Well I was watching the Wimbledon Final today, and I am always impressed by how physically fit they must be. I am in awe of the distances they cover, especially in this game as both Federer and Djokovic are so gifted that almost every point if the serve is returned is an epic rally, in which both players are forced to run cross court to return with almost every shot.

Especially Djokovic he seems to cover every single inch of the court when Federer pulls off some amazing shot. In fact I believe he is the only player in the world with the ability to get to some of the shots from Federer’s backhand, such is his athletic ability.

So loving stats, math and sports, I thought I would find out not only how much distance tennis players cover per game but which sport covers the most ground. Therefore;

Baseball

Well Baseball out of the all the sports I managed to find data for, certainly is the sport for those that hate running. Which I guess is why if they are not jacked up on steroids they have a beer gut.

In fact most New Yorkers walk a greater distance each day from the subway station to their office that the players of their beloved Yankees.

In a game players run less than a mile, even the multiple home run hitters and fielders.

After all the bases are only 90 feet apart.

Football (The American Kind)

Again another sport in which I have noticed you are either in shape and typical have the frame of a bodybuilder, or you are a 300lb linebacker with a gut.

Yet a game that is measured in feet and inches with multiple stops it is not surprising that players do not really cover that much ground. A wide receiver who typically covers the most ground in a game only manages about 1.25 miles. An analysis by the Wall Street Journal found that the average American Football player only moves yet alone runs for a total of 11 minutes a game.

Basketball

Basketball is another sport were they run end to end of the court like tennis, but it does have lots of stopping and starting, therefore the overall distance covered is not as impressive and you would think.

That said it is the clear winner out of the big American sports, the NBA tracked its players in 2012 and Luol Deng of the Chicago Bulls was the highest-ranking player in the league on distance cover per game average with 2.72 miles.

So do tennis players run more in a match than Basketball players?

Tennis

Although the Tennis court is a lot smaller compared to the fields and courts of the above sports, do not be deceived on the distances covered, as depending on their style of play, players typical run 3 to 5 miles in a five set game, though in a game like today, I would imagine it would be 5-7 miles as both players are able to make impossible returns, therefore there was some amazing rallies which means a lot of back-and-forth.

There is one sport that I knew without having to do any research would be the winner in distances covered during play and that is;

Football (Soccer)

90 minutes of non stop action on a large field, with the ball constantly in play, meaning most footballer players cover some serious distances, the average depending on position excluding the goalkeeper is between 7 miles and 9.5 miles.