Today, tennis is being played at a standard of athleticism and fitness never seen before. There is, however, always room for growth, and other sports may show the way. This is the second in a five-part series examining such possibilities.
Why: It was once reported that Bjorn Borg, the greatest clay-court player of the late ‘70s/early ‘80s, had a resting heart rate of 35. This was eventually proven erroneous, but many fans found it easy to believe, having watched him grind down the toughest competition tennis could throw at him.
Stamina has since remained an integral part of success in tennis, especially among clay courters. Jim Courier, the best clay-court player of the very early ‘90s, was nicknamed “The Rock” because of his obscenely low body fat percentage.
In the mid-‘90s Tennis magazine reported that Thomas Muster, the best clay courter of that time, once ran a marathon’s distance by accident during a training session.
The best clay court player of today, Rafael Nadal, has seemingly made winning epic five-set matches a hobby.
Endurance is usually considered a discipline rather than a talent: One player gets fitter than the other by training harder, then draws the other into a baseline war that only he can win. This is what Borg, Muster, Agassi, and Nadal built their strengths on.
What happens, though, when one player trains harder than any of his peers are capable of?
Physical Characteristics: Lance Armstrong actually does have a resting heart rate of 32-34 beats per minute, less than half the average adult male’s rate of 70. He also has a phenomenally low level of lactate, the chemical that causes soreness.
His very fast pedaling cadence may be due to his low lactate levels; or simply put, Armstrong is able to pedal harder than most of his fellow cyclists for a longer period.
What tennis player, especially a baseliner, wouldn’t enjoy such attributes such as these?
Now, a caveat, or actually a pair of them: Great racket-head speed, the acceleration that allows Nadal to hit so much spin and Fernando Gonzalez so much pace, does a lot to determine how today’s players will play and how great their results will be.
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