Physicality in tennis

To whom do you think physicality comes the most natural too? I guess this could mean many things so one of the questions to consider could be say after a physical rally with say equal amounts of running which player of the tour is this least consequential for? Or perhaps who has the best recovery or even makes the most of their physical game. Obvious choices are Nadal and Djokovic and there are different ways of splitting them. For example within a match you could say Djokovic but I assume most people think that Nadal has a better chance of being physically back to his best. Another player is Ferrer who perhaps physicality comes most easily for as he is acknowledged to have a physical game yet he doesn't waste time during matches and, complain about the length of the tour and is seldomly injured. Perhaps this is down to, as someone pointed out on another thread, him playing within his physical limits.

Weighing up the factors and aspects to physicality, I would still go ahead and say that it comes most naturally to Nadal despite his injuries. None of them have ended his career nor are they likely to and while he pushes his physical limits more than say Ferrer his speed and stamina remain constant throughout the match. His recovery has been proven time and again as well. whereas we still have yet to see with Djokovic.

Nadal and Murray are the most physical at the very top.

BitF... You are ignoring Federer, Murray, Karlovic, Borg, Lendl, and many others.

I think I would expect Nadal to recover most easily atm bit5th - just because recent history tells me that's what I should expect! Djokovic's stamina has been remarkable this year, but I was saddened to see him unable to mount a fight at the WTF given the rest he has had since the DC semi final.

Murray's recovery really worries me - there are too many niggles, too many times and, unlike Rafa, all seem to be genuine rather than amateur dramatics or buying time.

Murray breaks easily; Djokovic less so but there are signs of damage. Nadal is very tough and recovers, but recently we've seen him run into the ground during matches

So many ways to define this. However, Nadal's recovery powers between matches is now almost legendary. At AO'09 he played Verdasco in a bruising 5 hr+ match in the heat/humidity of Australia, and as we know at that stage Verdasco had increased his own fitness to a very high level. About 36 hrs later Nadal played Federer in another 4hr+ final, and was the stronger at the end. The main point though was that Verdasco said he could barely walk on the Sunday! So its hard to argue there is a more naturally gifted athlete in tennis fitness/stamina-wise, and apparently Nadal hates gym work too! I think Murray and the others would agree he's at the top.

BB, I think his recent issues have been more mentally than physically derived....if the mind feels tired the body follows pretty quickly.

PS. As an additional point, Muster was also incredibly fit.

laverfan wrote:BitF... You are ignoring Federer, Murray, Karlovic, Borg, Lendl, and many others.

Depends. If you extend it, then extend it to all ATP players without excepotion. It's like talent. If we want to make sense and therefore talk in relative terms, then this group you selected is not very coherent.

laverfan wrote:BitF... You are ignoring Federer, Murray, Karlovic, Borg, Lendl, and many others.

Well LF the article would have been 5 times as long if I described every physically gifted player. I don't think I've even covered every aspect of physicality as you have Karlovic in your list. I guess just pick a player who's physical attributes are striking and have a big impact. In the case of Karlovic I guess it's not that interesting: he's tall and therefore can serve fast and from a crazy angle. The top 4 plus other players you mentioned have attributes much more open to analysis.

lydian wrote:So many ways to define this. However, Nadal's recovery powers between matches is now almost legendary. At AO'09 he played Verdasco in a bruising 5 hr+ match in the heat/humidity of Australia, and as we know at that stage Verdasco had increased his own fitness to a very high level. About 36 hrs later Nadal played Federer in another 4hr+ final, and was the stronger at the end. The main point though was that Verdasco said he could barely walk on the Sunday! So its hard to argue there is a more naturally gifted athlete in tennis fitness/stamina-wise, and apparently Nadal hates gym work too! I think Murray and the others would agree he's at the top.

BB, I think his recent issues have been more mentally than physically derived....if the mind feels tired the body follows pretty quickly.

PS. As an additional point, Muster was also incredibly fit.

That's indeed the example I had in mind when I was thinking of Nadal's recovery. In addition to this he's still as strong and quick as ever so that hasn't been diminished by his playing style either. Djokovic also has shown good powers of recovery contrary to what I said earlier as he beat Nadal in the USO final this year after playing Fed in the semis.

break_in_the_fifth wrote:Djokovic also has shown good powers of recovery contrary to what I said earlier as he beat Nadal in the USO final this year after playing Fed in the semis.

Semifinal on Saturday followed by a Monday final?

I might be reaching... I had Rafas AO 2009 in mind and was comparing the feats, both 5 set semis. I guess Novak had an extra 12 hours more than Nadal did. Still impressive though.

Yep Djokovic is a far cry away from the guy who pulled out vs Roddick at AO that year due to heat exhaustion. He's worked extremely hard and reaped the rewards. Hats off to him for the effort applied

Well rounded article from the Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/nov/28/roger-federer-andy-murray

Out of the Top 10, the Top 4 played 20 tournaments or less, while the remaining six players played 20+ tournaments. Tipsarevic (28), Almagro (27), Tsonga (25), Berdych (24), Fish (24), Ferrer (23).

Despite the fact that Top 4 get to business ends of slams and Masters, the Total Matches (W/L) are very similar for the Top 10.

For example, Tipsy and Tsonga are close to Nadal. Murray and Fish are similar.

Djokovic - 76 (70/6)
Nadal - 82 (67/15)
Federer - 76 (64/12)
Murray - 69 (56/13)
-----
Ferrer - 77 (58/19)
Tsonga - 79 (55/24)
Berdych - 76 (53/23)
Fish - 68 (43/25)
Tipsarevic 80 (54/26)
Almagro - 70 (47/23)

So it is an equally gruelling tour for the #5-10 vs. #1-4.


"He was short of his best yet irresistible, not so much a seasonal new-born king but a reborn one, an old-fashioned survivor in an inflexible modern playground of sport."

Very nicely said...

Nice read from the Guardian, thanks for the link.
Good stats LF...Tipsy played alot matches then too, although none of them are over 90 matches. Shows the toll that Nole and Nadal playing each other over that compressed part of the season has had when their overall total is within range of the others. A strange tennis year all in all.