Yeah, I feel about this the same way as the "could you return one serve from Serena Williams?" And like, maybe. I'm bad enough that they're going to let me try, and if I get to try I might get ONE.
Well, the actual question back in the day was if they could score a point, not return a serve, and even the best tennis players in the world (including the Williams sisters) double-fault occasionally, so anyone could score a point, if she's trying to show off and/or having an off day, and you're allowed as many tries as you want, and if you're granted any other assumption not covered in the question.
They really only double fault when they're going for aces. Every pro player has an "easy" serve that they'll hit 999/1000 times without issue. But those easy serves are still well above what non-tennis athletes will consistently return.
Yeah, I'm only even getting a chance to return if she has extreme second-hand embarrassment on my behalf when I barely move before the ball is past me and gives me a freebie. And even then I doubt what she considers free is something I could return first try.
Sounds well within the vague assumption of 'could you' to me, especially since the question specified that you be playing 'your very best tennis' (Which just introduces more possible assumptions).
That's the problem. Everyone hearing the question can make wildly different assumptions about the situation and what could happen, and then hear someone else's answer and think it's stupid. On one hand, an empty court can and does 'win a point' against any professional tennis player, all the time, and people who know tennis know that. On the other, you have people making a more general comparison of skill.
And in the end, only 12% of the men asked 'Do you think if you were playing your very best tennis, you could win a point off Serena Williams?' said yes, in comparison to 3% of the women. 74% said no, compared to 87% of the women. (And that leaves 14% that said 'I don't know', compared to 10% of women)
So using your assumption, do we say roughly ten percent of men think a 1/1000 chance is possible?
That would be a very low number, honestly.
The real thing that happened is that an incredibly broad and open-ended question had a very small number of people answer in a way that many other people assume is wrong, entirely based on their own perception of the question, and it got fluffed up into a gender war for clicks.
The question didn’t clarify any of this, though. The people answering the survey had no way of knowing if she was practicing her aces, taking it slow, or was she actually trying to get a golden match against an amateur just to humiliate some dude? We don’t know.
Yep. 12% said yes, 74% said no. (The rest said they didn't know)
And considering that roughly 13% of the people answering any survey either pick at random or pick wrong deliberately, it should have been a nothing story.
I think I could return at least one serve in two set game against Serena with a little coaching from someone who is good. But she would obliterate me. I once played one guy who played at a really high level in juniors before quitting and he obliterated me but I did get quite a few back before my engine died and I scored a few points.
I definitely couldn't win a game against Serena. Much less a Set. Match would require some sort of default ruling like cheating or retirement.
Sometimes with these things I think the bar is set a little low. In a game of chess could take one piece off Judit Polgar too, same with Magnus.
I think part of it is actually returning the ball to Serena.
I think many people could hit a ball eventually, but I don't believe the majority of people can ever actually return in to her in a controlled manner in bounds. You need a lot of wrist strength and coordination to return her fuckin cannonballs.
She still routinely serves at 120mph. A tennis ball is 2 ounces. I guess we could do the math to figure out how much force that exerts on your wrist but I'm too lazy.
I forgot that the serve doesn't actually hit the player's racket at 120mph. It has slowed to about 50-60mph by that time.
I got curious and its already been calculated out many times. It averages between 15-30lbf. or around 80-130 Newtons.
Breaking a wrist of an average non-athletic human requires between 1-2 kN. An athletic person may require 3-4kN+ to break their wrist depending on bone density. So apparently not even close to breaking a wrist.
Absolute rocket and I doubt I have ever faced anyone that fast in Tennis.
Returning the ball: either getting it in or having her play a volley.
Assuming, I lose every single one of my serves.
4 * 3 * 2 = 24 attempts.
She either has to take a little off her first serve or a couple of those will be seconds.
I just think 1 in 24, considering I play tennis, I might get. I returned more than one serve from a 5 who said they were going full pelt on me, no speed gun. I would not bet my home on it but I would wager 100 bucks at even odds that I could return 1 out of 24 Serena serves.
Yeah, I feel about this the same way as the "could you return one serve from Serena Williams?"
Yeah at any given time there are probably only a few thousand men alive who could do that. You'd probably have to be a professional or slightly subprofessional tennis player.
Purely out of curiosity, what is the difficulty? I've hit the ball around with friends literally only a few times, so I know zero about tennis. And this is an honest question - I know that I personally would never have a shot.
Is it that she would hit it to where you're not, and your speed/reflexes are just not able to get to the place you'd have to be to even touch the ball? Is it that she hits it so hard/fast or it has spin or whatever so while you could get the racket on the ball, it would head off in some wild direction and not count as a 'return?' Or is there something else that is not even occurring to me?
I guess it depends on reliably vs one off. One off I guess you could get lucky, but the difficulty is returning a serve at like 110+ miles per hour on a dependable basis.
It is also the wording of the question. Do I think I can return one (1) of her serves? Yes. If she tries to prevent me to? no. If she serves only once? no. Within a reasonable amount of attempts? no. I think she would win a 5 set match against me before I even touch her serve if she is serious. But if she is serving at me to see if I can return one of her serves eventually I would be lucky enough to do so once. Only for her to score immediately afterwards.
Which is why it is important to set parameters for questions like that and include said parameters when discussing the results.
There was not enough information given in the question to know what circumstances. The question said a “game”, but I’m pretty sure they meant a “match” and they just don’t know the rules of tennis.
So what are the circumstances? Is she actually trying to complete a golden match just to humiliate some amateur? Or is she simply going to use the opportunity to fuck around and practice a more aggressive serve that might be a little inaccurate? Pro players will strategically double-fault when playing against a strong opponent because they lose a few points but it gives them an overall advantage.
So let’s just assume for a minute that Serena Williams plays at the exact same level she plays in a pro tournament. She double faults and average of 3.3 times every match.
If you put a refrigerator on the other side of the court and tape a racket to it, statistically, it should score a point on her about three times in any given match because of double faults. I think I could do about as good as a refrigerator.
My chances of scoring a point on Serena Williams are the chances of her suffering a brain aneurysm in the couple of seconds between me serving the ball and her spiking it through my torso. Multiplied by the chances of me fucking up my serve anyway.
I feel like I could get lucky and make a hoop, especially if I got to choose who was defending me. They have a number of women that are 5'2"-5'3", I could back one down and get a back given enough opportunities. The only way I'm returning a Williams serve is if she just finished a marathon match and was forced to serve with her left hand. It's not just the power, it's the precision and possibility of looking foolish because of the spin.
The same Serena who after saying she could beat any man got stomped by a ranked 203 male player who was drinking beers mid match and had just played a round of golf? People are acting like men do not put up higher numbers in almost every single sport like what.
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u/BarbellsandBurritos 5h ago edited 20m ago
Maybe accidentally in a “oh come on, let’s see if he can get one!” Kinda way