The 7 Fastest Serves in Tennis History
The All-Time Fastest Serves in Tennis
When Madison Keys called the power servers of the men’s game “boring” in 2018, perhaps she was doing them a disservice.
No pun intended.
But who has the ‘Biggest’ serve of all time?
"‘BFG’ John Isner takes a serve
There is a huge amount of skill in projecting a ball to the backboard before you can say “ace”.
However, the really big servers rarely win major titles, showing that there has to be a subtlety allied to the sledgehammer.
In the current top 15 recorded fastest serves in the men’s game, only one – Andy Roddick – has won a Singles Grand Slam.
In this article, read a list of the fastest serves in the history of tennis!
1. Sam Groth: 163.4mph *
Spare a thought for Sam Groth.
He’s the top-speed server. However, like a wind-assisted 100-metre run or triple jump, it is not recognised by the top-tier organisation that runs the rule over such things.
Even so, it happened. It’s top of the list.
The New South Wales man powered a serve measured at 163.7 mph in 2012 at an ITF Challenger Event in Busan, South Korea against Belarusian Uladzimir Ignatik.
As the standard of radars is not uniform on the Challenger Tour, this technical loophole prevents the big Australian from claiming the official prize.
The ATP confirmed that “the event was using approved equipment, and that other data gathered appeared within a normal range.” Go figure….
When asked if he thinks he has hit bigger serves than the one recorded, Groth merely said:
“When you are looking at it, I’m not sure anyone can see the difference between a serve that is 250 or 260 kph with the naked eye. At the moment, I am happy to say I have hit at least one that fast.”
How diplomatic. Well, he did retire in 2018 to become a politician…
2. Albano Olivetti: 160 mph *
Not exactly a household name, Olivetti grabbed the headlines at the verbosely-named Internazionali Trofeo Lame Perrel–Faip in Italy.
Jannik Sinner, Holger Rune and Matteo Berrettini have all won the event in recent years.
The then-21-year-old Frenchman used all his height and considerable weight (104kg) to launch a 160 mph bullet.
The serve has an asterisk against it as it was a Challenger event unrecognised by the ATP speed guns.
3. John Isner: 157.2 mph
BFG John Isner certainly has all the attributes of a world-record server.
The American already has the prize for most aces ever hit – at time of writing, a whopping 14,186.
In 2016, during a Davis Cup tie in Melbourne against Australia, Isner launched a thunderbolt down the T which was recorded at 157.2 mph (253 km/h).
It’s the top of the official ATP fastest serves ever recorded.
Bernard Tomic could only watch it go past. Isner recently became the first player in ATP tour history to win 500 tiebreaks.
It’s not surprising, given that up until 2022, the 6’ 10” North Carolina colossus had the best first percentage rate out there.
4. Jerzy Janowicz: 156 mph *
Another serve ignored by the ATP was powered by Jerzy Janowicz in front of his home crowd at the 2012 Pekao Szczecin Open, and clocked at 156mph.
In 2017, the Pole was asked about it and joked: “It was when I was young and pretty. Now I’m getting bald, and getting old, and limping a little bit.”
Indeed, the big man has suffered from several foot and knee injuries which reduced the blistering form he showed in the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2013.
He blasted through one service game in 54 seconds.
5. Ivo Karlovic: 156 mph
The Croatian set the then world record for a serve at 156mph during a Davis Cup match against Germany in 2011 with his partner Ivan Dodig.
The 6’ 11” Karlovic simply said: “I noticed that while serving, I saw it on the screen. It is really great.”
What wasn’t so great was that he lost the match to Philipp Petzschner and Christopher Kas.
It’s a bit like getting a 147 in snooker or a 180 in darts. Nice, but can be a distraction in the bigger picture...
6. Milos Raonic: 155.3 mph
Pete Sampras is a big fan of Raonic’s serve, calling it “bigger than big.”
Well, it was too big for everyone at Wimbledon 2016 apart from Andy Murray.
Even Serena Williams said that the former world number three’s launch would be the one aspect that she would have added to her game.
The Canadian’s serve recipe came together when he clocked a flying rocket (or should we say “Missile”, as he is known) at 155.3 mph during the 2012 SAP Open.
Asked if he could ever beat Groth’s record, Raonic said: “If I do get it, I’ll smile. But I’m not going to go give myself a medal for it.”
It would be nice if the injured Canadian could just get back on court to try and serve.
7. Andy Roddick: 155 mph
Andy Roddick once said: "If nothing else, I'm at least good for a few good quotes."
Well, he did win one major, the US Open in 2003, and he could serve. Boy, he could serve.
Roddick was within a couple of points of beating Roger Federer in the 2009 Wimbledon final and gave him a good run for his money in the 2004 SW19 final too.
Roddick held the record for the men's fastest serve for a whole seven years.
The American achieved a 155mph boomer in 2004 against Vladimir Voltchkov during a Davis Cup semi-final on hard courts in Charleston.
A-Rod was obviously in the groove because just a few months earlier, the Stars and Stripes sledgehammer exceeded 153 miles mph at Queen’s Club.
* Serve not recognised by ATP
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