Ace (tennis)

In tennis, an ace is a legal serve that is not touched by the receiver, winning the point.[1] In professional tennis, aces are generally seen on a player's first serve, where the server can strike the ball with maximum force and take more chances with ball placement, such as the far corners of the service box.[2] According to the International Tennis Hall of Fame, this term was coined by the sports journalist Allison Danzig.[3]

Professional singles records

Aces have been officially recorded since 1991, so these records start at that time and include main draw matches only.

ATP Tour

John Isner holds the record for most aces in a professional tennis match

Goran Ivanišević holds the record for most aces in a tournament with 213 en route to winning the 2001 Wimbledon title.[4] He also has the most in a single season with 1,477 in 1996,[5] and he has the second-highest career total with 10,131.[6]

Ivo Karlović has the most career aces with 11,572.[6] He also holds the record for aces in a best-of-three-set match with 45 at Halle in 2015.[7] Two weeks later, during Wimbledon, he became the only player to hit at least 40 aces in three consecutive matches.[4]

Roger Federer hit 50 aces in the 2009 Wimbledon final, the record for a Grand Slam final.[8] He is also third on the career list with 9,734.[6]

Most aces in a match
# Player W/L Opponent Round Event Sets
113 United States John Isner W France Nicolas Mahut 1R 2010 Wimbledon 5
103 France Nicolas Mahut L United States John Isner
78 Croatia Ivo Karlović L Czech Republic Radek Štěpánek SF 2009 Davis Cup 5
61 Croatia Ivo Karlović W Chinese Taipei Lu Yen-Hsun 1R 2016 US Open 5
56 France Albano Olivetti L Australia Matthew Barton 1R 2016 Wimbledon 5
55 Croatia Ivo Karlović L Australia Lleyton Hewitt 1R 2009 French Open 5
53 Croatia Ivo Karlović W Ukraine Alexandr Dolgopolov 2R 2015 Wimbledon 5
52 United States John Isner L Spain Feliciano López 3R 2014 Wimbledon 4
51 Sweden Joachim Johansson L United States Andre Agassi 4R 2005 Australian Open 4
Croatia Ivo Karlović L Italy Daniele Bracciali 1R 2005 Wimbledon 5
Luxembourg Gilles Müller W Colombia Santiago Giraldo 1R 2016 Wimbledon 5
Seasons with 1000+ aces
#PlayerYears
4Croatia Goran Ivanišević1994, 96–98
Croatia Ivo Karlović2007, 14–16
United States John Isner2010, 12, 15–16
2Canada Milos Raonic2012, 14
1United States Pete Sampras1993
United States Andy Roddick2004
South Africa Kevin Anderson2015

WTA Tour

Serena Williams holds the record for most aces in a tournament with 102 en route to winning the 2012 Wimbledon title.[9]

Most aces in a match
# Player W/L Opponent Round Year Event Sets Result
31 Czech Republic Kristýna Plíšková L Puerto Rico Mónica Puig 2R 2016 Australian Open 3 6–4, 6–7(6–8), 7–9
27 Germany Sabine Lisicki W Switzerland Belinda Bencic 2R 2015 Birmingham 2 6–1, 7–6(7–4)
24 Estonia Kaia Kanepi W Czech Republic Lucie Šafářová 1R 2008 Tokyo 3 4–6, 6–3, 6–4
United States Serena Williams W Belarus Victoria Azarenka SF 2012 Wimbledon 2 6–3, 7–6(8-6)
23 United States Serena Williams W China Zheng Jie 3R 2012 Wimbledon 3 6–7(5–7), 6–2, 9–7
Czech Republic Kristýna Plíšková L France Océane Dodin 1R 2016 Linz 3 7–6(7-2), 5–7, 3–6
22 Netherlands Brenda Schultz W Croatia Iva Majoli QF 1994 Birmingham 3 6–4, 5–7, 6–0
United States Meghann Shaughnessy W Czech Republic Nicole Vaidišová F 2005 Memphis 2 7–6, 7–6
Australia Alicia Molik L United States Venus Williams QF 2007 Tokyo 2 6–7(4–7), 3–6
21 Netherlands Michaëlla Krajicek L Italy Camila Giorgi 2R 2015 's-Hertogenbosch 3 7–6(7–2), 2–6, 4–6
United Kingdom Naomi Broady W Latvia Jelena Ostapenko 2R 2016 Auckland 3 4–6, 7–6(7–4), 7–5
Russia Maria Sharapova W Switzerland Belinda Bencic 4R 2016 Australian Open 2 7–5, 7–5

See also

References

  1. ↑ ace - Definition from Dictionary.com.
  2. ↑ TENNIS.com - Tip of the Week - December 19, 2005 - Your Second Serve Archived September 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ↑ "Allison Danzig". International Tennis Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2016-12-02.
  4. 1 2 Karlovic Strikes 41 Aces To Set Murray Clash
  5. ↑ http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/players/goran-ivanisevic/i034/player-stats?year=1996&surfaceType=all
  6. 1 2 3 http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/stats/aces
  7. ↑ Karlovic fires 45 aces to beat Berdych at Gerry Weber Open
  8. ↑ http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2009/07/05/ap/headlines/d998fvjg0.txt[]
  9. ↑ Serena wins 5th Wimbledon title
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