steph curry or serena williams

a current tv commercial has them playing table tennis
who would win?
would serena's tennis talent transfer to the table or would curry's basketball talent be enough?
tough one

Serena would win, she plays an individual sport and is more competitive.

Originally posted by lemondrop
a current tv commercial has them playing table tennis
who would win?
would serena's tennis talent transfer to the table or would curry's basketball talent be enough?
tough one

Physical size is less important for excelling in table tennis than in tennis or basketball.
Steph Curry is 191 cm tall. Serena Williams is 175 cm tall.
The world's top table tennis player is Ma Long (who's 175 cm tall).

Deng Yaping (who's only 150 cm tall) is often regarded as the greatest woman table tennis player ever.
The Chinese table tennis authorities initially regarded her as too short to become a champion.
She dominated women's table tennis until she retired (at age 24) in 1997.
Afterward, she earned a PhD from the University of Cambridge.

Originally posted by Duchess64
Physical size is less important for excelling in table tennis than in tennis or basketball.
Steph Curry is 191 cm tall. Serena Williams is 175 cm tall.
The world's top table tennis player is Ma Long (who's 175 cm tall).

Deng Yaping (who's only 150 cm tall) is often regarded as the greatest woman table tennis player ever.
The Chinese table tennis aut ...[text shortened]... she retired (at age 24) in 1997.
Afterward, she earned a PhD from the University of Cambridge.

quick reflexes are important in table tennis for sure
but I was posing the question of who would win between williams and curry
I'll take the finesse of curry over the power of serena
still a tough call

Originally posted by lemondrop
quick reflexes are important in table tennis for sure
but I was posing the question of who would win between williams and curry
I'll take the finesse of curry over the power of serena
still a tough call

It's impossible to extrapolate from how well Steph Curry plays basketball or
Serena Williams plays tennis to ascertain how well they would play table tennis.
One reason is that table tennis at its highest level is largely a mental game.
I have no clue about how good Steph Curry or Serena Williams would be at table tennis tactics.

I would add that table tennis at its highest level requires some exceptional athleticism.
The Chinese national team's training regimen would leave almost everyone exhausted.

Here's a link to the website of the ongoing 2017 World Table Tennis Championship in Germany:
http://www.wttc2017.com/en

If lemondrop played against Duchess in ping pong, I choose lemondrop to be victorious. 🙂

Originally posted by chaney3
If lemondrop played against Duchess in ping pong, I choose lemondrop to be victorious. 🙂

Table tennis is not like the game 'Survivor', where the winner's determined by a popularity contest.
If it were otherwise, given racism, the (unpopular) Chinese would not dominate the sport.

Lemondrop's ignorant comments about table tennis implies that one's a weak player at best.
Even long in retirement, Deng Yaping (a 44 year old Chinese woman who's only 150 cm tall)
probably could defeat every American athletic celebrity in table tennis.

Contrary to American pop culture's fantasy of Forrest Gump as a table tennis champion
beating the Chinese, the average American recreational player (who often is completely
ignorant of fundamental skills) is at a level far below the average Chinese recreational player.
Even American serious tournament players could be beaten by random Chinese players on the street.
There's a vast gulf between the strengths of American and Chinese table tennis cultures.
It's like the gulf between American and Brazilian soccer cultures magnified one hundred times.

Originally posted by Duchess64
[b]It's impossible to extrapolate from how well Steph Curry plays basketball or
Serena Williams plays tennis to ascertain how well they would play table tennis.

That may be true, but there is one table tennis/tennis link from the UK

Ann Jones was , I think, a runner up in the table tennis WC in the late 1950s, and later won Wimbledon Singles in lawn tennis.

Of course, one would not ignorantly assume that Serena might share this dual prowess

In the 2017 world table tennis championship, I predict that the singles events will be dominated
by Chinese players, but the doubles events could be won by players from several countries.

Originally posted by Blood On The Tracks
That may be true, but there is one table tennis/tennis link from the UK
Ann Jones was , I think, a runner up in the table tennis WC in the late 1950s, and later won Wimbledon Singles in lawn tennis.

Of course, one would not ignorantly assume that Serena might share this dual prowess

Fred Perry's the best example of an athlete who excelled at both tennis and table tennis.
He's most known for his tennis career. He also won the men's singles in the 1929 world championship in table tennis.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Perry

Ann Jones's father, Adrian Haydon, was once England's best table tennis player.
Ann Jones lost in the finals of the women's singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles
at the 1957 world championship in table tennis.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Jones_(tennis)

One should take note that these events took place before China competed at the world championships.
Speaking of international table tennis before the Chinese (or the earlier Japanese) participated
is like speaking of international chess without any participation by Soviet (or Russian) players.

Knowledgeable people have this general ranking of table tennis players:
1) Chinese who play for China.
2) Chinese who play for countries outside China.
3) The rest (particularly Japanese, Koreans, or some Europeans).

