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 by the top-level professional tennis circuits since 1991,[4] so these records start at that time.
Only main draw singles matches are included here.
ATP Tour
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John Isner has the most aces in a tournament with 214 during the 2018 Wimbledon,[5] and he has the most in a single match with 113 during his 11 hour encounter with Nicolas Mahut in 2010. He is also second on the most aces in career list.[6]
Ivo Karlović has the most career aces with 13,653.[6] He also has the most 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.[8]
Goran Ivanišević has the most in a single season with 1,477 in 1996.[9] He also has the second most in a tournament with 213 when he won the 2001 Wimbledon title.[5]
Roger Federer hit 50 aces in the 2009 Wimbledon final, the record for a Grand Slam final.[10] He is also third on the career list.[6]
Most aces in a match
| # | Player | W/L | Opponent | Round | Event | Sets | Surface |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 113 |  John Isner | W |  Nicolas Mahut | 1R | 2010 Wimbledon | 5 | Grass |
| 103 | Nicolas Mahut | L | John Isner | ||||
| 78 |  Ivo Karlović | L |  Radek Štěpánek | SF | 2009 Davis Cup | 5 | Clay |
| 75 | Ivo Karlović | W |  Horacio Zeballos | 1R | 2017 Australian Open | 5 | Hard |
| 67 | Reilly Opelka | L |  Thomas Fabbiano | 2R | 2019 Australian Open | 5 | Hard |
| 64 | John Isner | W | .svg.png){kind=small} Ruben Bemelmans | 2R | 2018 Wimbledon | 5 | Grass |
| 61 | Ivo Karlović | W |  Lu Yen-Hsun | 1R | 2016 US Open | 5 | Hard |
| Ivo Karlović | L |  Jan-Lennard Struff | 2R | 2018 Wimbledon | 5 | Grass | |
| 59 | Ivo Karlović | L |  Kei Nishikori | 2R | 2019 Australian Open | 5 | Hard |
| 56 | Albano Olivetti | L | .svg.png){kind=small} Matthew Barton | 1R | 2016 Wimbledon | 5 | Grass |
Most aces in a one-week tournament
| # | Player | Event | Surface | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 156 | Reilly Opelka | 2019 New York Open | Hard | [11] |
| 144 | John Isner | 2007 Legg Mason Tennis Classic | Hard | [4] |
Most consecutive aces
| # | Player | W/L | Opponent | Round | Event | Surface | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Sam Querrey | W | James Blake | QF | 2007 Indianapolis | Hard | [12][13] |
| 8 | Radek Štěpánek | W | Christophe Rochus | F | 2006 Rotterdam | Hard (i) | [14] |
| 7 | Michael Stich | W | Guy Forget | SF | 1993 Hopman Cup | Hard | [15] |
| Andy Roddick | W |  Sjeng Schalken | QF | 2003 US Open | Hard | [16] | |
| Andy Roddick | L | Lleyton Hewitt | SF | 2005 Australian Open | Hard | [17] | |
 Fernando González | W |  Joachim Johansson | 3R | 2005 Wimbledon | Grass | [18] | |
 Feliciano López | L | Tomáš Berdych | 2R | 2013 Shanghai | Hard | [19] | |
| Ivo Karlović | W |  Mikhail Youzhny | 1R | 2014 Halle | Grass | [20] | |
 Roger Federer | W | James Duckworth | QF | 2015 Brisbane | Hard | [21] | |
| Sam Querrey | W | Thomas Fabbiano | SF | 2019 Eastbourne | Grass | [22] |
Serving five consecutive aces from 0–40 down
| Player | W/L | Opponent | Round | Event | Surface | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boris Becker | W |  Andriy Medvedev | F | 1995 Hopman Cup | Hard | [23] |
| John Isner | L | Édouard Roger-Vasselin | SF | 2013 Delray Beach | Hard | [24] |
| John Isner | W | Jiří Veselý | 3R | 2015 US Open | Hard | [25] |
| Reilly Opelka | W | Roberto Bautista Agut | QF | 2019 Basel | Hard | [26] |
Seasons with 1000+ aces
| # | Player | Years |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | John Isner | 2010, 2012, 2015–2019 |
| 4 | Goran Ivanišević | 1994, 1996–1998 |
| Ivo Karlović | 2007, 2014–2016 | |
| 2 | .svg.png){kind=small} Milos Raonic | 2012, 2014 |
 Kevin Anderson | 2015, 2018 | |
| 1 | Pete Sampras | 1993 |
| Andy Roddick | 2004 | |
| Reilly Opelka | 2019 |
WTA Tour
Serena Williams holds the record for most aces in a tournament with 102 en route to winning the 2012 Wimbledon title.[27]
