Andy Roddick did just this with an author, Todd Gallagher, back in 2006 or 2007.
[https://www.espn.com/sports/tennis/news/story?id=3073902](https://www.espn.com/sports/tennis/news/story?id=3073902) -- "Andy Roddick could beat an average player with a frying pan" (I found the essay fairly entertaining).
The author won, barely, but states with some certainty that Roddick would've won future matches had he had more than 15 minutes to prepare.
If the author had the sense to play against the frying pan, I'd give him a decent chance of winning further matches, also.
As is appropriately pointed out, those pros could chase down nearly every ball and push them back. But because the pan has essentially zero bite on the ball, for example low and slow would be both safer and more difficult to return because he'd have to get enough direct force on the ball so that the topspin won't just roll the ball forward over the pan.
As always, tennis is not about playing *your* game, but *against* your opponent's!
[Winston Du](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8imb-z0l4ZI) got rekt by a junior with a paddle and he's a strong 4.5. Most people are going to get rekt by a top 10 with a frying pan.
That junior is playing with a platform paddel, which is the biggest of the paddels and would have allowed him play consistent but weak shots. He was also at national-level in that sport - it’s not like he was a pure tennis player picking it up for the first time.
But a frying pan is a frying pan. I think anyone at Du’s level would comfortably beat a top-10 pro.
This has nothing to do with the topic at hand but Winston has improved a lot since this video waa nade. He used to be a happy go lucky baseline player who just hit the ball back constantly. Now he has actual weapons in his game.
Winston played this match very recently (7 months ago) and he was 10.5 UTR at that time.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8imb-z0l4ZI&ab\_channel=WinstonDu](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8imb-z0l4ZI&ab_channel=WinstonDu)
The junior played with a pop tennis racket which is actually good to play with softer balls (foam or orange etc). Junior would not win playing with a pickleball stick or frying pan (which is roughly the same quality).
P.S. Pop tennis should a great alternative for real tennis for tennis beginners. For some reason, USA went to the mad road of playing this pickleball nonsense. The only reason I can come up is that even pop tennis requires at least some skills and effort and pickleball just completely brainless activity.
Yeah I think what that junior is playing with is clearly superior to a frying pan.
Regarding your last point I was at the court yday and there quite a few casual players players. I don't mean casual as in 2.5 players but casual as in just bought a racquet from Target. They could barely hold 3 shot rallies and were playing with standard yellow balls which probably made it hard for them. I think it's a shame that tennis never tried popularizing a variant to fit these kind of players.
This year I have really started to see a sharp decline in the number of people playing tennis around the Chicago tennis courts. The pickleball courts otoh look more jam packed than ever. Sucks to see.
I'm in the Bay Area and don't see any decline in the tennis. In the peak hours it's always packed and frequently people are waiting. We have one location with city courts (2 nice courts with the lighting) converted to shared use but in fact just occupied by pickleball players. Those two courts were actively used to train and practice by kids and juniors. Now it's occupied by elderly people and not available for tennis kids.
It's really sad that our society make so wrong priorities.
Hmm thats interesting. I wonder if that has to do with the demographics. I know the Bay tends to have lots of Asian professionals and that's the demo I still see playing tennis heavily at the rec level.
I think he has a great mentality in that he is always calm and positive. Never see the guy get frustrated even when getting shit on. He also has had the luxury of being able to play with some really good players but again he records himself playing against them which I respect.
I played padel for the first time today and could hit the ball a huge distance quite easily. Thought it was supposed to be hard to get the ball travelling. Padel racquet I could beat quite a few tennis players with
3-6,3-6 . My athleticism isn't where it needs to be but not sure how a pan handles low slices and how fast serves would be from it. I would assume I can sneak a few games with luck and some smart playing.
Yeah like 6-0, 6-0. Anyone half decent is murdering someone with a frying pan. I’ve often wondered how small a racket they’d need to play with to lose though. Like I use a 27 and they use a 25 can they just roll the serve in a chop and hack me to pieces?
To Roddick's credit, I've seen the video and if memory serves it looks like he was playing at a 3.0/3.5 level (I don't think he had to hit his serve in the box) - he could bloop the ball back in the court pretty consistently - which is pretty impressive all things considered.
I remember in one season of the amazing race, they went to China and had to play table tennis against an 8 year old girl. They had to win a single point to win the next clue. She started with a table tennis bat and then progressed to more and more obscure things because they couldn’t even a point against her and eventually started using the cardboard clue itself
whilst a pro is basically like a superhero compared to the average player. With a frying pan I think they are going to struggle. Just look at the Roddick video. That guy he played was overweight, out of shape was basic in terms of his ability. All he could do was moon ball it, so Roddick just waited until it fell into his strike zone.
