re: Tennis is the most difficult sport to master

Figure skating seems pretty damn hard these days with all the spiny shite and the blades of death attached to your feet.

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No. Golf.

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You can go to country clubs around the country and find 35-45 year old men that can shoot scratch and can play in a pro tournament and not completely embarassing themselves. They would shoot in the mid to high 70s and not look that out of place

Good luck doing that with tennis You would have the best 45 year old country clubbers looking like a monkey fricking a tennis ball if you put them on court with a pro

A 50 year old just won a major

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A 50 year old just won a major

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That's a good point, but that 50 year old has been working on mastering the game for probably 40 years. He worked his arse off to be in position to win. And the next week he probably didn't finish in the top 100.

One of my biggest gripes about pro tennis is the top players get the easy draw. It's literally set up to be easier for them than anyone else. Can you imagine if the number one seed in college football got the easiest schedule every week?

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If you ever watch one of the top dogs hit a golf ball, it's not anything like the best amateurs.

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No shite

But the scratch amateurs can still shoot in the 70s and not look like an out of place baboon

In tennis they are going to look like a fricking a-hole trying to compete

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One of my biggest gripes about pro tennis is the top players get the easy draw. It's literally set up to be easier for them than anyone else. Can you imagine if the number one seed in college football got the easiest schedule every week?

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Djokovic played a top 10 player 18 times last season

Yeh bro, totes easier than what college football teams play

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But the scratch amateurs can still shoot in the 70s and not look like an out of place baboon

In tennis they are going to look like a fricking a-hole trying to compete

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I don't think very many of them would make the cut at a pro tournament. If they did, it'd be pretty amazing.

If you take tennis, it's really not an old man's game. Fed isn't even 40 and he's practically ancient out there. I don't know that there are really a lot of guys playing tennis in their physical prime at any kind of high level, other than pros. You're 100% right that the average tennis players you'll find at a CC would get blown off the court by pros.

But I think the question is really how easy it is for the average person to reach pro level. Like, if you take a kid off the street or the best kid in kindergarten gym class and you try to teach them a sport, which is easiest. The thing about golf is there arent any inherent physical attributes that automatically give you an advantage. It's all skills you have to learn.

this thread is really sleeping on wrestling and water polo

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Tennis might be the only sport where it’s impossible to become a pro if you pick it up after turning nine years old. Golf requires tremendous skill but you have Larry Nelson who didn’t take up golf until he was 21 years old winning three majors. In baseball, you had Ron LeFlore having a very good MLB career despite not playing baseball until he went to prison at 21 years old. Tennis might be the only sport where the 10,000 hour rule is applicable in every case. If you don’t have 10,000 hours of tennis under your belt by your late teens, you have no shot at making it.

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Its a big reason Americans will always struggle going forward. You have to give up your entire childhood to have even a chance