Fastest recorded tennis serves

This article lists the fastest record serve speeds for men's and women's professional tennis.

Max reported speeds that are severe outliers are dubious due to the occasional errors with ATP radar equipment.[1] Some notable outliers are the recorded speeds of John Isner at 4,718 km/h (2,931.6 mph),[2] João Sousa at 2,077 km/h (1,290.6 mph),[3] Denis Shapovalov at 424 km/h (263.5 mph),[4] Laslo Djere at 305 km/h (189.5 mph),[5] Alejandro Davidovich Fokina at 252 km/h (156.6 mph),[6] Ryan Harrison at 69,000 km/h (42,874.6 mph),[7] Gaël Monfils at 242.0 km/h (150 mph),[8] and Rafael Nadal at 230.0 km/h (142.9 mph).[9]

The fastest recorded serve is by Sam Groth, at 163 mph (263 km/h) at a Challenger event. His second fastest record speed, and his fastest at an ATP event, was 147 mph at Wimbledon.[10][11] Similarly, John Isner once hit a serve recorded at 253.0 km/h (157 mph) in the first round of the 2016 Davis Cup. One of the next fastest recorded speeds for Isner is 144 mph and the fastest serve in most of his matches is between 137 and 142 mph.[12] The fastest recorded speed that is not an outlier is 149 mph by Ben Shelton. At 20 years old, the American Ben Shelton served at 149 mph twice in the same game during the 1/8 finals of the 2023 US Open.[13] Shelton has reached speeds of 147 mph to 149 mph on multiple occasions.[14]

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.[15] Also, Ellsworth Vines in the Wimbledon finals of 1932 clocked 121 mph (without Radar).[16] 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.[17] 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.[18]

Milos Raonic with a 235 km/h (146.0 mph) second serve in the second round of the 2017 Australian Open in Melbourne and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard with a 235 km/h (146.0 mph) second serve in the first round of the 2024 BOSS Open in Stuttgart, holds the record for the fastest second serve ever recorded.[19][20]

Criteria to be listed in this article
  • Men's serves must be recorded at or over 230 km/h (142.9 mph) minimum standard speed.
  • Women's serves must be recorded at or over 200 km/h (124.3 mph) minimum standard speed.[21]
  • Only one serve per player is recorded here. For example, Andy Roddick has several 225.3 km/h (140 mph) or faster serves on his record but only his personal best of 249 km/h (155 mph) is included.[22]
  • In cases where more than one serve has been recorded at the same speed, the oldest recorded serve is listed first.
  1. ^ "Rafael Nadal vs. John Isner Rome 2022 Round of 32 | Stats Centre | ATP Tour | Tennis". ATP Tour. Retrieved 2024-04-19.
  2. ^ "Rafael Nadal VS. John Isner Rome 2022". Association of Tennis Professionals. 11 May 2022. Archived from the original on 16 June 2022. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
  3. ^ "Laslo Djere VS. Joao Sousa Winston-Salem 2022". Association of Tennis Professionals. 23 Aug 2022. Archived from the original on 8 September 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  4. ^ "Lorenzo Sonego VS. Denis Shapovalov Rome 2022". Association of Tennis Professionals. 9 May 2022. Archived from the original on 8 September 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  5. ^ "Jason Kubler VS. Laslo Djere Winston-Salem 2022". Association of Tennis Professionals. 22 Aug 2022. Archived from the original on 8 September 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  6. ^ "Alejandro Davidovich Fokina VS. Félix Auger-Aliassime | Rome 2022". ATP. 10 May 2022. Archived from the original on 15 June 2022. Retrieved 15 June 2022.[dubious – discuss]
  7. ^ "Ryan Harrison's 152mph serve @ cincy 2013". Tennis Warehouse. 14 Aug 2023. Archived from the original on 22 January 2023. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  8. ^ "Wimbledon 2018: How a faulty speed gun robbed Gael Monfils of a slice of tournament history". The Independent. 3 July 2018. Archived from the original on 17 July 2022. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  9. ^ "Rafael Nadal VS. John Isner | Rome 2022". ATP. 8 May 2022. Archived from the original on 16 June 2022. Retrieved 15 June 2022.[dubious – discuss]
  10. ^ "Aussie Groth Hits Speedy Serves". Association of Tennis Professionals Staff. 5 December 2012. Archived from the original on 15 May 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  11. ^ "Tennis Abstract: Samuel Groth Match Results, Splits, and Analysis". Archived from the original on 2023-03-13. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
  12. ^ "Tennis Abstract: John Isner Match Results, Splits, and Analysis". www.tennisabstract.com. Retrieved 2024-04-19.
  13. ^ "Armed & Dangerous: Why Ben Shelton's Serve Is Already Among World's Best | ATP Tour | Tennis". ATP Tour. Retrieved 2024-04-19.
  14. ^ "Shelton Fires 147 mph Missile En Route To R4, Stricker Advances | ATP Tour | Tennis". ATP Tour. Retrieved 2024-04-19.
  15. ^ Allen, J. A. "Pete Sampras and the Top 25 Servers in the History of Men's Tennis". Bleacher Report. Archived from the original on 2020-11-25. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
  16. ^ Smith, Red (26 August 1977). "They only serve but Hard". New York Times. p. 37.
  17. ^ "Aussie has a racket- hits "em 148 miles per hour". Chicago Tribune (published 19 August 1976). 1976. p. 7.
  18. ^ Rogers, Thomas (21 August 1976). "Dibley service fastest in town". New York Times.
  19. ^ Tebbutt, Tom (2017-01-17). "Tebbutt: Milos delivers". Tennis Canada. Retrieved 2024-07-05.
  20. ^ Jackt44 (2024-06-12). The fastest second serve ever in Tennis - G.M. Perricard. Retrieved 2024-07-05 – via YouTube.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  21. ^ "IDS Serve Speed Leaders". Pro Tennis Internet Network. 30 June 2011. Archived from the original on 1 January 2016. Retrieved 30 January 2013.
  22. ^ "Andy Roddick's Serve". Archived from the original on 6 January 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2012.