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04-25-2024, 12:07 AM
#1

Is tennis the easiest sport to excel at and make it as a pro?

You basically need to have rich parents to afford the coaching, camps, traveling, etc

So the talent field is limited to other rich people

Of course there's the rare exception of a poor person making it

Compare that to other sports like soccer or football where you're competing against millions of others from all socioeconomic classes to make it to the pros
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04-25-2024, 12:30 AM
#2
no way, tennis at a pro level is hardcore
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04-25-2024, 12:52 AM
#3
Serena Williams is the final boss, you must defeat her in a cage fight before you can advance to the professional level and earn the title of a pro tennis player.
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04-25-2024, 01:24 AM
#4
Depends on what you mean by making it-the tour is bloated as hell & really only the top 200-300 odd out of nearly 2000 players make any real money. Most parents withdraw funding by the time their kids are early to mid twenties & still playing ITF Challengers etc.
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04-25-2024, 01:56 AM
#5
Golf, tennis, and ice/snow sports like hockey.



Putting your children in rowing and fencing gets them into Ivy League.
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04-25-2024, 03:03 AM
#6
No. The circuit tournaments are brutal.

Tennis is also not an easy sport to master.
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04-25-2024, 03:08 AM
#7
Kinda makes ya think of golf


Originally Posted By jimbob007
Depends on what you mean by making it-the tour is bloated as hell & really only the top 200-300 odd out of nearly 2000 players make any real money. Most parents withdraw funding by the time their kids are early to mid twenties & still playing ITF Challengers etc.

Yeah, I mean you wouldn't pay to keep playing American football beyond college age, so why would you pay to play competetive tennis longer if you aren't a top player making legit money off it?
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04-25-2024, 04:57 AM
#8
Never played tennis, only football and baseball crew. And I'm fairly certain tennis is well regarded as one of the absolute hardest sports to be top tier at. From what I understand the jumps from local to regional, regional to national, HS to college, etc. are all orders of magnitude tougher than the previous tier. Not saying that's not the case with other sports, but from what I understand tennis is a whole different animal.
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04-25-2024, 05:17 AM
#9
Tennis isn't an easy sport (no competitive sport is) but OP makes a valid point - tennis is expensive to get good at. Especially if you're in a colder/wetter climate. You basically have to be in a country club or indoor racquet club (very fuking expensive), need 2-3 rackets per season, 2-3 pairs of shoes per season, string changes (many times per season), coaching (the most expensive cost), and eventually traveling, camps, tourneys, etc.

The way I see it, you need a hyper-devoted parent and a considerable monetary investment to just get started. Not different from other sports, but definitely thins the talent pool a bit. Similar to swimming, hockey, etc.
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04-25-2024, 06:00 AM
#10
Lol

Fk no

Soccer

Everything else is genetics
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04-25-2024, 06:01 AM
#11
easy

catch a serving traveling at 140kmh

pick one
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04-25-2024, 06:39 AM
#12
Lmao no. Fairly easy to get mediocre at playing, but incredibly hard to master the game
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04-25-2024, 06:54 AM
#13
I honestly have no clue how I did well at tennis. You have to have good eye-hand coordination but I came from a family without a lot of money and grew up playing on the public courts like Serena and Venus, but even then my parents didn’t play.
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04-25-2024, 06:58 AM
#14
I'd rather attempt professional archery srs





You can even be kind of girthy around the waist and still make it. Look at these elite athletes

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04-25-2024, 07:10 AM
#15
Having a good coach can make a big difference in how you do in tennis. When I went to school, and played we had talent on the team but didn't go far. A year after graduating a new coach was hired. He quickly had the HS team winning state, and players receiving university scholarships.
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04-25-2024, 07:18 AM
#16
tennis is a scam for tall people to excell at

a short tennis player has no advantage whatsoever srs

it should be banned srs

the net and court never change giving manlets an advantage, i feel severally let down by my short parents and humanity for creating a sport where short people can never win

now badminton is a different story the lighting reflexes of a manlet can persuade that shuttlecock to soar with venom and sophistication beating a lanklet whos arms are flapping in a different stratosphere
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04-25-2024, 07:26 AM
#17
Originally Posted By buwbs
tennis is a scam for tall people to excell at

a short tennis player has no advantage whatsoever srs

it should be banned srs

the net and court never change giving manlets an advantage, i feel severally let down by my short parents and humanity for creating a sport where short people can never win

now badminton is a different story the lighting reflexes of a manlet can persuade that shuttlecock to soar with venom and sophistication beating a lanklet whos arms are flapping in a different stratosphere
Plenty of short players have excelled-Rod Laver, Bobby Riggs, Michael Chang, Marcelo Rios, David Ferrer, Diego Schwartzman etc.
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04-25-2024, 07:31 AM
#18
If you've ever played a D1 player at tennis you know its a completely different sport than most people play. I cant even imagine how ridiculous pros are…

