you make it sound like they are constantly running up/down and at full speed. Sometimes the stroll from one side to the other, unless the offense is fast paced, which it's often not. Then they get plenty of time on one side of the court, either on offense or defense. I've watched plenty of basketball, watch how they stand and walk around when setting up offense. They run up, sometimes stroll., slowly.. then walk around and pass the ball..taking time off clock. Yes, running up/down the court is part of the game but there are plenty of chill time in between... as offense sets up the point.
Two high grade baseliners will play a tiring rally, take a few secs break, back at it... point after point after point. This is exhausting and yes, brutal... i guarantee you the fittest basketball player would find it as challenging, if not more, than 38 mins of playtime in an avg b-ball game! that's NOTHING in tennis, 1 set. I would not be surprised if Lebron James would be totally out of breath if he had to play a baseline war for 4 hours, he is not used to that!
they rarely take bathroom breaks and again, in slams, 3-4 hours is common for a match..in basketball 38 mins is actually a lot!
Physical contact is something basketball has but you make it sound like it's boxing. The game has changed, especially after hand check rule, which makes MJ's feats so impressive vs today's guys. The game is not nearly as physical as it was was during Jordan days, the 90s were physical... go back and watch the pistons. Today's it's sissy basketball..there is not much contact unless you are down in the paint. The contact is the least of the physical demands in basketball... unlike in football or boxing where it's a big part of physical nature of those sports.
running up/down with pauses in between and only doing it for 30-40 mins. No, the side to side movements in basketball are nothing like in tennis. The offensive player will stand in front of defender, look for screen, try and dribble past defender or jut shoot the ball from outside, or pass it to a teammate who will shoot it. They do dart from time to time, looking for open pass but they take some breaks all the time and stand watching teammates do the work. This is nowhere near what you see when two high quality baselines play for 3-4 hours.. Yes the running up/down court is a big part of basketball but there is more running in a 3-4 hour tennis match than in a 38 min basketball game.
Lebron James hasn't been injured that much either, in his career.
In basketball, injuries are mostly due to physical contact or more acute, sudden injuries like tears or ankle sprains. In tennis you have the ankle sprains and tears too but you also have types of injuries that are related to repetitive unnatural movements. Hitting thousands of serves, forehands, backhands is totally unnatural and over time, shoulders, elbows, wrists break down. You don't see this type of wear and tear in basketball. Knees and hips and back are also issues for many tennis players. I guarantee you that if we made list of injuries for avg tennis player, they beat list of injuries for avg basketball player. I would say that the injuries in basketball are also more easy to recover from as they are more acute and not due to wear and tear. it's much easier to recover from a bruised rib, hamstring from a collision with a player than from knee, hip, shoulder problems due to wear and tear, these are more long term problems that usually never go away, they are managed. Injuries in tennis are freakishly common, look around.
this discussion didn't start with arguing about who is more athletic, it was about you laughing at me saying tennis was 'brutal' and that i needed to look at other sports. I have already, very clearly, showed you tennis is as every bit demanding physically as basketball. I have explained to you the causes of injury, the fact that avg. basketball player plays 30-40 mins which is merely a set in tennis and also explained in depth what both sports require physically. Athletically, on avg., basketball players are more athletic but my point to you is you underestimate the athleticism of tennis players. It's also hard to compare athletes across different sports. In basketball, wingspan and height are big advantages but you could, in theory, be tall with big wingspan and be 'unathletic'. I would not consider Derrick Rose than much more athletic than Monfils... I was a fan of Derick rose, one of the most explosive players i have ever seen, but he trained for basketball, monfils didn't. Rose has about a 40-42 in vertical, do you know Monfil's? and who's faster running? we don't know. Again, basketball rewards height, i wouldn't consider height an athletic trait. It so happens the basketball rims are 10 feet, what if they were 5 feet? would LeBron have an advantage over Nadal if rim were 5 feet? he would probably have a disadvantage as now Nadal would be in the middle between Lebron and the rim, whereas at 10 feet, Nadal cannot guard him. We should compare Nadal to 6'1 basketball players... height is an unfair, unathletic, advantage.
how do you know? Do you know how fast he is or what his vertical is? These guys trained all their lives in basketball, what if Monfils would've. Look at Monfils, his body resembles a 6'4 MJ!
How can you tell me 38 mins of playing basketball is harder than 3-4 hours of tennis? both at a high level?
no, because tennis is oftentimes diminished by people that like other sports but they have no idea what they are talking about. I have played both sports and i can honestly tell you that i have never been more tested than when playing a consistent strong baseliner for 3 sets. I for sure got winded playing basketball many times but only time i have had to quit or pause is when playing tennis against a very good baseliner.
You got yourself in a hole by laughing at my 'brutal' comments and telling me basketball is more demanding. Big mistake. If you want to talk about sports that more demanding, tell me boxing. Not only is it incredibly exhausting to throw punches for 12 rounds, you are getting hit... now that is a step up..
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