How And Why Are Tennis Players So Skinny Is A Mystery


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Why are tennis players so skinny? This is another question that many have pondered over. Again, we have the answers, you may visit our site to know it all.

When you hear the term professional athletes the first image that normally pops up in the mind would be big and muscular.

I’m not saying that image is wrong due to our large amount of popular world-famous athletes and their big body mass its no wonder why a skinny person would not strike your eyes at first glance as a world-famous or professional athlete. 95% of our Nfl, Basketball, Cricket, Boxing, Track & Field athletes would normally carry a muscular bodyweight alongside with the other related sports athletes.

However, in tennis that would be the total opposite its a prime question for people to ask why are tennis players so skinny? All that and more will be answered in this article. In tennis the majority of professional players are skinny, numerous amount of them may be tall for the most part of it but they would still retain a low body weight structure(slim).

Why Are Tennis Players So Skinny?

Why are tennis players so skinny

In tennis agility and endurance would be a key factor especially when playing tennis professionally and having huge muscular bodyweight would be of a disadvantage.

Its also proven that being skinny will reduce injury rates on the tennis court, a muscular player will have a higher risk of twisting an ankle, wrist, tear shoulders, elbow damages, or other related damages to the body parts.

A player should be able to move on the court as quickly as possible side to side while maintaining endurance and stamina. For a muscular person, that task will be more challenging due to there heavy body mass it will be easy tiering for a person with muscular weight on the tennis court.

Skinny doesn’t mean unfit, slow, or weak in the world of tennis, keeping your body weight tuned so that on the tennis court you can perform to the best of your skill is what’s most important. It’s without a doubt that in tennis the males are skinner than the female’s players but they are also tuned and fit.

The key factor that most tennis professional players try to accomplish is a perfect balance of agility, strength, and endurance. Quick body reaction with a mixture of power and endurance will carry you to the top in no time in the world of tennis so the next time you may hear someone ask the question why are tennis players so skinny be sure to point them to this article.

Benefits Of  Being A Skinny Tennis Player

Tennis is a sport that requires a lot of running and twisting on the tennis court, therefore, that puts a lot of pressure on the body especially the feet joints shoulder joints and wrist joints.

The benefits of being a skinny tennis player are for the main reason that you will be putting less pressure on those body parts and doing so will also maintain your stamina and that’s a very important factor of the game.

I have seen some crucial injuries on the tennis court due to the massive amount of twists and turns that will take place in one competitive match. It’s a recommendation that tennis players try to keep their body weight under control so that when being active in a game it won’t be hard to manage.

I am not saying the skinner you are will make you play better because you still need to acquire strength as well, it’s just best to keep your body structure on the slimmer side.

How Skinny Are Tennis Players?

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Below will be a small listing with the most popular tennis players in 2020 both male and female body structures full accurate body mass figures. The listing will not be in any specific order, let’s dive into the listing with how skinny are the professional tennis players.

Male Tennis Players

  1. Novak Djokovic –                   age 33-   height 6’2-  weight 170 lbs. (77kg)
  2. Rafael Nadal Parera-             age 34-  height 6’1-   weight 187 lbs. (85kg)
  3. David Goffin                            age 29-  height 5’11-  weight 152 lbs. (68kg)
  4. Gaël Sébastien Monfils         age 33-   height 6’4-   weight 187 lbs. (85kg)
  5. Grigor Dimitrov                      age 29-  height 6’3-    weight 179 lbs. (81kg)

Female Tennis Players

  1. Ashleigh Barty                         age 24-  height 5’5-    weight 137 lbs. (62kg)
  2. Simona Halep                           age 28-  height 5’6-   weight 132 lbs. (59kg)
  3. Karolína Plíšková                     age 28-  height 6’1-    weight 154 lbs. (70kg)
  4. Kiki Bertens                               age 28-  height 6’0-   weight 152 lbs. (68kg)
  5. Serena Jameka Williams        age 38-  height 5’9-   weight 155 lbs. (70kg)

The listing above are names of some of the most popular playing professional tennis players worldwide, as you can see the height and weight of the players above even though some seem to be tall their weights are in tune. They would more portray a skinny figure to keep their flexibility in tip-top shape and endurance on the tennis court.

