Fastest movers at Australian Open

So I get updates through the year from Australian Open, this one was interesting.

It's a study of who has been timed on court with the fastest speeds.

This is what they found:



What do you think? Correlates with what you see?
Not sure I quite believe the Nadal & Federer peak numbers vs the other guys listed?
What about Monfils? Surely they tested him...

Video here:
https://www.facebook.com/AustralianOpen/videos/10154746620633615/
(They review the women and compare to Robben and Bolt but those guys get to run in a straight line for longer distance without holding an awkward shaped object so clearly their peak speed will be higher)

Anyway...just a bit of light relief in the off season.

Ha, Fed and Nadal need not run that much at the AO?? I wonder how much data they collected. Fed had his serve to help him, Nadal being absent twice (2006, 2013) and lost with injuries (2010,2011), not much chances of him running that much?

Both Djoko and Murray are the two best players at the AO in recent times, not surprised they top the list at the AO.

Average speeds?
One off fastest sprint?
Over the years? or at one particular championship?

Can't make anything of that data tbh

ok, just saw the video.

So peak speeds over three metres.

Interesting, although it's probably peak speeds of a sample of selected sprints - no way could they have measured every 3m + sprint made by all the players - so basically the data means nothing.

Of course Djokovic on a flat sprint is not gonna be 10 kph faster than Fedal.

Well ..... perhaps some off-season light relief, as you say lydian.

But whilst the top two places will come as no surprise, the chart soon becomes pretty meaningless as you look further down ; or should I say meaningless in terms of end results/achievements.

Take, for example, the 'superiority' of speed that Hewitt allegedly has over Federer. Even if we accept the data at face value (which itself seems questionable to me), I would think it's of very little consolation to Hewitt, whose home Slam AO career match wins total 32 (and zero titles) versus Fed's 80 match wins (with 4 titles).

lags72 wrote:Well ..... perhaps some off-season light relief, as you say lydian.

But whilst the top two places will come as no surprise, the chart soon becomes pretty meaningless as you look further down ; or should I say meaningless in terms of end results/achievements.

Take, for example, the 'superiority' of speed that Hewitt allegedly has over Federer. Even if we accept the data at face value (which itself seems questionable to me), I would think it's of very little consolation to Hewitt, whose home Slam AO career match wins total 32 (and zero titles) versus Fed's 80 match wins (with 4 titles).

In short it is not all about speed but more to do with the player's court placement and ability to anticipate the direction the ball is coming in.

I think the data is questionable. Nadal, for example, was seriously quick a few years back. I think we all know that. I've read somewhere he once ran 10.95 for 100m...which is an average of 33kph, so shorter bursts would be a fair bit higher.

These are apparently the speeds of pro footballers.

Top 10 footballers in the world peak speed in 2016:
1 Antonio Valencia (Manchester United) 35.2 km/h
2 Raheem Sterling (Liverpool) 35.1 km/h
3 Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) 34.7 km/h
4 Theo Walcott (Arsenal) 34.3 km/h
5 Arjan Robben (Bayern Munich) 33.9 km/h
6 Aaron Lennon (Everton) 33.8 km/h
7 Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 33.6 km/h
8 Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa) 33.3 kh/h
9 Ross Barkley (Everton) 32.8 km/h
10 Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 32.5 km/h

For further reference, Top 10 speeds reached by American Football ball carriers in 2015 ranged between 35.4km/h and 36.3km/h

Whatever the truth, top 10 tennis players are amongst the most amazing athletes out there because they have to be good at so many things.

By the way, this is a truly astounding practice video between Murray and Wawrinka at USO14, the best practice vid I've seen and trust me I've watched a LOT. You realise the power, speed and agility of the top players from this angle. That finishing shot from Wawrinka at 7:20 is jaw dropping, as are many of Murrays returns. Wawrinka's BH is a true wonder.

That's all very interesting. I have no idea how reliable this is, but it is a first attempt, and no doubt other will follow suit, to describe what is going on, on a tennis court, through scientific, measurable data, rather than hot air.

As a tennis player myself, albeit at rec level, I have always been aware of how important is row speed for the overall performance. I would say on court speed and serve are by far the biggest factors behind the success of a player, the first probably the most important. The fact that Murray and Djokovic are the fastest players on tour, at 34 and 36 Kmh, only reinforce my belief.

It would be even more interesting to see these measures across the career of players a not just recent years, as I have no doubt that both Nadal and Federer, at their peak, would handily surpass 30 kmh while in the research were, at 26 kmh closer to Halep than Djokovic. This is 40% less peak speed than Djokovic, it's huge!

The research can also offer amazing insight into the age related decline of players, which is a REAL fact and not just an opinion like many many big mouthed know it all idiotic posters around forums continuously claim.

I'd say if science will, sooner or later, be able to silence those, sport will gain.