It is almost an indisputable fact that tennis has become a supersonic sport. Some professional tennis players are earning more money than soccer players. In fact, Roger Federer was the highest-paid athlete in the world in 2020. This guy earned more money than Cristiano Ronaldo and Lebron, this should tell you something.
Believe it or not, tennis is actually full of physics and math. Have you ever wondered how fast they hit the ball? I mean, it is almost unbelievable how their brain responds to such ball movement. Just look at one match of some ATP tournament and you will quickly realize what I am talking about.
Ok, so how fast does a professional tennis player hit the ball? Here is the short version of the answer:
On average, a professional tennis player hit the ball between 65-85 mph, depending on the type of shot. Serves are usually the fastest, ranging from 120-150 mph whereas backhand is the slowest shot, averaging from 60 to 75 mph. The numbers for females are generally 10-20% lower.
Next, we will take a closer look at the speeds of all tennis shots performed by professional players, how they react to such fastball movement, and much more. In the end, we will also show you some of the fastest shots performed in tennis history. Make yourself comfortable and let’s dive in.
The Average Speed of Professional Players Serve
First and foremost, we will talk about the tennis serve. It is the beginning of every point you play. Note that they can be hit with extremely varying degrees of slice or spin to surprise the opponent. In most cases, the first serve is a very powerful shot to set up the point. Usually, the faster the service, the weaker your opponent’s return will be.
Except for the first, you also have the second service which takes place when the player faults on the first attempt. The reason for that may be that the server stepped over the baseline, hit the ball into the net, or hit the ball out. There is a major difference between the first and second serve.
The first serve is usually flat or sliced and therefore much faster. On the other hand, the second serve is generally a kick, which means slower but with more action.
Ok, now that we covered the fundamentals, we can talk about the speed. For each shot, we will have two categories, one for men and one for women tennis players.
Men Professional players
As you already assume, male players tend to hit the ball harder than females do. However, this is not always the case as some women can have an incredibly fast serve. I mean, just google the serve from Georgina Perez in the 2018 Hungarian Ladies Open.
The average speed of a serve from male professional tennis players is somewhere around 125 mph. The average speed of the second serve is somewhat slower, around 110 mph. The average serving speed for top ATP players is 122/mph / 196 km/h. Please note that these numbers vary from year to year.
In the table below you can see the average serve speed of top professional tennis players:
| Player | Average Serving Speed |
| Novak Djokovic | 120 mph / 193 km/h |
| Rafael Nadal | 116 mph/ 187 km/h |
| Roger Federer | 117 mph/ 188 km/h |
| Daniil Medvedev | 124 mph/ 200km/h |
| Stefanos Tsitsipas | 119 mph/ 191 km/h |
| Alexander Zverev | 139 mph/ 224km/h |
| Matteo Berrettini | 128 mph/206 km/h |
| Gael Monfils | 122 mph/196 km/h |
| Roberto Bautista | 114 mph/ 183 km/h |
| Dominic Thiem | 121 mph/195 km/h |
You can easily see which name really stands out. Alexander Zverev is by far the one with the fastest serve in today’s professional tennis.
Women Professional players
In the last couple of years, we can see a significant boost in the number of women players hitting huge serves with a speed similar to some men. In the list below, you can see some of the top serving speeds of top women players in the WTA.
The average speed of a serve from female professional tennis players is somewhere around 100 mph. The average speed of the second serve is somewhat slower, around 80 mph. The average serving speed for top WTA players is 120/mph. Keep in mind that these numbers vary from year to year.
| Player | Top Serving Speed |
| Osaka | 125 mph / 201 km/h |
| S. Williams | 122 mph / 202 km/h |
| Vandeweghe | 120 mph / 193 km/h |
| Keys | 120 mph / 193 km/h |
| Broady | 122 mph / 196 km/h |
| Babos | 119 mph / 191 km/h |
| V. Williams | 119 mph / 191 km/h |
| Parmentier | 119 mph / 191 km/h |
| Shvedova | 118 mph / 189 km/h |
| Konjuh | 118 mph / 189 km/h |
From the table, we can see that Serena Williams has the fastest serve. As you can see the average speed of the top serving speed is 120 mph / 193 km/h.
The Average Speed of Professional Player Forehand
This is one of the most fundamental tennis shots. It is a type of groundstroke where the path of the swing of the racket goes across the player’s body. Keep in mind that the dominant hand maintains the forehand grip. The forehand is usually a stronger shot when compared to the backhand.
For instance, for left-handed players, the racket’s swing path starts at the left side of the body. For right-handed players, simply reverse the swing path from the right to the left shoulder. Now let’s talk about the speed.
