Greatest Player of All-Time = Jimmy Connors

[Cro Morgan]

Jimmy Connors is the GOAT, according to this article:

Who Is the Best Player Ever? A Complex Network Analysis of the History of Professional Tennis

http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi ... ne.0017249

WARNING: Do not read if the following causes your brain to lock:



Mine locked after reading just three paragraphs.

[NickZ3535]

"That's just fuzzy math."
- George W. Bush

[jayl0ve]

I have a hard time believing that the GOAT hit slice forehands on the regular like Connors did:P

[VillaJ100]

Well, not really. You could make a decent case for federer, sampras, borg or laver. But Connors? He is one of the best, but everyone knows not THE best.

[Coolhand Texas]

Hmm Im entitled not to believe him.

BTW did anybody see the yahoo article about Karlovic's record breaking serve? It was awful, I mean the guy had no idea what he was talking about. Saying things like it shouldnt count because it was in doubles and they have different rules.

Total dumbass and just pissed me off.

[jayl0ve]

Jimmy Connors is the GOAT, according to this article:


Mine locked after reading just three paragraphs.

No joke, I completely lost interest after the first sentence

[jayl0ve]

Hmm Im entitled not to believe him.

BTW did anybody see the yahoo article about Karlovic's record breaking serve? It was awful, I mean the guy had no idea what he was talking about. Saying things like it shouldnt count because it was in doubles and they have different rules.

Total dumbass and just pissed me off.

I just read that and I actually got quite angry too, this guy obviously knows NOTHING (seriously, NOT A DAMN THING) about tennis!! Not only that but his article is poorly written!! For example:

'Most importantly, this came in a doubles match and I, for one, have no idea that a serve hit in a doubles match could count for such purposes.

It shouldn't. If we're talking Guinness Book of World Records type of stuff, then I'd accept Karlovic's record. In terms of tennis marks that have to be confirmed by the ITF, no way. This is doubles. Though Karlovic's ace was hit within the guidelines of a singles serve, rules allow a doubles server to hit from behind the doubles alley. If there are different rules, there should be different records.'

It seems like he wrote this in like 2 minutes flat



http://sports.yahoo.com/tennis/blog/bus ... ten-330652

[Sherlock 117]

Hmm Im entitled not to believe him.

BTW did anybody see the yahoo article about Karlovic's record breaking serve? It was awful, I mean the guy had no idea what he was talking about. Saying things like it shouldnt count because it was in doubles and they have different rules.

Total dumbass and just pissed me off.

I just read that and I actually got quite angry too, this guy obviously knows NOTHING (seriously, NOT A DAMN THING) about tennis!! Not only that but his article is poorly written!! For example:

'Most importantly, this came in a doubles match and I, for one, have no idea that a serve hit in a doubles match could count for such purposes.

It shouldn't. If we're talking Guinness Book of World Records type of stuff, then I'd accept Karlovic's record. In terms of tennis marks that have to be confirmed by the ITF, no way. This is doubles. Though Karlovic's ace was hit within the guidelines of a singles serve, rules allow a doubles server to hit from behind the doubles alley. If there are different rules, there should be different records.'

It seems like he wrote this in like 2 minutes flat



http://sports.yahoo.com/tennis/blog/bus ... ten-330652

It's a wierd thing to say, true. But honestly there is a bit of a point. I think his point is that doubles players can serve from a slightly wider angle than a single player, and therefore can go for a bigger serve since the ball has more room to hit in the court. Not sure if that's what he's implying but at least it makes sense as an argument to make then.

I don't think this argument holds water, but it is a valid point.

[jayl0ve]

Nobody is hitting 156 freaking miles per hour by serving from the doubles line. If anything serves from that wide are slower, I mean it's covering more ground, it has more time to slow down before it reaches near where the returner is...blah. Who cares. Stupid article let's leave it at that.

[Rob ITST]

The serve speed is measured from the moment it's hit. Which, imo, is not a very good indication of what the returner is seeing.

But, since he could hit it further before it went out, he should be able to hit it harder.

[Sherlock 117]

Nobody is hitting 156 freaking miles per hour by serving from the doubles line. If anything serves from that wide are slower, I mean it's covering more ground, it has more time to slow down before it reaches near where the returner is...blah. Who cares. Stupid article let's leave it at that.

And yes, Chris Chase gets lots of complaints for his Yahoo sports posts. Personally I think he is pretty good, but I remember reading his posts during the Olympics and seeing every 5th person complain about something. I think that is more a factor of a lot of casual readers viewing his posts since they are often featured on the Yahoo home page.

[jayl0ve]

The serve speed is measured from the moment it's hit. Which, imo, is not a very good indication of what the returner is seeing.

But, since he could hit it further before it went out, he should be able to hit it harder.

Yeah I realize that. That's why I said the ball has more time to slow down before reaching the returner...even though the gun might say ____mph, it by default is gonna be a weaker serve than if it was served from the middle of the court. At least, that's what I'm saying, I don't know if that's true.