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FastestThings

Tennis

Andy Roddick

249.4 km/h serve, the ATP bio's 155 mph, in a 2004 Davis Cup tie.

Also known as Roddick 155 mph
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Ball speed

Published as 249.4 km/hPublished as 249.4 km/hPublished as 249.4 km/h

Serve timed at 155 mph in a 2004 Davis Cup tie, the figure on Andy Roddick's ATP bio. 155 mph converts to 249.4 km/h. Tennis Companion prints 249.4 km/h (155.0 mph). Wikipedia's table prints 249.4 km/h (155 mph). No calendar day is stored.

OfficialATP Tour (opens source in a new tab)

In context

  • 2.4× a cheetah's timed top speedSourced · Cheetah, 29 m/s. Sharp 1997, mean of three timed runs over 201.2 m
  • A football field in 1.3 sConstant · American football field, 100 yd (91.44 m)
  • London to New York in 22 h 20 minConstant · London to New York, 5,570 km great-circle

Worked out from the sourced figure above, which stays the ranked number.

This list

Why it's so fast

An ATP or Davis Cup serve is a kinetic chain. The legs, the trunk and the shoulder load, then the racquet head meets the ball. The list keeps the radar figure those events printed.

  1. A loaded throw

    Serve speed is the racquet head at contact, not a practice swing. The toss has to sit where the chain finishes.

  2. Tour radar, not a Challenger

    This list is ATP Tour and Davis Cup radar. A Challenger clock, even a faster one, is a different scope and stays off the ranking.

This is how the category works. A note written for this entry appears here once it is in the database.

Provenance

Every measurement

Claimed, measured and official figures side by side, each with its source. The ranked figure is marked.

  1. 249.4km/h155mph69.3m/s135knRanked figure

    Serve timed at 155 mph in a 2004 Davis Cup tie, the figure on Andy Roddick's ATP bio. 155 mph converts to 249.4 km/h. Tennis Companion prints 249.4 km/h (155.0 mph). Wikipedia's table prints 249.4 km/h (155 mph). No calendar day is stored.

    Sportskeeda's heading prints 249.4 km/hr for the 2004 Davis Cup and its sentence rounds the same serve to 249 kmph. The ranked figure is 249.4 km/h.

    Official
    ATP Tour (opens source in a new tab)

Reference

Specs

Server
Andy Roddick
Event
2004 Davis Cup
Speed
249.4 km/h
ATP figure
155 mph

Context

Background

Andy Roddick's ATP bio says one serve was timed at 155 mph in a 2004 Davis Cup tie. Tennis Companion prints 249.4 km/h (155.0 mph) for that Davis Cup. Wikipedia's table prints 249.4 km/h (155 mph) at the 2004 Davis Cup. 155 miles an hour is 249.448 km/h, which those tables print as 249.4.

The ranked figure is 249.4 km/h. A Sportskeeda sentence rounds the same Davis Cup serve to 249 kmph, beside a heading of 249.4 km/hr. That rounding is not a second serve. No calendar day is stored.

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