Last Updated on November 13, 2020 by
The fastest serves have an average speed of 148 mph (238km/h), while the median speed of the fastest serves is 146 mph (235km/h). Serve speed is calculated in km/h and it ranges from 230 km/h to 263 km/h (33km/h). Also, speed serve can be calculated in mph and it ranges from 143 mph to 163.4 mph (20.4 mph).
One of tennis’ major talking points is the serve speed. Even as way back in the early 1920s, Bill Tilden’s cannonball serve was the talk of the town, has been said that the serve clocked at 163.3 mph. Other tennis players of the regime were dominated by Bill Tilden’s powerful serve speed. Top players like the Williams sisters, Roscoe Tanner, Pancho Gonzalez, Andy Roddick, Stan Smith, and Pete Sampras all used their triple-digit serve speeds to knock out their opponents to win Grand Slam titles, even if having a big serve today won’t guarantee you success on tour.
Honestly, there are no proper verification for all the reports of fast and big serves from yesteryear since the racquets used by those players are oversized and are mostly made from graphite; we saw average players with increased serve speed to the point that spectators could no longer keep up with the ball. That’s how fast it was!
Not quite long after the 1980s era, an introduction of the popular Cyclops’ infrared beams, and later the Hawk-Eye system came to be. These assisted line judging innovations help line judges make call of the lines on serves. These innovations were not the only tech that were introduced in this classic sport, a radar gun, a piece of kit which helps to measure the speed of a serve was later introduced during the 1989 season at the International Players Championships in Miami.
The ballistic chronometer was one of the unreliable technologies that were used to measure serve speeds previously, but the occurrence of the radar gun in tennis delivers quicker, more precise reading, and most importantly offered a numerical talking point to the tour which could be used to promote tennis star players and the game itself. In this article, we are going to talk fully about the average professional tennis serve speed, the fastest tennis server ever recorded, the fastest servers in tennis, ATP’s men top 36 fastest servers ever, and women’s top 16 fastest servers ever. Let’s take a look!
What Is The Fastest Tennis Server Ever Recorded?
Sam Groth, an Australian, at the Challenger event in Busan on May 9, 2012, set a record of the world’s fastest serve ever made at 163.7 mph (263.4 kph). It was in three-match point that the bullet serve was made during his second-round match against an opponent from Belarus, Uladzimir Ignatik. It was only bad to know that he lost the match 4-6, 3-6. Rather than being a short, stocky guy, Groth is a guy with a bulky muscular build. He measures 6’4” (193) in height. His height and physique gave him both long levers and a lot of power to get high speeds through racquet. Growth proved that his speed serves were no fluke in 2015 when he played against Federer at Wimbledon. We saw the footage from that match where he clocked 147 mph on serve.
Who Are The Fastest Servers In Tennis?
The official serve speed rankings are not maintained or even published by WTA, ATP, and ITF, but a company known as the SportsMEDIA Technology (SMT) , who has a complete dataset and have been tracking serve speed for more than two decades.
Men’s Top 37 Fastest Serves Ever (ATP)
We’ve compiled a comprehensive list of the men tennis players with the fastest serves in ATP history. Though we only listed each players with their fastest serve in the table.
| Rank | Player | Nationality | Speed | Event | Type | Round |
| 1 | Sam Groth | Australia | 263.0 km/h (163.4 mph) | 2012 Busan Open Challenger Tennis | Singles | 2R |
| 2 | Albano Olivetti | France | 257.5 km/h (160.0 mph) | 2012 Internazionali Trofeo Lame Perrel–Faip | Singles | 1R |
| 3 | John Isner | United States | 253.0 km/h (157.2 mph) | 2016 Davis Cup | Singles | 1R |
| 4 | Ivo Karlović | Croatia | 251.0 km/h (156.0 mph) | 2011 Davis Cup | Doubles | 1R |
| 5 | Jerzy Janowicz | Poland | 251.0 km/h (156.0 mph) | 2012 Pekao Szczecin Open | Singles | 1R |
| 6 | Andy Roddick | United States | 249.4 km/h (155.0 mph) | 2004 Davis Cup | Singles | SF |
| 7 | Milos Raonic | Canada | 249.4 km/h (155.0 mph) | 2012 SAP Open | Singles | SF |
| 8 | Joachim Johansson | Sweden | 244.6 km/h (152.0 mph) | 2004 Davis Cup | Doubles | 1R |
| 9 | Feliciano López | Spain | 244.6 km/h (152.0 mph) | 2014 Aegon Championships | Singles | 1R |
| 10 | Marius Copil | Romania | 244.0 km/h (151.6 mph) | 2016 European Open | Singles | QF |
| 11 | Hubert Hurkacz | Poland | 243.0 km/h (151.0 mph) | 2016 Davis Cup | Singles | 1R |
| 12 | Taylor Dent | United States | 241.0 km/h (149.8 mph) | 2006 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament | Singles | 1R |
