ALLTIME Fastest Servers In Tennis Must See
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00:00 The serve is one of the most important shots in tennis.
00:04 Not only does it set the tone for the rest of the point,
00:07 but it is also the only shot a player has complete control over.
00:12 Some players' serves are so powerful that they almost always start the point in complete control,
00:19 giving them a tremendous advantage.
00:22 Throughout tennis history, big serving players have had advantages.
00:29 Way back in the 1920s, Bill Tilden's unprecedented powerhouse serve saw him win 10 major titles.
00:40 And in the 70s, Stan Smith rose to the top of the rankings
00:44 and won two Grand Slam crowns in part due to his awesome serve.
00:49 The 80s marked a real turning point though,
00:54 with the introduction of oversized rackets made from graphite rather than wood.
00:59 This saw players such as Pete Sampras and Goran Ivanović make their mark in the 90s.
01:08 And as the technology continues to improve, the serves keep getting faster.
01:13 The fastest tennis serve ever recorded is an astonishing 263 km/h in 2012 by Sam Grof.
01:23 Unfortunately for the Australian, that record is not recognized by the ADP as it came at a Challenger event,
01:30 and they do not formally recognize speeds set at that level,
01:34 due to lack of uniformity, availability and calibration of radar guards.
01:39 So who are the fastest servers in tennis?
01:43 Welcome to The Rich Rabbit, and today we'll be talking about the fastest tennis servers, both male and female.
01:51 American John Isner holds top spot in fastest ever recorded serve
01:57 with an astonishing 253 km/h at the Davis Cup in 2016.
02:03 Isner's effort came in the USA's 3-1 first round win over Australia in his victory over Bernard Tomic.
02:11 He also beat Grof during the tie as the USA produced an upset, but they then lost to Croatia in the next round.
02:20 The American was also involved in the longest tennis match of all time, so is something of a serial record breaker.
02:28 The American number one is no stranger to serving records.
02:33 He's been the ATP's ace leader the last four years in a row, and in seven of the last ten years.
02:40 Isner is also closing in on the all-time ace record.
02:45 Now this name might surprise you, but Alejandro Davidovic Fekina served a 252 km/h serve at 2022 Italian Open.
02:56 But despite those lethal serves, he was knocked out by Canadian Felix Auger Eliassem in the second round.
03:06 Ivo Karlovic holds the record for most Korea aces with about 13,000 of them.
03:14 He is tied for the title of tallest player in professional tennis history, and his serve record was set at the 2011 Davis Cup.
03:23 Karlovic shattered Andy Roddick's fastest serve record during Croatia's first round of Davis Cup match.
03:31 He fired an ultimate bullet of a serve at 251 km/h that fell directly on the list of records.
03:41 Canadian Milos Raonic is technically level with Roddick, having set the same speed in the semifinals of the 2012 SAP Open in his win over Ryan Harrison.
03:53 Raonic went on to win the tournament, beating Dennis Isterman in straight sets in the final.
03:59 There must be something about the Davis Cup and monstrous serves as Andy Roddick completes the top five,
04:07 with his fastest recorded serve coming in the team competition.
04:12 The American was predominantly a serve and volley player, and that helped him win the US Open in 2003 as well as reaching three Wimbledon finals.
04:23 Roddick clocked a speed of 249.4 km/h in the semifinals of the tournament as the US overcame Belarus.
04:34 The Americans lost the final to Spain however, with the young Rafael Nadal claiming a four-set win over Roddick.
04:41 In the same year, Roddick hit the fastest serve ever recorded at Wimbledon, a record which stood until 2010.
04:49 The current Wimbledon record for the fastest serve of 238.2 km/h was set in 2012 by the American Taylor Dent.
05:02 Now let's talk about the fastest servers of women tennis.
05:06 2013 Wimbledon runner-up Sabine Lisicki was one of the finest servers of the WTA Tour between 2011 to 2015, before injuries and bad form took a toll.
05:18 The German, despite being allergic to grass, describes the surface as her most preferred.
05:25 Incidentally, she has tasted more success on grass than on any other surface.
05:31 In her match against Anna Ivanovic at the 2014 Stanford Classic, Sabine rewrote the record books by clocking the fastest ever serve recorded on the WTA Tour.
05:43 Much like her younger sibling Serena, Venus Williams also has a very powerful serve in her arsenal.
05:50 Venus has clocked 207.6 km/h twice in a career.
05:57 First during her first round win over Kira Nagy in the 2007 US Open, and then again during her win over sister Serena in the 2008 Wimbledon Final.
06:08 In her first round match at the 2021 US Open, Alicia Parks tied the record by Venus for the fastest serve by a woman that the tournament had ever recorded.
06:20 She was only 20 at the time.
06:24 Croatian-Australian Ila Tomljanovic matched that serve speed at Cincinnati in 2008, where she eventually fell to Simona Halep in a clash played over two days.
06:35 Amazing, isn't it?
06:37 Now a list of the fastest serves ever recorded in the women's game would be simply incomplete without the name of the legendary Serena Williams.
06:47 Serena's powerful serve has bailed her out on many occasions.
06:53 It has been her go-to weapon under pressure for more than two decades.
06:57 Serena didn't just hit one 203 km/h serve at the 2013 Australian Open, but she hit two of them in a match against Garbine Muguruza.
07:10 And on that fine note, it's time for us to call it a day.
07:14 But we sure hope that you liked the video and found it informative.
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07:28 And I'll see you in the next video.
07:30 video.