I have two thoughts about tennis at the moment.
- The other day, I timed a set of tennis, and timed how long the ball was actually in play. I discovered that the ball was in play for 14% of the set time. This is really poor. I know that tennis (like any sport) is difficult and tiring, but really, 14%?! Surely they don't need rests every 2 games, given that they get reasonable rests between points.
- People are getting excited about the amount of diving that it happening. Nothing wrong with that, it is exciting to watch. But should it really be that novel? Shouldn't we see players diving for shots in every match?
3 comments:
I disagree. tennis players are at the peak of physical fitness - and they sometimes look knackered. maybe you should consider their mental strength that they need to have. 14% of a tennis match is long- how many other single player sports are over 2 -3 hours long in the midday sun (temperatures at wimbledon this year were at times pushing 30-35 degrees C). I think that if you looked at the amount of time tennis players spend physically exerting theirselves in comparison to other sports, you would see that they are comparable. On top of this... you want diving. I think that diving is just that - an example of a shot that really means something to a player playing at the top of his game and finding that little bit extra to just edge out an opponent. that is all. i await a witty yet strongly worded and possibly humourous reply. though i dont hold out much hope...
This will be strongly worded, but I do not plan to include humour or wit today.
Tennis players are clearly very fit, which is why I am surprised that they need as much rest as they do compared to other sports.
Yes, it's single player, but the court is much smaller than most team sports courts/pitches. They don't play for 2-3 hours, more like for 30 minutes. Which, yes, is tiring, but shouldn't need 86% rest time. Some rest time, fine, but not 86%. Compare with football, for example, which is about two thirds play time.
Diving: I think that comment came from a natural comparison with Frisbee where dives happen often. I am surprised that diving is so rare in tennis. A player may dive for a shot 1 out of 100 times - why not some of the other 99? I'm not expecting it on all of the 99, just more, maybe 20?
I disagree
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