I expect that, given popular American stereotypes of the Chinese as 'racially inferior' in athletics,
ignorant Americans could vote (like Chaney3) to have Serena Williams declared as the
women's world champion in table tennis. But there's no reason to believe that Serena
Williams could become, even with serious training, a world class table tennis player.

However, the point of this thread is 'basketball vs tennis' related to table tennis

aren't the Chinese references extremely off thread??

Hmmm. Fred Perry winner vs Ann Jones RU. Surely both show that table tennis and tennis skills CAN be linked.

And, given the extremely limited financial rewards from being a WC table tennis player, it is doubtful that the multi Grand Slam winning tennis player Serena will be losing too much sleep about your very presumptuous verdict

Originally posted by Blood On The Tracks
However, the point of this thread is 'basketball vs tennis' related to table tennis

aren't the Chinese references extremely off thread??
Hmmm. Fred Perry winner vs Ann Jones RU. Surely both show that table tennis and tennis skills CAN be linked.

This thread indicates common Western ignorance about table tennis more than anything else.
My implied point is that most ordinary Chinese would be less ignorant about table tennis.

"Fred Perry winner vs Ann Jones RU. Surely both show that table tennis and tennis skills CAN be linked."
--Blood on the Tracks

That's a very weak correlation, really nothing more than a coincidence.
There have been hundreds, if not thousands, of tennis champions in the past century,
and how many of them have ever won much at the world championships in table tennis?
I would add that Fred Perry and Ann Jones were competing against much weaker fields
(nearly all European players) than they would have to do today.

There have been a few players who excelled at both professional baseball and (American) football.
Do you believe that Bo Jackson's success means that Tim Tebow will make it to major league baseball?

Originally posted by Duchess64
This thread indicates common Western ignorance about table tennis more than anything else.
My implied point is that most ordinary Chinese would be less ignorant about table tennis.

"Fred Perry winner vs Ann Jones RU. Surely both show that table tennis and tennis skills CAN be linked."
--Blood on the Tracks

That's a very weak correlation, really no ...[text shortened]... ou believe that Bo Jackson's success means that Tim Tebow will make it to major league baseball?

Does it?

I am missing that.

The original poster posed the question about 2 athletes from different fields (tennis and basketball) and asking who would win if they really played each other at table tennis.

Your continued reference to Chinese excellence in that sport is totally irrelevant.

I would have thought it fairly obvious that skills from tennis may transfer to table tennis. Think the clue is the common word 'tennis' and the fact that they both involve knocking a ball over a net with a hand held implement.

I have provided some evidence of historic transfer of such skill.

You keep banging on about how good China are in a 'sport' which in the UK is seen as a teenage pastime if you wish

Originally posted by Blood On The Tracks
However, the point of this thread is 'basketball vs tennis' related to table tennis
aren't the Chinese references extremely off thread??
Hmmm. Fred Perry winner vs Ann Jones RU. Surely both show that table tennis and tennis skills CAN be linked.

And, given the extremely limited financial rewards from being a WC table tennis player, it is dou ...[text shortened]... winning tennis player Serena will be losing too much sleep about your very presumptuous verdict

"And, given the extremely limited financial rewards from being a WC table tennis player .."
--Blood on the Tracks

Blood on the Tracks shows his extreme ignorance of international table tennis.
World champions in table tennis can become rich and famous, at least in some countries.

In fact, Chester Barnes, an English table tennis champion, wrote that he envied the
great Asian table tennis champions, who could be treated like pop stars in the West.
Zhuang Zedong was regarded as a national hero in China, and his table tennis
achievements propelled him to a high political position (from which he would fall hard).

If I could win a singles world championship in table tennis, then I would expect to get
sponsorship offers lucrative enough to make me financially secure. Depending upon
other factors, I also could use it to become a celebrity endorser in some societies.

Like other ethnocentric Westerners, Blood on the Tracks shows disrespect for the
demanding training and athletic gifts needed to become a world champion in table tennis.
There seems to be a popular racist conceit that any good white or black tennis player
could, without having to train very much, master table tennis and then defeat all the
Asian champions who have devoted many years in training for the sport.

Does Blood on the Tracks believe that Garry Kasparov could have become the world champion in Go?

Originally posted by Duchess64
"And, given the extremely limited financial rewards from being a WC table tennis player .."
--Blood on the Tracks

Blood on the Tracks shows his extreme ignorance of international table tennis.
World champions in table tennis can become rich and famous, at least in some countries.

In fact, Chester Barnes, an English table tennis champion, wrote tha ...[text shortened]... Does Blood on the Tracks believe that Garry Kasparov could have become the world champion in Go?

Blood on the tracks would like some link from duchess 64 showing that any of these lauded table tennis pop stars have grossed winnings/earnings approaching those of Serena Williams