If you were to compare those heights and weight with players from other sports like the NFL or just simply any other related sports and see how much those professional players would weight.

You would then see how skinny the tennis players would then seem to but on all rights they are not that skinny, they are just not as bulked and ripped as you would expect a professional sports player would be.

Can A Tennis Players be Muscular?

Aside from the question of why are tennis players so skinny, comes another frequently asked question, can a tennis player be muscular?. For the main fact that tennis is agility and endurance sports, a muscular player may not be able to get their body to perform on the level that it should be playing on without causing damage to some of there body parts.

Swiftness is a major part of tennis alongside with stamina and a heavy or overweight person will not be able to maintain those features on the tennis court.

When competing on friendly terms it really does not matter the bodyweight of your opponent but when going professional the players need to keep their body in tuned shape not too skinny and not too much weight as well.

To sum things up if you are planning on being a professional tennis player then you should check the listing above with the famous tennis players and the weight to see and get an idea of the body tone your body should be in. Doing so will make your body be able to perform on the best athletic term without easily getting yourself damaged.

Do Tall Players Have More Advantage?

Popular research shows that tall players would normally serve at a more powerful paste, the tallest player to have played tennis professional is Ivo Karlovic with a serving speed of 251km/hr.  So the answer would be yes, tall does counts when it comes to tennis likewise most sports in the world.

Being tall is good but it has its downfall at times, tennis has a lot of quick plays, stop and start movements and for a taller person, they might find that challenging at times. The fast movements can also after with the body structure causing damage or pains to the body after a match sometimes even during matches.

Tall players have their advantages but there are drawbacks to them as you can see, the situation would be the total opposite if the question was to be reversed. The question would then do short players have more advantage in tennis, in terms of agility, yes, however not in power.

Body types in tennis

Tennis has evolved over the years, right from racket technology to improved training methods and everything in between. We now see a different type of tennis being played. Now tennis is faster, the points are shorter and the game is more power oriented. It is common to see players lifting weights to gain more strength and power. Coaches too are prescribing short explosive drills, rather than long slow runs and movements. Broadly speaking, there are three main body types that all of us fall into. Research has confirmed that we all have a biological predisposition towards one of the three types depending on what we do in our day to day lives – be it playing high-level tennis or sitting at a desk for the most part of the day. This has a large influence on our body type. 

Here are the main body types that are also called somatotypes and their defining characteristics:

  • Ectomorphs – This body type defines thinner individuals with smaller bone structure, shorter limbs, low propensity of muscle mass gain, fast metabolism and higher tolerance to carbohydrates.
  • Mesomorphs – Medium size bone structure with an athletic build and high level of lean muscle mass. Many explosive athletes fall into this category. Testosterone and growth hormone allows them to maintain muscle better than other body types.
  • Endomorphs – Larger bone structure with high amount of fat and body mass. These players are naturally less active and store energy (calories) more readily. They also have a lower tolerance to carbohydrates. 

Sometimes there are also mixes of body types such as, some people can be ecto-mesomorphs (can easily lose weight if not active, but at the same time, when training, can build muscle at a similar rate). Endo-mesomorphs, on the other hand, can be quite fit and muscular when training, but tend to store fat easily when not training.

Conclusion

Now that you have read our article on why are tennis players so skinny, I am sure you now understand why tennis players keep a slim structure. The next time you visit a tennis match or if it’s even just by watching on the television watch closely and you will so how everything you have read in this article takes a big part in a real live tennis match.

Tennis is one of the sports that take a toll on almost every single body parts including your eye movement, in tennis your eyes have to be fast and all over as well. The players may seem skinny but they are all superbly fit, its not a surprise to see that some are more active than most of the other bulk sports stars out there.

It’s very common to think that skinny persons are not fit however in the world of tennis that is not true, skinny means more agility and endurance.

Thanks for reading our article on why are tennis players so skinny, I do hope we have explained everything you had wanted to know on the reason why tennis players a so skinny, please feel free to check our other related articles in the main menu section.

Gaurav Mongia

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