| 13 | Juan Martín del Potro | Argentina | 240.0 km/h (149.1 mph) | 2017 Stockholm Open | Singles | F |
| 14 | Greg Rusedski | United Kingdom | 239.8 km/h (149.0 mph) | 1998 Newsweek Champions Cup | Singles | SF |
| 15 | Dmitry Tursunov | Russia | 237.0 km/h (147.3 mph) | 2006 Davis Cup | Singles | SF |
| 16 | Jo-Wilfried Tsonga | France | 237.0 km/h (147.3 mph) | 2014 Rogers Cup | Singles | QF |
| 17 | Frances Tiafoe | United States | 237.0 km/h (147.3 mph) | 2018 Estoril Open | Singles | F |
| 18 | Taylor Fritz | United States | 237.0 km/h (147.3 mph) | 2020 US Open | Singles | 3R |
| 19 | Gaël Monfils | France | 235.0 km/h (146.0 mph) | 2007 Legg Mason Tennis Classic | Singles | QF |
| 20 | Dušan Vemić | Serbia | 235.0 km/h (146.0 mph) | 2008 Countrywide Classic | Singles | ? |
| 21 | Marin Čilić | Croatia | 235.0 km/h (146.0 mph) | 2016 Davis Cup | Singles | 1R |
| 22 | Ivan Ljubičić | Croatia | 234.0 km/h (145.4 mph) | 2005 Mutua Madrileña Masters Madrid | Singles | F |
| 23 | Stan Wawrinka | Switzerland | 234.0 km/h (145.4 mph) | 2014 Davis Cup | Doubles | F |
| 24 | Grigor Dimitrov | Bulgaria | 233.4 km/h (145.0 mph) | 2013 Aegon Championships | Singles | ? |
| 25 | Reilly Opelka | United States | 233.4 km/h (145.0 mph) | 2016 U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships | ? | ? |
| 26 | Viktor Troicki | Serbia | 233.4 km/h (145.0 mph) | 2017 Davis Cup | ? | ? |
| 27 | Nicolás Jarry | Chile | 233.0 km/h (144.8 mph) | 2018 Davis Cup | ? | 1R |
| 28 | Fernando Verdasco | Spain | 232.0 km/h (144.2 mph) | 2009 French Open | ? | ? |
| 29 | Dominic Thiem | Austria | 232.0 km/h (144.2 mph) | 2017 Gerry Weber Open | ? | ? |
| 30 | Mardy Fish | United States | 231.7 km/h (144 mph) | 2007 Pacific Life Open | Singles | 1R |
| 31 | Marcin Matkowski | Poland | 231.7 km/h (144 mph) | 2009 ATP World Tour Finals | Doubles | ? |
| 32 | Robin Söderling | Sweden | 230.1 km/h (143.0 mph) | 2010 ATP World Tour Finals | Singles | RR |
| 33 | Nick Kyrgios | Australia | 230.1 km/h (143.0 mph) | 2019 Wimbledon | Singles | 2R |
| 34 | Roger Federer | Switzerland | 230.1 km/h (143.0 mph) | 2010 Gerry Weber Open | ? | ? |
| 35 | Martin Verkerk | Netherlands | 230.0 km/h (142.9 mph) | 2003 Breil Milano Indoor | ? | ? |
| 36 | Nicolás Almagro | Spain | 230.0 km/h (142.9 mph) | 2016 Argentina Open | ? | ? |
The Criteria Used
1. 230 km/h (143 mph) minimum standard speed is what the men’s serves must be recorded at.
2. We only record a player with his highest serve speed. For example, Roger Federer has many serves over 135 mph, by we only recorded his fastest at 230.1 km/h 143.0 mph.
3. We only added the oldest serve if the different players have their serves recorded at the same speed.
Women’s Top 17 Fastest Serves Ever (WTA)
We’ve compiled a comprehensive list of the women tennis players with the fastest serves in ATP history.
The Criteria Used
1. The serves of women category must be recorded over or at 124 mph (200 km/h) minimum standard speed
2. We only record a player with his highest serve speed. For example, Georgina Garcia Perez has many serves over 125 mph, but we only recorded her fastest at 220.0 km/h 136.7 mph.
| Rank | Player | Nationality | Speed | Event |
| 1 | Georgina Garcia Pérez | Spain | 220.0 km/h (136.7 mph) | 2018 Hungarian Ladies Open |
| 2 | Aryna Sabalenka | Belarus | 214.0 km/h (133.0 mph) | 2018 WTA Elite Trophy |
| 3 | Sabine Lisicki | Germany | 210.8 km/h (131.0 mph) | 2014 Stanford Classic |
| 4 | Brenda Schultz-McCarthy | Netherlands | 209.2 km/h (130.0 mph) | 2006 Cincinnati Masters (qualifiers) |
| 5 | Venus Williams | United States | 207.6 km/h (129.0 mph) | 2007 US Open |
| 6 | Serena Williams | United States | 207.0 km/h (128.6 mph) | 2013 Australian Open |
| 7 | Ivana Jorović | Serbia | 207.0 km/h (128.6 mph) | 2017 Fed Cup |
| 8 | Julia Görges | Germany | 203.0 km/h (126.1 mph) | 2012 French Open |
| 9 | Caroline Garcia | France | 203.0 km/h (126.1 mph) | 2016 Fed Cup |
| 10 | Brenda Schultz-McCarthy | Netherlands | 202.7 km/h (126.0 mph) | 2007 Indian Wells Masters |
| 11 | Nadiya Kichenok | Ukraine | 202.0 km/h (125.5 mph) | 2014 Australian Open |
| 12 | Lucie Hradecká | Czech Republic | 201.2 km/h (125.0 mph) | 2015 Wimbledon |
| 13 | Naomi Osaka | Japan | 201.2 km/h (125.0 mph) | 2016 US Open |
| 14 | Anna-Lena Grönefeld | Germany | 201.1 km/h (125.0 mph) | 2009 Indian Wells Masters |
| 15 | Ana Ivanovic | Serbia | 201.0 km/h (124.9 mph) | 2007 French Open |
| 16 | Denisa Allertová | Czech Republic | 201.0 km/h (124.9 mph) | 2015 Australian Open |
Final Words
Once again, the fastest serves have an average speed of 148 mph (238km/h), while the median speed of the fastest serves is 146 mph (235km/h). We’ve come to the end of this article, we hope you now know the average professional tennis serve speed. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or comments.
