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re: Which is harder to do.....
Posted on 4/29/13 at 11:14 am to CtotheVrzrbck
Posted on 4/29/13 at 11:14 am to CtotheVrzrbck
If you can bunt, then its definitely tennis. Though squaring up to a 90+ mph fastball would be pretty scary.
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Posted on 4/29/13 at 11:17 am to ColoradoAg03
How many tennis players can serve it 140mph?
Posted on 4/29/13 at 11:18 am to ColoradoAg03
This post was edited on 6/22/21 at 6:25 pm
Posted on 4/29/13 at 11:19 am to Porter Osborne Jr
quote:
How many tennis players can serve it 140mph?
Only a handful can break into the 140s, almost all of them can break 130.
Posted on 4/29/13 at 11:32 am to SaltyMcKracker
quote:
The baddest assed hitters on earth only get a hit off of a pitcher 1/3 of the time, so I'll go with that.
This. The same can't be said for tennis.
Edit: Both would be extremely difficult.
This post was edited on 4/29/13 at 11:34 am
Posted on 4/29/13 at 11:37 am to ColoradoAg03
quote:
Only a handful can break into the 140s, almost all of them can break 130.
So then we should be comparing it to a 100mph fastball. Not to nit pick, but yeah, I'm nit picking
Posted on 4/29/13 at 12:05 pm to SaltyMcKracker
quote:
The baddest assed hitters on earth only get a hit off of a pitcher 1/3 of the time, so I'll go with that.
And most professional tennis serves I have seen get returned by the opposing player. Do they have a return average? I'm guessing it's greater than .750.
Posted on 4/29/13 at 12:09 pm to ColoradoAg03
This is actually a rather thought-provoking question 
Posted on 4/29/13 at 12:23 pm to ColoradoAg03
My dad and his entire family paid their way through college on tennis scholarships, and my dad taught tennis out of school at country clubs in Dallas. I grew up playing so I think I can offer perspective others might not have.
First off, if you know what pitch is coming, how fast, where, you have a pretty good chance at eventually getting a hit. Same probably goes with returning a serve. A lot of it, like in baseball is disguise, but there is also the going for broke factor in a tennis serve. Pete Sampras is one of the only people who would hit his second serve harder than his first, most people hit it softer, put more spin on it, hit it to the side of the court, to increase their odds of getting it in play. But in Tennis you don't get 4 balls. You get a second serve and that is it. If you got up to three faults... professionals might get golden sets every now and then. Why? Well... making contact, getting a hit on it and returning it? Maybe you can get lucky. But you'll never return someone's going for broke perfect serve. Ever. Not even the professionals can do that 95% of the time. It isn't worth the effort because they'd probably hurt themselves even trying. Hitting a baseball, given a thousand tries, I figure is about the same, and even if you did.
Iunno. Both seem impossible.
First off, if you know what pitch is coming, how fast, where, you have a pretty good chance at eventually getting a hit. Same probably goes with returning a serve. A lot of it, like in baseball is disguise, but there is also the going for broke factor in a tennis serve. Pete Sampras is one of the only people who would hit his second serve harder than his first, most people hit it softer, put more spin on it, hit it to the side of the court, to increase their odds of getting it in play. But in Tennis you don't get 4 balls. You get a second serve and that is it. If you got up to three faults... professionals might get golden sets every now and then. Why? Well... making contact, getting a hit on it and returning it? Maybe you can get lucky. But you'll never return someone's going for broke perfect serve. Ever. Not even the professionals can do that 95% of the time. It isn't worth the effort because they'd probably hurt themselves even trying. Hitting a baseball, given a thousand tries, I figure is about the same, and even if you did.
Iunno. Both seem impossible.
Posted on 4/29/13 at 12:24 pm to ColoradoAg03
I think I would have a better chance in baseball, and I haven't played either since about the 5th or 6th grade.
Posted on 4/29/13 at 12:29 pm to ColoradoAg03
Depends on who was pitching. I'd take a Tim Wakefield fast ball in a heartbeat
Posted on 4/29/13 at 12:32 pm to ColoradoAg03
Fastest pitcher I've faced was in a Cotton States league dude threw 85. Can't imagine one coming in at 100. That would suuuuuck.
Posted on 4/29/13 at 12:33 pm to TeLeFaWx
quote:
TeLeFaWx
I was actually thinking about Sampras when answering this question earlier because of his huge second serve, and it's why I think returning a pro serve would be harder. You're right - you only get two shots at it in tennis, and have to get it in. You can't just make contact with the racquet & get another chance as in baseball if you get a foul or tipped ball, you do.
Posted on 4/29/13 at 12:55 pm to Arkla Missy
I'm going to go with tennis because not only is there a larger area where the serve can land, there is a smaller area to put the ball back into play.
I think it would be harder for the average person just because almost everyone has played baseball. I'm 22 and have never played a full game of tennis.
I think it would be harder for the average person just because almost everyone has played baseball. I'm 22 and have never played a full game of tennis.
This post was edited on 4/29/13 at 12:57 pm
Posted on 4/29/13 at 1:06 pm to ColoradoAg03
I think part of it would also be the fear factor. Baseball goes wild and hits you in the temple and that could be it. A tennis ball served at 140 I'm sure could do some damage and I sure as hell wouldn't want to find out first hand, but I still think I'd take my chances on the court first.
Posted on 4/29/13 at 1:19 pm to TupeloReb
(no message)
This post was edited on 6/22/21 at 6:23 pm
Posted on 4/29/13 at 1:19 pm to Arkla Missy
quote:
I was actually thinking about Sampras when answering this question earlier because of his huge second serve, and it's why I think returning a pro serve would be harder. You're right - you only get two shots at it in tennis, and have to get it in. You can't just make contact with the racquet & get another chance as in baseball if you get a foul or tipped ball, you do.
That's true, but you get two shots in tennis, lose a point and you move on to the next point.
Baseball, you get three strikes. You're out and have to wait until your next plate appearance. Which is probably not for another two innings. Average plate appearances per game is probably ~4, depending on where you hit in the lineup. The person with the highest pitches per plate appearance in the major leagues right now is 4.49 and lowest on the stats is 3.09.
We'll say you see about 4 pitches per at bat, being generous. That's 16 pitches per game.
If you are returning a persons serve, you would see more chances to return the serve in the first set depending on what scoring is being used.
If we are comparing whether its harder to return one serve in a match of tennis or get a hit in one game of baseball, then it's harder to get a hit in baseball without a doubt, from a purely numbers perspective.
This post was edited on 4/29/13 at 1:23 pm
Posted on 4/29/13 at 1:37 pm to bamafan425
quote:
bamafan425
Can't argue with you, there. I damn sure can't hit a 90 mph baseball or return a 130-140 mph serve, so it's all kind of irrelevant to me.
Posted on 4/29/13 at 1:43 pm to Arkla Missy
I would say for the general public, it would be luck either way. Someone would be lucky to hit a pro pitchers baseball and just as lucky to return a serve on the tennis pro.
Both are incredibly difficult. I would have a better chance at baseball, but that's just because I've never played more than a few games of tennis in my life.
Both are incredibly difficult. I would have a better chance at baseball, but that's just because I've never played more than a few games of tennis in my life.
Posted on 4/29/13 at 2:01 pm to ColoradoAg03
I think returning the tennis serve is harder because of the getting it in play part. But I played baseball in high school and college, so I have hit a 94 mph fastball before. For a person with a good bit of tennis experience, baseball might be harder.
This post was edited on 4/29/13 at 2:03 pm
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