<p>tennis requires a lot of foot action. and every second is a huge moment. but it’s not that difficult, because you stay in a limited field, whereas in team sports, you’ve gotta move around constantly and decide what to do when on offense, when on defense, etc.</p>
<p>so it varies.</p>
<p>i’ve concluded…that everyones’ “hardest” sport will be the one that they’re involved in to the highest extent…it’s individual…ofcourse if you like one sport more than another you’re going to dedicate more time and effort in to that one, so then it’ll be harder…if you have more of a natural ability at one thing, you’re gonna think that’s easier…</p>
<p>If ‘hardest’ is related to physical and mental fitness, i would say tennis too.</p>
<p>But if its skill related then I would say Cricket :D</p>
<p>nahrafsfa, that’s what I was getting at…</p>
<p>Hello - When it comes down to physical and mental fitness, it’s not just tennis.</p>
<p>Basketball requires proper conditioning to run the court for 48 minutes nonstop.</p>
<p>Cross Country requires endurance to run 5 kilometers nonstop.</p>
<p>In soccer, one is constantly running up and down the field.</p>
<p>The same goes for many other sports, of which tennis is one of them.</p>
<p>Allright, for starters let me start by saying that I have nothing but respect for the athleticism it takes to compete in any sport at a high level. That being said I think it is important to note what exactly comprises a “sport” before you can debate what falls as the hardest.</p>
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</p>
<p>This definition is all that is needed to end the debate. However, I would like to add one more qualifier.</p>
<p>C.) Your opponent must physically impact your ability to perform/score during the event/match/game. I.e. you are not operating in a vacuum.</p>
<p>For example the defensive strategy implemented in football is tackling your opponent before they can cross the goal line, thus physically stopping them from scoring. In track and field on the other hand, you are physically competing against other individuals and may very well implement some form of strategy (both defensive and offensive) however, at no point during the race will your opponent shove you to the ground and then pass you (I realize that physical contact does occur in many longer distance races, however, under the rules this is technically illegal and therefore not an official “part of the game”).</p>
<p>However, this qualification does create a question regarding some sports that have been listed so far. For example, tennis can be discussed as a sport as there certainly is physical activity and an offensive/defensive strategy. The question lies in the fact that you and your opponent are seperated by a net and your opponent in no way affects your ability to return the ball. However, your opponent is also physically stopping you from scoring by returning the ball back across the net (i.e. would tennis be a sport if an individual simply served onto the opposite side gaining points by keeping the ball within the lines and not faulting, sort of a glorified darts? hell no.). I believe baseball escapes this debate since there is much more interaction between players once the ball is in play, i.e. throwing a runner out at the plate, catching an individual in a rundown, blocking someone off the bag, etc…</p>
<p>As for some other things that have been said:
<p>2) I believe wrestling is the hardest sport for the following reasons:
a) Intense physical training, I think we can all agree that there are few athletes who are forced to train harder than top level wrestlers, mixing both long distance endurance with short burst quickness and speed.
b) Much like other finess sports wrestling at a high level demands knowledge of countless moves and variations along with defensive counters to those moves.
c) An individual wrestler is competing against another individual wrestler in perhaps the most clearly distinguishable manner, one loser, one winner.</p>
<p>and i still say tennis.</p>
<p>how about we say the hardest extracurricular activity/career/other-thing-to-do-besides-eat-and-sleep is play sports.</p>
<p>we should make a huge cc olympic type deal and test EVERY sport out. that would be friggin awesome. a bunch of nerds trying to play sport…haha…jp.</p>
<p>oh and when i said “biatches” earlier, i was just kidding. man some people cant take jokes.</p>
<p>Didn’t read thread, the correct answer is boxing.</p>
<p>kickboxing is harder than boxing…</p>
<p>how about muay thai… thats hardcore stuff… kick, punch, knee, elbow.</p>
<p>im seeing a fat muay thai tournament in San Jose in a couple weeks, my trainer is fighting.</p>
<p>Ecliptica,</p>
<p>yeah, i guess if figures the person that thinks boxing is the hardest wouldn’t be able to read…jp :). the thing is kickboxing and boxing are centered around who can beat up someone the best. i understand its not easy, but like i said earlier, its the most natural sport because people fight all the time by hitting/kicking/slapping each other. obviously not in such a technical way as boxing, but its basically how hard a punch you can take or give.</p>
<p>but i still say tennis.</p>
<p>btw, the whole “you cant read” joke was just that…a joke. some people on cc suck at taking jokes so i’ve decided to just clear it up now.</p>
<p>How about this qualification:</p>
<p>Contact Sports are harder then non-contact sports. Of Non-Contact sports tennis is undoubtably the hardest under the definition of “sport” I offered above.</p>
