few months ago.

I believe Serena could run 3:40 in the marathon if she trained for 12 months after first losing 60 pounds.