There are two sides to every sport – skill, and endurance. The better players have both.

Can one compensate the other?

Maybe.

We all know players who are talented. Not all of them have the required fitness to last a five-setter. On the other hand, there are players who are short on skills but never give up on a point. Whichever category you fall under, the five incredible rallies shown below will give you an appreciation for the skill and endurance required to play at the highest level.

The videos shown below are from YouTube and include advertisements that you will have to bear with for at least four seconds.

Badminton

In my opinion, badminton is one of the toughest racquet sports, if not the toughest.

However, it does not get a lot of respect from people who have not played the game. Perhaps they are not aware that a badminton smash can travel at 332 kph.

Here’s a 108-shot badminton rally between Tien Minh Nguyen of Vietnam and Danish player Jan O Jorgensen which lasts around 2 minutes. The jump smashes, and the backhand corner-to-corner clears, have got to take their toll.

Sticking with badminton, here’s another incredible 59-point rally from the Commonwealth Games 2014 in Glasgow. The speed and the dexterity required in a badminton doubles match are on full display here. Considering the quality of the game, the fact that Malaysia went on to beat England in this match seems less relevant.

Table Tennis

Do you consider yourself a good table tennis player?

Take a look at this 41-shot rally between Nigeria’s Segun Toriola and Singapore’s Ning Gao. This rally reinforces the old strategy, that defense is the best form of offense.

Squash

Moving on to familiar territory, here’s a squash rally for a game point that starts out tame and then goes on for an amazing 116 shots, lasting well over two minutes. The match between Scotland’s Alan Clyne and Frenchman Gregoire Marche was won by the latter.

Tennis

The rally from the Australian Open 2013, shown below, received a number of negative comments for being lame. Gilles Simon and Gael Monfils, both from France, trade 71 shots before Simon wins the point. With deep well-placed shots, neither player appears to have a shot at coming in and finishing off the point.

You be the judge.

So, which one of these incredible rallies would you say is the toughest?