<p>However, I’ve got a question as well. How much strategy goes into a tennis match? I honestly don’t know. However, from watching the game it seems most, if not all of your actions are rpedicated on the response of your oppponent rather then a preordained strategy. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but can you really think more then one or two strokes ahead?</p>
<p>side note: coqui if you keep insisting that tennis is the hardest sport at least lay out an argument as to why it is harder then a contact sport. For example boxing. I guarentee there is not a pro-tennis player in the world who could train for a month and then survive a fight without getting his ass beat, but I guarentee that a pro-boxer would still be kickin after a tennis match.</p>
<p>Field Hockey!</p>
<p>Tennis is hands-down the hardest sport to learn and it may be the most mentally rigorous sport to play because anything can happen. However, it is definitely the most physical sport or the hardest to play because like tomadog02 said, you don’t ahve a 280 pound d-end abusing you. Of course that being said, I strongly dislike football too. I think it’s just a bunch of fat guys running around and attacking each to stop the other team from getting to the N-Zone, if you ask me. Therefore, football requires the least amount of skil for sure.</p>
<p>Bah, I can go on about every sport forever…I personally think Fishing is hard. :)</p>
<p>figure skating is the hardest, at least mentally! I’d say half of it is mental. If you think you’re gonna mess something up or are distracted, you will. Plus, not just anybody physically can do the elements that are required. it is also very hard when you are first learning. not to mention that it’s very expensive and time consuming. it’s not unusual to spend $15,000 a year on it and spend 30 hours a week practicing.</p>
<p>A lot of the foot work is very intricate. And if you take one bad step, you could very likely fall and be out of the competition. There are no second chances. You rely on only yourself, there’s no team to back you up if you’re having a bad day. At least in sports like soccer, football, and tennis, you have comfortable shoes on, and not stiff leather boots. Plus you have to go around in a little skating dress for hours and hours a day. You’re screwed if you’re self-conscious about your body. </p>
<p>But I still love it anyway.</p>
<p>and for those of you who think figure skating is not a sport- PM me and we’ll talk.</p>
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<p>At least ESPN agrees with me:</p>
<p><a href=“http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/sportSkills[/url]”>http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/sportSkills</a></p>
<p>The top ten most difficult sports to play, according to this list, are boxing, ice hockey, football, basketball, wrestling, martial arts, tennis, gymnastics, baseball/softball, and soccer.
Besides basketball, I agree with this list, though I think wrestling should be a close #2 behind boxing. I’ve seen what the wrestlers at my school do for training and I’m convinced that they are by far the “most athletic” on campus.</p>
<p>there are discrepencies in what’s needed…for example…tennis kills boxing in the rankings in the agility, speed, endurance, flexibility, hand-eye coordination, and analytical aptitude; however, boxing racks up points in power, strength, durability, nerve, and endurance.</p>
<p>So it is safe to assume that by the ESPN ratings: tennis requires more mental ability and red muscle fiber, while boxing requires more physical strength and white muscle fiber.</p>
<p>You cannot accurately “rate” a sport, because individual bias heavily influences how one will view a sport.</p>
<p>and to respond to a previous sport…a professional boxer wouldn’t get his face beaten in during tennis, because that’s not the object of the game…although…he wouldn’t be able to perform even up to mediocre standards while playing…whether many of you believe it or not…it’s HARD to continuously hit that ball over the net with sufficient speed and placement…it’s even harder to predict your opponentre and figure out a set strategy…you strategize during the entire match…one can change their game up so easily between one point and another.</p>
<p>I just played basketball again yesterday and we were all going intense.</p>
<p>And as I was getting the rebound, I HYPEREXTENDED MY ARM! fu***!</p>
<p>Damn it hurts! Trying to recover now.</p>
<p>Hyperextend = when you bend your arm TOO FAR BACK so it “pops”!</p>
<p>shi*!</p>
<p>OWWWWWWWW…i traumatized my knee playing football once…just think about a REALLY REALLY bad hyperextension that causes your knee to fill up with blood.</p>
<p>Why I do declare, I believe I have found a friend. </p>
<p>Coqui: dispute those rankings. Seriously. </p>
<p>However, I think the reason that the bumped wrestling down the list is pretty well layed out. If you look at the different categories the ones wrestling is weak in are pretty true.</p>
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<p>So I guess the debate is then turned from what sport is harder to what characteristics of a sport make it harder. Obviously different sports are based upon different characteristics, however, I would be inclined to say that those you listed above for boxing make it an inherantly “harder” sport.</p>
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<p>It seems to me that that exact same skill is manifested in boxing, except in a more challenging way.</p>