I have a question about professional tennis.

[betsuni]

Some sports like wrestling and judo group athletes competing against each other according to weight, to keep things even. Does it make a difference in tennis if there's a height difference? Does a tall person have any particular advantage against a shorter player?

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

1. Advantage of height

When serving, a tall person has a better angle to hit the quarter of the court he's aiming at. Plus, longer arms make it easier to reach a ball out to the side or over the head.

[betsuni]

3. Thank you!

Kei Nishikori was up against John Isner and I was annoyed because sports announcers in Japan always remark on how the poor Japanese athletes don't stand a chance against large sized tall strong foreigners, but Nishikori won the match. Nishikori isn't short. Isner's tall, but tall people can't move fast as a general rule. I would think that evens out, the advantage of serving versus speed. Watching the Olympic Games on Japanese TV is very annoying because of this.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

4. Advantage of height "in general"

John Isner can pound the serves, but the rest of his game seems fairly average.

There have been many "not extremely tall" players who have done extremely well. Martina Navratalova 5'8 Martina Hingis 5'7, Amanda Coetzer 5'2, Michael Chang 5'9, David Ferrer 5'9.

That, plus, players have good days and bad, or good moments and bad.

Edit to add: Kimiko Date, 5'4"

[PoliticAverse]

2. From 2014...

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/22/sports/tennis/wimbledon-2014-shorter-players-can-thrive-too.html?_r=0