By Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
Milos Raonic set the record for most aces hit in a best-of-three-set ATP Tour match when he slammed 47 in his 6-7(6), 6-3, 7-6(9) win against Cam Norried in the first round of the Wimbledon grass-court prep tournament, the Cinch Championships at Queens Club in London.
The Canadian broke the record previously held by Ivo Karlovic, who hit 45 aces in the quarterfinals of the grass-court event in Halle, Germany in 2015, nearly nine years to the day of Raonic’s achievement.
As documented in my book “On This Day In Tennis History,” Karlovic believed that his record would stand the test of time, exclaiming to media after his win ”The record will always be there, it will always be written.”
Well, not so fast.
The Karlovic record was actually threatened several other times before Raonic eclipsed the record. Nick Kyrgios hits 44 aces passed Ryan Harrison in 2019 on a hard court in Brisbane and John Isner hit 44 against Yibing Wu in Dallas in 2023. Isner also hit 43 aces against Gilles Muller at Queens in 2016 and Reilly Opelka hit 43 aces each at the indoor event on Long Island, New York in 2019 against Isner and also Brayden Schnur.
Said Raonic of his aces after his historic win over Norrie, “With the scoreline and having to save (two) match points, I probably needed every single one of those. But my serve has always been the most important shot to me. This small record, it’s something special, something meaningful. I’m glad that behind that also stands a win because maybe I’d feel differently or maybe a bit more sour if I was to get that many free points and lose the match. So overall, a very positive thing and a fun stat to be proud of.”
The excerpt from the June 19 chapter of “On This Day In Tennis History” (for sale and download here: https://a.co/d/cLnCyH2) on Karlovic’s record can be read below.
2015 – Ivo Karlovic slams 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 breaks the best-of-three-set record he shares 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 says of the record. ”The record will always be there, it will always be written.” 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.
