Fastest recorded tennis serves
This article lists serving speed record breaks for the men's and women's professional tennis.
This list is not historically complete. For instance, not listed here, Roscoe Tanner's serve was clocked at 153 mph at Palm Springs in 1978 during the final against Raúl Ramírez. There are also reports that Bill Tilden had a serve that was clocked at 163.3 mph but there is nothing to verify that.[1] Also, Ellsworth Vines in the Wimbledon finals of 1932 clocked 121 mph (without Radar).[2] Udayachand Shetty's winning serve was clocked by radar at 120 mph using a wooden racquet, at the Gilbey Gins fast serve contest held in Chicago on 24 July 1976.[3] This qualified him to take part in the finals at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills Queens on 20 August 1976. Colin Dibley of Australia won the event with a serve of 130 mph.[4]
Currently, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) does not formally recognize service speed records made in Challenger tour events due to lack of uniformity in these tournaments' radar guns (including availability or lack thereof). Nevertheless, the serve speed of 263 km/h (163.4 mph) recorded by Australian Sam Groth at an ATP Challenger event in Busan, South Korea in May 2012 was measured using ATP-approved equipment and other data gathered appeared within a normal range. However, John Isner holds the ATP's official record for the fastest serve at 253 km/h (157.2 mph).[5]
Ivo Karlović with a 232 km/h (144.2 mph) second serve in the quarterfinals of the 2007 Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, holds the record for the fastest second serve ever recorded.[6]
- Criteria
- Men's serves must be recorded at or over 230 km/h (143 mph) minimum standard speed.
- Women's serves must be recorded at or over 200 km/h (124 mph) minimum standard speed.[7]
- Only one serve per player is recorded here. For example, Andy Roddick has many 230 km/h (143 mph) or faster serves on his record but only his personal best of 249 km/h (155 mph) is included.[8]
- In cases where more than one serve has been recorded at the same speed, the oldest recorded serve is listed first.
Men
Not recognized by ATP
Not formally recognized by ATP and/or unsourced
- His fastest verified serve clocked in at 149.3 mph (240 km/h) in the 2013 Davis Cup and he produced a 150.4 mph (242 km/h) serve during his run in the 2012 Paris Masters, but it was a let.[13]
Women
Rank | Player | Speed[28] | Event[note 1] |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 210.8 km/h (131.0 mph) | 2014 Stanford Classic[29] | |
2 | 207.6 km/h (129.0 mph) | 2007 US Open | |
3 | 207.0 km/h (128.6 mph) | 2013 Australian Open | |
4 | 203.0 km/h (126.1 mph) | 2012 French Open | |
5 | 202.7 km/h (126.0 mph) | 2007 Indian Wells Masters | |
6 | 202.0 km/h (125.5 mph) | 2014 Australian Open | |
7 | 201.2 km/h (125.0 mph) | 2015 Wimbledon | |
2016 US Open | |||
8 | 201.1 km/h (125.0 mph) | 2009 Indian Wells Masters | |
9 | 201.0 km/h (124.9 mph) | 2007 French Open | |
2015 Australian Open[30] | |||
10 | 200.0 km/h (124.3 mph) | 2009 French Open |
- "IDS only collects serve speed data on show courts at certain events (11 in 2014) and started doing so in 1989 ... Players who have had multiple Top 10 fastest serves only have their top one listed, and if they hit that top speed multiple times, just the first time they did it is listed." http://www.wtatennis.com/news/article/1978722/title/ids-serve-speed-leaders
See also
References
- http://bleacherreport.com/articles/612431-pete-sampras-and-the-top-25-servers-in-the-history-of-mens-tennis
- Smith, Red (1977-08-26). "They only serve but Hard". New York Times. p. 37.
- "Aussie has a racket- hits "em 148 miles per hour". Chicago Tribune (published 1976-08-19). 1976. p. 7.
- Rogers, Thomas (1976-08-21). "Dibley service fastest in town". New York Times.
- "Aussie Groth Hits Speedy Serves". Association of Tennis Professionals Staff. 2012-12-05.
- http://isportsweb.com/2015/10/10/tennis-ivo-karlovic-loses-but-breaks-another-record/
- "IDS Serve Speed Leaders". Pro Tennis Internet Network. 2011-06-30.
- "Andy Roddick's Serve". Retrieved 5 June 2012.
- "Aussie smashes tennis serve speed record". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved May 13, 2012.
- "Groth and Olivetti Top Guns of Fast Serve". Orange Deuce. August 11, 2012.
- "Davis Cup 2016: John Isner breaks serve speed record with 253km/h bomb". Fox Sports. 2016-03-06. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
- "Ivo Karlovic sets world serve record". ESPN. March 6, 2011.
- "The final in figures". Fédération Française de Tennis. Archived from the original on 2 July 2013. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
- "The record service speed of 251km/hour in the Challenger in Szczecin". Official Website of Jordan Tratree. August 1, 2013.
- Tennis headlines, March 6, 2011
- "2011 ATP World Tour Media Guide". Association of Tennis Professionals. p. 205. Retrieved 1 July 2011.
- Botero B., Andrés (15 July 2014). "El saque más veloz del tenis estará en el ATP 250 de Bogotá". eltiempo.com (in Spanish).
- López, Feliciano (9 June 2014). "We will continue playing 2morrow at 12 noon.So happy to hit my fastest bullet today 152mph!!!!". @feliciano_lopez. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
- "Nu-i joacă de Copil! Arădeanul este în semifinale, la Budapesta. Am aflat de ce evoluează senzațional! | Alte sporturi, Alte sporturi, Sport, Tenis, Tenis | Libertatea.ro". Libertatea.ro (in Romanian). 2016-10-28. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wRxefz_HA0&t=492s%7Caccessdate=2017-12-19}}
- "Hingis wins title; Rusedski hits 149 mph". Houston Chronicle. March 15, 1998. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
- "Tsonga credits leg work to increased serve speed". theScore.com. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyKcXaEO9Wc&t=6m33s
- Dan Rascanu (2014-12-20), Davis Cup 2014 Federer / Wawrinka vs Benneteau / Gasquet, retrieved 2017-12-19
- https://www.latercera.com/el-deportivo/noticia/un-saque-supersonico/57485/
- "Wimbledon 2019: Nick Kyrgios almost breaks fastest serve record in ATP history against Rafael Nadal". FOX Networks Group Asia. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
- "Fastest Tennis Serves". Tennis Companion. Retrieved December 16, 2019.
- "IDS Serve Speed Leaders". WTA. Retrieved 13 March 2014.
- "Lisicki hits fastest serve ever". WTA. July 29, 2014.
- "Australian Open 2015 tournament statistics: Cornet vs. Allertova". ausopen.com. January 22, 2015.