OT: The Throwing vs Hitting Tennis Bet

[MikeMcQ1]

People,

This match will never get beyond the service game assuming the raquet player is anything above an excellent high school level player. Someone at Nick's level will utterly crush any kind of athlete, glove or no glove.

I'm assuming the thrower must "serve" from behind the baseline and into the service area of his opponent. A major-league pitcher isn't throwing a tennis ball 90 MPH, much less some shmuck. AND it must fall within the service area. Try throwing a tennis ball as hard as you can with enough angle to get it to drop down into the service area. There will be no pace on the thrower's serves whatsoever. The tennis player will destroy these serves, *even* if they were coming at 90 MPH.

Now fast forward to catching serves. A glove will be absolutely neccessary. Any thought of not using a glove would be ridiculous. A serve from a top-rate tennis player is hard enough to get a tennis raquet on, let alone catch and control the ball. Even a 2nd serve will be coming hard and with a lot of spin. OK, so you happened to catch a serve. Now you are deep in your backcourt. This is going to put a big damper on your strategy to lob, drop, or whatever let alone throwing a normal shot into play. Again, the raquet player will destroy just about anything other than a perfectly placed lob.

The only chance I give a catcher is if he can (or would have the balls to) catch serves before they hit the ground. Stand at the net and catch the serves there would be his only chance...and now you're risking injury.

This contest gets more interesting if it was a couple of average 3.0 USTA players.

[the_main]

[ QUOTE ]


The only chance I give a catcher is if he can (or would have the balls to) catch serves before they hit the ground. Stand at the net and catch the serves there would be his only chance...and now you're risking injury.

This contest gets more interesting if it was a couple of average 3.0 USTA players.

[/ QUOTE ]

Pretty sure the rules state you have to let the ball hit the ground, but am not 100%. My knowledge comes only form video games where I have attempted this. [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img] This would be interesting however.

[pokergrader]

I think the easiest good play for the hitter would be to lob every shot into the deep middle of the court and rush the net.

I dont think the thrower can have many winners from the middle of the baseline and its a simple strategy for the hitter to hit a ball from any position. Although if there are obvious winners from the hitter side always take it.

I'm not a good tennis player, but I think I could beat a good thrower with this strategy. I would win a few points on my serve and win a few easy ones on their serve, and they would tire out very quickly since every rally would be long.

[Chris Daddy Cool]

i am going to play some raquetball tommorow with a baseball glove, i will tell you guys how i fare. i am guessing i will get utterly destroyed. i have no idea how nick expects to win, but he is the one who made up this bet and clearly has done this before so obviously he is very very good and/or knows something we don't about this.

just wondering nick, how many times have you played with these rules as the catcher, and what is your record?

[abarber]

As a college tennis player, this post fascinates me for a variety of reasons. First, that there is so much money on the line is awesome. Secondly, that people think this is gonna be close is even more awesome. Some great points have been made, so I may be stealing some thoughts here but let's break it down into serving and returning(the thrower):

Serving: Talk about a lollipop. This "serve" is gonna get sent into next week. I cannot fathom a way in which the thrower can do anything with his serve. Throw a knuckler? I don't think so, Wakefield.

Result: Broken serve EVERY time.

Returning: I think I would give my left nut to have the chance to play this purely for the serving opportunity. There is so much ground to cover WITH a racquet, imagine covering it with a wingspan a few feet shorter (racquet length minus glove length). I see at least 2 aces a game, and that's being conservative. Anyone who can hit both sides of the box is gonna have a field day.

Result: Holding 80-90% of games.

Would LOVE to hear how Nick is gonna do this...

[cbloom]

[ QUOTE ]

Would LOVE to hear how Nick is gonna do this...

[/ QUOTE ]

Yup, obviously he's got some sort of clever angle to do this bet, it'll be awesome to see what it is.

[ninjaunderwear]

I would imagine the thrower would serve underhand as lightly as possible. Discuss.

[Nick Rainey]

can i back out or am i screwed? i hope my backer does not read this stuff or i might be in trouble.

yes it is going to be very hard to win games when I am serving and returning is the most difficult. i have to pray that the pressure of high stakes gives me a chance.

get durr to play for 20k and you get 20%.

[El Diablo]

ninja,

That's what I thought too. Underhand, lightly, with backspin.

[Nick Rainey]

diablo, if i did that, the guy is going to crush it in my face. serving will be the hardest thing for me to do. i just hope he misses a lot.