The Fastest Serves in Women’s Tennis

Who has hit the fastest serve on the WTA Tour this year? No prizes for guessing it is a Williams. In fact, both of them hold the record so far. Venus tops sister Serena, just, and the pair also hold the record for the all-time fastest serves. The IDS Serve Speed rankings for 2010 are:

1 - Venus Williams (USA) 128.6mph/207.0kph - French Open
2 - Serena Williams (USA) 128.0/206.0 - French Open
3 - Li Na (CHN) 123.7/199.0 - French Open
4T - Samantha Stosur (AUS) 123.0/198.0 - French Open
4T - Lucie Hradecka (CZE) 123.0/197.9 - Indian Wells
6T - Karolina Sprem (CRO) 122.4/197.0 - French Open
6T - Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) 122.4/197.0 - French Open
8 - Nadia Petrova (RUS) 121.8/196.0 - French Open
9T - Jarmila Groth (AUS) 120.5/194.0 - French Open
9T - Yaroslava Shvedova 120.5/194.0 - French Open

The all-time figures also rank Venus and Serena at No.1 and 2 respectively, with Brenda Schultz-McCarthy following up at No.3.

1 - Venus Williams (USA) 129.0/207.6 - 2007 US Open
2 - Serena Williams (USA) 128.0/206.0 - 2010 French Open
3 - Brenda Schultz-McCarthy (NED) 126.0/202.7 - 2007 Indian Wells

The figures are subjective, however, as might be guessed from the fact that nine of the top 10 speeds were clocked on clay at Roland Garros, rather than on a faster surface. That is because IDS only collects serve speed data on show courts at certain events - 12 this year - and only started doing so in 1989. Also, players who have had multiple Top 10 fastest serves only have their top one listed, and if they hit that top speed multiple times, just the first time they did it is listed.