I had a D3 player absolutely demolish me, like I never picked up a tennis racket. His serve was so fast I could barely get a racket on it. Imagine a serve 30% faster…What do you do, put a racket where you think the ball will end up? No clue how they do it..
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04-25-2024, 07:33 AM
#19
Originally Posted By jimbob007
Plenty of short players have excelled-Rod Laver, Bobby Riggs, Michael Chang, Marcelo Rios, David Ferrer, Diego Schwartzman etc.
That's true even in my day, although when I coached high school girls 10 years ago they all were 5'8+. I'm 5'5, 5'6 pre-2012.

Now everyone is tall in high school, college and the pros. Of course it helps with the serve, but typically tall people aren't as agile.
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04-25-2024, 08:07 AM
#20
I play tennis occasionally, very poorly.

Was at some courts about a year ago and some kids went to some nearby courts that looked middle/high school age, and had some coaches with them.

They warmed up for a bit, and the first time they truly "hit" a ball, everybody within 100 yards of their court was aware. It just sounded different.


Those dudes were playing a completely different game than everyone else on the property.
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04-25-2024, 10:36 AM
#21
Not at all. Probably the hardest sport to make a living at excluding combat sports.

Youre competing against the whole world and really only the top 100 players do well and the top 200 make a living. If you're the 200th best basketball player in the world you will start in the NBA.

Plus to make it you have to spend insane amount of money on travel and accommodations. So if you have a couple bad weeks the money won't be there.

Then as for the sport itself it's very demanding. Matches can take upto 5 hours as opposed to NFL or NBA where it's only 60 minutes with tons of breaks and stoppages. To win a tournament you're looking at winning at least 12 sets. One bad day and you're out. Every match is basically the playoffs. You can't just tank games or matches.
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04-25-2024, 10:37 AM
#22
Originally Posted By StainlesSon
easy

catch a serving traveling at 140kmh

pick one

It's more like 130 mph. Pros serve 200+ kmh
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04-25-2024, 01:11 PM
#23
Not a chance. It’s literally you alone in there. Even your coaches can’t do chit but cheer you from the stands.

Arguing which sport is the easiest to go pro at is ridiculous. They all require God given talent, nurturing and a chitload of hard work.
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04-25-2024, 01:41 PM
#24
What you really want to do is pick an obscure sport that not many people do in your country. Ideally a team sport. It cuts down on the amount of competition. Most competitive sports now are a rich person's thing only because high levels require travel and insane money for coaches.

For example, there was a guy who wanted to say he was an Olympian so he chose men's handball in the US because nobody plays it here, and he made the Olympic team.

Instead of tennis in the US, I'd go for something like badminton. Requires more stamina but is easier to learn and play.
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04-25-2024, 01:55 PM
#25
Originally Posted By jimmybobjim
Tennis isn't an easy sport (no competitive sport is) but OP makes a valid point - tennis is expensive to get good at. Especially if you're in a colder/wetter climate. You basically have to be in a country club or indoor racquet club (very fuking expensive), need 2-3 rackets per season, 2-3 pairs of shoes per season, string changes (many times per season), coaching (the most expensive cost), and eventually traveling, camps, tourneys, etc.

The way I see it, you need a hyper-devoted parent and a considerable monetary investment to just get started. Not different from other sports, but definitely thins the talent pool a bit. Similar to swimming, hockey, etc.
Ya the argument might've held up 50 years ago.
If you have the funding and parents to push you into it, maybe among the easier to play collegiately.
You also have to be very athletic or be 6'6"+ with a monster serve.

Tbh I'd argue it requires more athleticism than baseball or hockey in most cases, and far fewer people on a tennis team so the answer might be a hard no.
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04-25-2024, 02:02 PM
#26
Originally Posted By BHall1991
It's more like 130 mph. Pros serve 200+ kmh
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04-25-2024, 02:09 PM
#27
My vote goes to golf. Literally zero athleticism needed other than being able to walk short distances. You can be a 3 pack a day chain smoker and it won’t affect your performance.
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04-25-2024, 02:26 PM
#28
Curling for sure. LOL at people saying golf
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04-25-2024, 02:31 PM
#29
Hard as a man. Extremely easy if you are a sloot. I'm actually shocked not more sloots try to get into it you are basically an instant millionaire
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04-25-2024, 11:02 PM
#30
bump
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