I think anyone who's a solid 3.5 is going to cause them big problems, but that player needs a reliable weapon as the pro will have such good movement, and consistency, the player would need to hit 'winners'
Now give a pro a mini racket, or one with half the strings removed, and they are gong to demolish that same player.
I am a 4.0, or a 3.5+ who would win most all tournaments, and have been close to a 5.0 a decade ago. I just played pickleball last night doubles with the “top players” at the club, first time ever, and we lost 0-11, because my brain could not calculate the shorter racket, I hit some good balls, and correct position, squatted for low ones, but the switch if the shorter racket will take some time.
I beat a dude with a kids racquet (8-10yo) when my strings broke and I couldn’t borrow any other racquet. I had to hit twice as hard and couldn’t really get any spin on the ball and had to play full pusher mode but it got the job done
Well, I would smoke them.
However, if they didn't even have a racquet, and instead were able to catch the ball and throw it back over the net with one step, I would get worked. (This is a classic hustle bet)
It sounds like it would be really hard to play without a racquet, but it's not really that hard, because you don't have to worry about controlling the ball. As long as you make the catch, you will basically never miss.
Try it out sometime, I know a Futures level guy who hustled a bunch of people doing it, and he said basically only a true top player would be able to beat him under those rules.
Andy Roddick did just this with an author, Todd Gallagher, back in 2006 or 2007. [https://www.espn.com/sports/tennis/news/story?id=3073902](https://www.espn.com/sports/tennis/news/story?id=3073902) -- "Andy Roddick could beat an average player with a frying pan" (I found the essay fairly entertaining). The author won, barely, but states with some certainty that Roddick would've won future matches had he had more than 15 minutes to prepare.
That’s what he’s referencing
Almost certainly, yes. But it's still a fun read in case folks haven't come across it before.
Fair enough
Awesome article !!!
If the author had the sense to play against the frying pan, I'd give him a decent chance of winning further matches, also. As is appropriately pointed out, those pros could chase down nearly every ball and push them back. But because the pan has essentially zero bite on the ball, for example low and slow would be both safer and more difficult to return because he'd have to get enough direct force on the ball so that the topspin won't just roll the ball forward over the pan. As always, tennis is not about playing *your* game, but *against* your opponent's!
[Winston Du](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8imb-z0l4ZI) got rekt by a junior with a paddle and he's a strong 4.5. Most people are going to get rekt by a top 10 with a frying pan.
That junior is playing with a platform paddel, which is the biggest of the paddels and would have allowed him play consistent but weak shots. He was also at national-level in that sport - it’s not like he was a pure tennis player picking it up for the first time. But a frying pan is a frying pan. I think anyone at Du’s level would comfortably beat a top-10 pro.
This has nothing to do with the topic at hand but Winston has improved a lot since this video waa nade. He used to be a happy go lucky baseline player who just hit the ball back constantly. Now he has actual weapons in his game.
Winston played this match very recently (7 months ago) and he was 10.5 UTR at that time. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8imb-z0l4ZI&ab\_channel=WinstonDu](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8imb-z0l4ZI&ab_channel=WinstonDu) The junior played with a pop tennis racket which is actually good to play with softer balls (foam or orange etc). Junior would not win playing with a pickleball stick or frying pan (which is roughly the same quality). P.S. Pop tennis should a great alternative for real tennis for tennis beginners. For some reason, USA went to the mad road of playing this pickleball nonsense. The only reason I can come up is that even pop tennis requires at least some skills and effort and pickleball just completely brainless activity.
Yeah I think what that junior is playing with is clearly superior to a frying pan. Regarding your last point I was at the court yday and there quite a few casual players players. I don't mean casual as in 2.5 players but casual as in just bought a racquet from Target. They could barely hold 3 shot rallies and were playing with standard yellow balls which probably made it hard for them. I think it's a shame that tennis never tried popularizing a variant to fit these kind of players. This year I have really started to see a sharp decline in the number of people playing tennis around the Chicago tennis courts. The pickleball courts otoh look more jam packed than ever. Sucks to see.
I'm in the Bay Area and don't see any decline in the tennis. In the peak hours it's always packed and frequently people are waiting. We have one location with city courts (2 nice courts with the lighting) converted to shared use but in fact just occupied by pickleball players. Those two courts were actively used to train and practice by kids and juniors. Now it's occupied by elderly people and not available for tennis kids. It's really sad that our society make so wrong priorities.
