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FastestThings

Tennis

John Isner

Fastest serve the ATP recognizes: 253 km/h at the 2016 Davis Cup in Kooyong, against Bernard Tomic.

Also known as Isner 253
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Ball speed

Published as 253 km/hPublished as 253 km/hPublished as 253 km/h

Serve radar at the 2016 Davis Cup in Kooyong, John Isner against Bernard Tomic. Tennis Companion prints 253.0 km/h (157.2 mph) and says the ATP recognizes it as the fastest official ATP serve. 157.2 mph is that figure. No calendar day is stored.

OfficialFOX Sports (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 1 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. 253km/h157mph70.3m/s137knRanked figure

    Serve radar at the 2016 Davis Cup in Kooyong, John Isner against Bernard Tomic. Tennis Companion prints 253.0 km/h (157.2 mph) and says the ATP recognizes it as the fastest official ATP serve. 157.2 mph is that figure. No calendar day is stored.

    Sportskeeda prints a 253 km/hr ace in the fourth rubber against Tomic. Tennis Companion prints 253.0 km/h (157.2 mph). Sam Groth's Challenger figure is not this row.

    Official
    FOX Sports (opens source in a new tab)

Reference

Specs

Server
John Isner
Event
2016 Davis Cup, Kooyong
Speed
253 km/h
Returner
Bernard Tomic

Context

Background

FOX Sports prints the Kooyong clock at 253 km/h and calls the serve the fastest in any ATP Tour event or Davis Cup. Sportskeeda prints a 253 km/hr ace by John Isner against Bernard Tomic in the fourth rubber of the 2016 Davis Cup. Tennis Companion prints 253.0 km/h (157.2 mph) and says the ATP recognizes that Davis Cup serve as the fastest official ATP serve.

The ranked figure is 253 km/h. 253.0 km/h and 157.2 mph are the same reading. No calendar day is stored, because the pages name the tie and not a match date. Sam Groth's Busan Challenger serve is a different scope and stays off this list.

Spot a wrong number?

Every report is read by a person, and corrections are dated on the page.