Karolína Plíšková has the most aces in a single season with 530 in 2016,[28] which broke her own record of 517 in 2015.[29]
Most aces in a match
| # | Player | W/L | Opponent | Round | Event | Sets | Surface |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 | Kristýna Plíšková | L |  Monica Puig | 2R | 2016 Australian Open | 3 | Hard |
| 28 | Kristýna Plíšková | L | Monica Puig | 2R | 2019 Luxembourg | 3 | Hard |
| 27 | Sabine Lisicki | W | Belinda Bencic | 2R | 2015 Birmingham | 2 | Grass |
| 24 |  Kaia Kanepi | W | Lucie Šafářová | 1R | 2008 Tokyo | 3 | Hard |
| Serena Williams | W |  Victoria Azarenka | SF | 2012 Wimbledon | 2 | Grass | |
| Kristýna Plíšková | W | Karolína Plíšková | 2R | 2019 Birmingham | 3 | Grass | |
| 23 | Serena Williams | W |  Zheng Jie | 3R | 2012 Wimbledon | 3 | Grass |
| Kristýna Plíšková | L | Océane Dodin | 1R | 2016 Linz | 3 | Hard | |
| 22 | Brenda Schultz | W | Iva Majoli | QF | 1994 Birmingham | 3 | Grass |
| Meghann Shaughnessy | L | Nicole Vaidišová | F | 2005 Memphis | 2 | Hard | |
| Alicia Molik | L | Venus Williams | QF | 2007 Tokyo | 2 | Hard | |
| Alison van Uytvanck | L | Sofia Kenin | SF | 2020 Lyon | 3 | Hard |
See also
- Fastest recorded tennis serves
References
- ^ ace - Definition from Dictionary.com.
- ^ TENNIS.com - Tip of the Week - December 19, 2005 - Your Second Serve Archived September 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Allison Danzig". International Tennis Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2016-12-02.
- ^ a b "ASAP Sports Transcripts - Tennis - 2007 - PRESS CONFERENCES - ATP TENNIS MEDIA CONFERENCE - August 8". www.asapsports.com.
- ^ a b "Five takeaways from Anderson's marathon win over Isner at Wimbledon". tennis.com. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
- ^ a b c "Aces - ATP Tour - Tennis".
- ^ "Karlovic beats Berdych with record 45 aces in Halle; Federer reaches semis".
- ^ "Ivo Karlovic Strikes 41 Aces To Advance At Wimbledon".
- ^ "Goran Ivanisevic - Player Stats - ATP Tour - Tennis".
- ^ "Federer outlasts Roddick for record 15th Slam". ESPN.com. 5 July 2009.
- ^ "Reilly Opelka Wins New York Open Title | ATP Tour | Tennis". ATP Tour. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
- ^ 2011, 6:05PM BST 16 Jun (16 June 2011). "Tennis record breaker Sam Querry shows how to serve quicker and smarter".
- ^ "The New York Sun". Querrey Gives a Sample Of What May Be in Store. Retrieved July 31, 2007.
- ^ "Stepanek powers to first ATP title". 26 February 2006.
- ^ "Tennis: Germany cruise into final". 8 January 1993.
- ^ "Roddick-Hewitt, the morning after". 29 January 2005.
- ^ "Agassi, Roddick move into US Open semis". 5 September 2003.
- ^ "El servicio de González opacó a Johansson en Wimbledon" (in Spanish). 24 June 2005.
- ^ Max Gao [@MaxJGao] (9 October 2013). "WOW! RT @josemorgado: Feliciano Lopez just hit 7 consecutive aces. HELP" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ Tomislav Poljak [@TomislavPoljak] (10 June 2014). "7 aces in a row for Karlovic, 4 in the fourth game. 63 31 Ivo to the good" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "Federer Demolishes Duckworth in Brisbane Quarter Final". 9 January 2015.
- ^ "Live – Fabbiano–Querrey, semifinale Atp Eastbourne 2019 (diretta)" (in Italian). 28 June 2019.
- ^ "T365 Recall: When Boris Becker served five aces in a row at 0-40 down". Tennis365.com. 2018-07-27. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
- ^ "Roger-Vasselin Upsets Top Seed Isner — Fox Sports". Fox Sports. Retrieved 2020-09-28.
- ^ "Isner unbroken, Vesely retires, Federer awaits - Official Site of the 2019 US Open Tennis Championships - A USTA Event". 2015 US Open. 2015-09-05. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
- ^ "ATP Basel: Reilly Opelka's 31 Aces Dent Roberto Bautista Agut's London Hopes | ATP Tour | Tennis". ATP Tour. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
- ^ "Serena taken to 3 sets, wins 5th Wimbledon".
- ^ admin (18 November 2016). "Top 10 WTA Aces Leaders In 2016".
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-01-24. Retrieved 2017-01-27.