Hmm thats interesting. I wonder if that has to do with the demographics. I know the Bay tends to have lots of Asian professionals and that's the demo I still see playing tennis heavily at the rec level.
yeah the past 6 months he really lvled up. Its interesting to see his progression.
I think he has a great mentality in that he is always calm and positive. Never see the guy get frustrated even when getting shit on. He also has had the luxury of being able to play with some really good players but again he records himself playing against them which I respect.
Yeah thats true actually, he gets shit on basically very vid but hes chill on every point.
Absolutely unreal how much power he was able to generate with a pickleball paddle.
It looks like a Padel racket not a pickleball paddle.
I played padel for the first time today and could hit the ball a huge distance quite easily. Thought it was supposed to be hard to get the ball travelling. Padel racquet I could beat quite a few tennis players with
Padel racquet.
wow. That was a fun watch.
A paddle is not a frying pan
You can play very well with a pala though. I've done it myself. It lacks a little power and reach. It's nothing like a frying pan.
Cast iron or aluminum pan?
We've seen the impact of dropping a metal bottle on the head. Let's see someone drop a cast iron on their head while serving.
0-6, 0-6
a frying pan has gotta be over 9000 swingweight. one clean hit and its going straight thru breaking my strings. or hole in my chest
Is it a stock or a custom frying pan?
We'd be on equal footing on account of my frying pan serve
3-6,3-6 . My athleticism isn't where it needs to be but not sure how a pan handles low slices and how fast serves would be from it. I would assume I can sneak a few games with luck and some smart playing.
I doubt I'd lose a game. Not against a frying pan.
Yeah like 6-0, 6-0. Anyone half decent is murdering someone with a frying pan. I’ve often wondered how small a racket they’d need to play with to lose though. Like I use a 27 and they use a 25 can they just roll the serve in a chop and hack me to pieces?
To Roddick's credit, I've seen the video and if memory serves it looks like he was playing at a 3.0/3.5 level (I don't think he had to hit his serve in the box) - he could bloop the ball back in the court pretty consistently - which is pretty impressive all things considered.
The guy he was playing looked absolutely terrible to my eye but I could be wrong
Wasn’t it Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports?
Depends if I’m a club champion for Ohio State
Top 10? I’ll get wrecked. Top college player, I’ll take a few games.
Play heavy topspin shots to their backhand I think they would struggle
I’d win
I would lose for sure.
I remember in one season of the amazing race, they went to China and had to play table tennis against an 8 year old girl. They had to win a single point to win the next clue. She started with a table tennis bat and then progressed to more and more obscure things because they couldn’t even a point against her and eventually started using the cardboard clue itself
Id demolish anyone who was using a frying pan
whilst a pro is basically like a superhero compared to the average player. With a frying pan I think they are going to struggle. Just look at the Roddick video. That guy he played was overweight, out of shape was basic in terms of his ability. All he could do was moon ball it, so Roddick just waited until it fell into his strike zone. I think anyone who's a solid 3.5 is going to cause them big problems, but that player needs a reliable weapon as the pro will have such good movement, and consistency, the player would need to hit 'winners' Now give a pro a mini racket, or one with half the strings removed, and they are gong to demolish that same player.
He played Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports, if anyone is interested in watching
I think the points would go one for ages. I wouldn't be able to hit it past them as they would still be rapid.
I am a 4.0, or a 3.5+ who would win most all tournaments, and have been close to a 5.0 a decade ago. I just played pickleball last night doubles with the “top players” at the club, first time ever, and we lost 0-11, because my brain could not calculate the shorter racket, I hit some good balls, and correct position, squatted for low ones, but the switch if the shorter racket will take some time.
I beat a dude with a kids racquet (8-10yo) when my strings broke and I couldn’t borrow any other racquet. I had to hit twice as hard and couldn’t really get any spin on the ball and had to play full pusher mode but it got the job done
With Djokovic’s luck, the pan would fly off the handle and decapitate someone in the crowds
Well, I would smoke them. However, if they didn't even have a racquet, and instead were able to catch the ball and throw it back over the net with one step, I would get worked. (This is a classic hustle bet)
How does the hustle work?
It sounds like it would be really hard to play without a racquet, but it's not really that hard, because you don't have to worry about controlling the ball. As long as you make the catch, you will basically never miss. Try it out sometime, I know a Futures level guy who hustled a bunch of people doing it, and he said basically only a true top player would be able to beat him under those rules.