Top 5 Servers on the ATP Tour

Published 07/03/2015, 1:24 PM EDT

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A service, has to be the most potent weapon a player can possess, across all games, single or team, racquet or not, indoor or otherwise. It can propel you to win games, matches and maybe titles, even if you have a mediocre game. It’s importance can be judged by the fact that more often than not, a break of serve is considered the set divider in tennis. Whosoever breaks, wins the set, provided he holds his serve. So, in no particular order, are 5 of the biggest servers on the ATP Tour plying their trade now.


This eccentric Australian prodigy is much more than his on-court antics, which seem to be grabbing all the attention. The youngster of Greek and Malaysian descent, has a monstrous serve which generates immense power. It propelled him to stardom last Wimbledon, when Rafa Nadal couldn’t handle the aces he knocked down at an insane speed combined with his power. If that isn’t proof enough, sample this- he had the highest aces per match average last year, and has won one of the highest percentage of service games this year.

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“I can’t recall the last time when I was feeling so helpless returning,  even his second serves,” said Novak Djokovic, after his match with Raonic last year. The no. 7 seed at Wimbledon, uses his height(6’4”), and an unorthodox serve grip to generate cannon like speeds with his serve. He recently clocked up 145 mph, the third fastest speed at Wimbledon. The Canadian is being touted as the next big thing in tennis. A lot of it is down to his serve.

Another of the taller players on the tour, standing at a gangling 2.03 meters, the South African is undergoing a late career resurgence at 29, having been in at least the fourth round of 4 of his last 6 Grand Slams. Also, he made the Final at Queen’s before being beaten by Andy Murray. Anderson’s game is a lot about his serve, and he held 86% of his serves last year. Also, he sent down 723 aces, an impressive feat.

There’s much more to John Isner’s game than just being ‘that guy who won the longest game in the history of tennis.’ He, along with compatriot Sam Querrey keep the long tradition of big serving Americans alive. Isner often uses a simple game plan of holding his serve, and is content to not waste too much effort trying to break his opponent, so that the set can proceed to a tie-break, where it is all about holding your own over the course of 12 points. He held an astonishing 93% of his serves last year, highest on the tour. Other than that, he did proceed to break quite a few records during *that* match, firing down 113 aces, a record which is unlikely to be broken soon, unless the next player on the list turns up on acid someday.

Ivo Karlovic is, more than anything, living testament to the all-conquering power of the serve. The Croat, at 6’11” isn’t really blessed with terrific court coverage and has an average game. But, the 36 year old has used the service in the most potent way possible, over his long and illustrious career and owns a majority of records pertaining to the serve.

Last year, he had an astonishing ace percentage of 24.1%, which means he drowned an ace every 4th time he served! Downing 78 aces on his serve is just another day for Ivo Karlovic in office. He has failed to send down an ace in a match only once in his life. It is all the more remarkable, since there is no special technique to it, just power driven serve, amping up the speed guns since 2000. He’ll go down as one of the finest servers in the ATP Tour, right up there with Pistol Pete.

Honourable Mentions

Honestly, I’ll be surprised if you weren’t surprised by Federer’s exclusion from the list. The only reason for that being that the list is about the biggest servers, not the most consistent ones, or the ones with the most fluidic service motion in tennis history. The Swiss genius can deposit serves at the place of his choosing around the box, all day long, and his serve has pulled him out of dire straits countless times.

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The Australian rides into the list on the sole distinction of having the fastest recorded serve in the ATP Tour, until now, at 263 km/h. Apart from a big serve, Groth isn’t really known for his game, and is ranked 66 in the world.

3)  Sam Querrey

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Querrey holds the record for the most consecutive aces in a match, serving 10 times without a return against James Blake. He also averaged over 14 aces per match last year in the ATP Tour. If returning serves was your weakness, you’ll surely never want to come up against Querrey and his doubles partner, a certain John Isner.

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Written by:

Shubham Chaturvedi

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