By Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
Within days of each other, Ivo Karlovic and Sabine Lisicki both created a slice of tennis history by creating new records for aces in men’s and women’s matches.
On Wednesday, June 17, Lisicki fired a WTA record 27 aces in her opening-round win over Belinda Bencic at the Wimbledon grass-court tune-up event in Birmingham, England. Lisicki hit 16 aces in the first set and 11 in the second set in her 6-1, 7-6 (4) win. Lisicki broke the record of 24 previously held by Serena Williams (2012 Wimbledon vs. Victoria Azarenka) and Kaia Kanepi (2008 Japan Open vs. Lucie Safarova).
On Friday, June 19, Karlovic slammed 45 aces, the most in a three-set match in the history of the ATP World Tour, in defeating Tomas Berdych 7-5, 6-7 (8), 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany. Karlovic broke the best-of-three-set record he shared with Mark Philippoussis of 44 aces.
“I just knew there was a lot of aces, but I didn’t know it was that many,” Karlovic said of the record. ”The record will always be there, it will always be written.”
Philippoussis hit his 44 aces in Kuala Lumpur in 1995 and Karlovic hit his 44 aces in Zagreb in 2014.
The all-time record for most aces hit in a best-of-five set match is held by John Isner, who hit 113 aces in his 11 hour, five minute epic 70-68 in the fifth set win over Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon in 2010. Mahut hit 103 aces in the losing effort to hold down the No. 2 position for most aces in a match, while Karlovic is in the No. 3 position, hitting 78 aces in a 6-7, 7-6, 7-6, 6-7, 16-14 loss to Radek Stepanek in the 2009 Davis Cup semifinals in Porec, Croatia. Karlovic hit 55 aces in a 6-7 (1), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-3 loss to Lleyton Hewitt in the first round of the French Open in 2009 for the most aces in a match on a clay court and in a non-extended five-set match.
Interestingly, both Lisicki and Karlovic own their respective tour’s records for fastest recorded serves in tennis history as well.
On July 29, 2014, Lisicki pounded a 131 mph serve against Ana Ivanovic in the first round of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford. Read my column on it here: http://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/10781
On March 5, 2011, Karlovic hit the fastest recorded serve in ATP history when he slammed a 156 mph serve in the fourth set of a Davis Cup doubles match for Croatia against Germany in Zagreb. Karlovic slams the record serve in the fourth set of his match with Ivan Dodig against Philipp Petzschner and Christopher Kas, won by the Germans 3-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. “I noticed that while serving, saw it on the screen,” Karlovic says of his record-breaking serve. “It is really great.” Karlovic breaks the previous mark of 155 mph held by Andy Roddick. Since Karlovic hit his record serve, Australian Sam Groth hit a serve recorded at 163 mph at a challenger-level tournament in Busan, South Korea and Frenchman Albano Olivetti hit a 160 mph serve at a challenger in Bergamo, Italy, but the ATP does not recognize serve speeds from challenger events, due to inconsistent radar guns.