Men Professional Players
| Player | Average Forehand Speed |
| Wawrinka | 81mph |
| Berdych | 80 mph |
| Verdasco | 80 mph |
| Fognini | 80 mph |
| Raonic | 80 mph |
| Bautista | 80 mph |
| Novak Djokovic | 80 mph |
| Dimitrov | 79 mph |
| Ferrer | 76 mph |
| Federer | 76 mph |
| Murray | 75 mph |
| Flopez | 74 mph |
*The data is extracted from the 2014 to 2016 Australian Open
The average forehand speed of professional male players is 78 mph / 125 km/h. The forehand speed primarily depends on the proper technique. Some of the hardest hitters include Dominic Thiem, Wawrinka, Verdasco, and Fognini.
Women Professional Players
| Player | Average Forehand Speed |
| Keys | 81 mph |
| Giorgi | 78 mph |
| Mladenovic | 78mph |
| Kulichkova | 77 mph |
| Stephens | 76 mph |
| Wickmayer | 76 mph |
| Sharapova | 75 mph |
| Kvitova | 75 mph |
| S. Williams | 73 mph |
| Bouchard | 71 mph |
| Errani | 68 mph |
| Aradwanska | 66 mph |
*The data is extracted from the 2014 to 2016 Australian Open
The average forehand speed of professional female players is 74 mph / 119 km/h. The forehand speed primarily depends on the proper technique. Some of the hardest hitters include Keys, Giorgi, Hradecka, and Mladenovic.
Now, let’s move on the backhand.
The Average Speed of Professional Player Backhand
The backhand is also one of the basic shots in tennis. This is a tennis stroke in which the racket goes across the body, striking the ball with the back of hand moving towards the opponent player. The backhand can be either one-handed or two-handed, depending on the individual preference.
Men Professional Players
| Player | Average Backhand Speed |
| Wawrinka | 75 mph |
| Berdych | 71 mph |
| Verdasco | 75 mph |
| Fognini | 72 mph |
| Raonic | 67 mph |
| Bautista | 68 mph |
| Novak Djokovic | 72 mph |
| Dimitrov | 67 mph |
| Ferrer | 76 mph |
| Federer | 70 mph |
| Murray | 68 mph |
| Flopez | 56 mph |
*The data is extracted from the 2014 to 2016 Australian Open
The average backhand speed of professional male players is 70 mph / 112 km/h. The backhand speed primarily depends on the proper technique. Some of the hardest hitters include Ferrer, Wawrinka, Verdasco, and Novak Djokovic.
Women Professional Players
| Player | Average Backhand Speed |
| Keys | 75 mph |
| Giorgi | 73 mph |
| Mladenovic | 67mph |
| Kulichkova | 72 mph |
| Stephens | 69 mph |
| Wickmayer | 72 mph |
| Sharapova | 71 mph |
| Kvitova | 73 mph |
| S. Williams | 70 mph |
| Bouchard | 70 mph |
| Errani | 68 mph |
| Aradwanska | 65 mph |
*The data is extracted from the 2014 to 2016 Australian Open
The average backhand speed of professional female players is 70 mph / 125 km/h. The backhand speed primarily depends on the proper technique. Some of the hardest hitters include Keys, Giorgi, Kvitova, and Wickmayer.
What Is the Fastest Tennis Ball Ever Hit?
I have always wondered how these professional players see a tennis ball moving over 120 mph at them and still have enough time to react. It turns out that our brain automatically predicts where the ball is going to be, providing us with accurate measurements. When the ball leaves the racquet, your eye first finds the ball, then it determines its speed.
After that, your brain tells your body what to do. We know that tennis balls are extremely fast, so without our predictive ability, tennis would not even exist. This would also explain why back spinning can throw off the opponent. The brain of your opponent is predicting a path, one you don’t follow.
The fastest tennis ball ever hit was done by Sam Groth at the 2012 Busan Open Challenger Tennis but unfortunately, it wasn’t recognized by ATP. However, the ATPs official record for the fastest hit holds John Isner in the 2016 Davis Cup. Georgina Garcia holds the record for the fastest hit in WTA in 2018.
10 fastest tennis balls ever hit
| Player | Speed | Event |
| Sam Groth | 263.0 km/h (163.4 mph) | 2012 Busan Open Challenger Tennis |
| Albano Olivetti | 257.5 km/h (160.0 mph) | 2012 Internazionali Trofeo Lame Perrel–Faip |
| John Isner | 253.0 km/h (157.2 mph) | 2016 Davis Cup |
| Ivo Karlović | 251.0 km/h (156.0 mph) | 2011 Davis Cup |
| Jerzy Janowicz | 251.0 km/h (156.0 mph) | 2012 Pekao Szczecin Open |
| Andy Roddick | 249.4 km/h (155.0 mph) | 2004 Davis Cup |
| Milos Raonic | 249.4 km/h (155.0 mph) | 2012 SAP Open |
| Joachim Johansson | 244.6 km/h (152.0 mph) | 2004 Davis Cup |
| Feliciano Lopez | 244.6 km/h (152.0 mph) | 2014 Aegon Championships |
| Marius Copil | 244.0 km/h (151.6 mph) | 2016 European Open |
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