In tennis, an ace is a legal serve that is not touched by the receiver, winning the point for the server.[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.

Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

ATP Tour

John Isner holds the professional records for most aces in a match Wimbledon 2010, an entire tournament Wimbledon 2018, and also first on the most aces in career list .

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. John Isner has served the most aces with 14,470.[6][7]

Ivo Karlović has the most in a best-of-three-set match with 45 at Halle in 2015.[8] Two weeks later, during Wimbledon, he became the only player to hit at least 40 aces in three consecutive matches.[9]

Goran Ivanišević has the most in a single season with 1,477 in 1996.[10] 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.[11] He is also third on the career list.[6]

Aces

See also: ATP Tour records § Aces
No. Career aces[12][13]
14,470 United States John Isner
13,728 Croatia Ivo Karlović
11,478 Switzerland Roger Federer
10,261 Spain Feliciano López
10,237 Croatia Goran Ivanišević
9,074 United States Andy Roddick
8,879 United States Sam Querrey
8,858 United States Pete Sampras
8,290 Canada Milos Raonic
8,138 Croatia Ivan Ljubičić
No. Aces in a season Year
1,477 Croatia Goran Ivanišević 1996
1,447 Croatia Ivo Karlović 2015
1,318 Croatia Ivo Karlović 2007
1,260 United States John Isner 2015
1,213 United States John Isner 2018
1,185 Croatia Ivo Karlović 2014
1,159 United States John Isner 2016
1,156 Croatia Goran Ivanišević 1994
1,131 Croatia Ivo Karlović 2016
1,123 United States John Isner 2017

Top 10 most aces served in a match

No. Player W/L Opponent Round Event Sets Surface Ref.
113 United States John Isner W France Nicolas Mahut 1R 2010 Wimbledon 5 Grass [14]
103 France Nicolas Mahut L United States John Isner
78 Croatia Ivo Karlović L Czech Republic Radek Štěpánek SF 2009 Davis Cup 5 Clay
75 Croatia Ivo Karlović W Argentina Horacio Zeballos 1R 2017 Australian Open 5 Hard
67 United States Reilly Opelka L Italy Thomas Fabbiano 2R 2019 Australian Open 5 Hard
64 United States John Isner W Belgium Ruben Bemelmans 2R 2018 Wimbledon 5 Grass
61 Croatia Ivo Karlović W Chinese Taipei Lu Yen-Hsun 1R 2016 US Open 5 Hard
Croatia Ivo Karlović L Germany Jan-Lennard Struff 2R 2018 Wimbledon 5 Grass
59 Croatia Ivo Karlović L Japan Kei Nishikori 2R 2019 Australian Open 5 Hard
56 France Albano Olivetti L Australia Matthew Barton 1R 2016 Wimbledon 5 Grass [15]

Most aces in a US Open match

No. Player W/L Opponent Round Event Surface Ref.
61 Croatia Ivo Karlović W Chinese Taipei Lu Yen-hsun 1R 2016 US Open Hard [16]
52 United States John Isner L United States Steve Johnson 1R 2020 US Open
49 South Africa Kevin Anderson W Czech Republic Jiří Veselý 1R 2021 US Open
Netherlands Richard Krajicek L Russia Yevgeny Kafelnikov QF 1999 US Open
48 United States John Isner L United States Michael Mmoh 2R 2023 US Open
Kazakhstan Alexander Bublik W Italy Thomas Fabbiano 2R 2019 US Open

Most aces in a clay-court tournament

* Note: This marked the third time that Isner had hit 100+ aces in a clay-court tournament.

No. Player Event Surface Ref.
124 Netherlands Martin Verkerk 2003 French Open Clay [17]
110 United States John Isner 2014 French Open
108 Germany Michael Stich 1996 French Open
107 United States John Isner 2021 Madrid Open
101 United States John Isner 2017 Rome

Most aces in a one-week tournament

No. Player Event Surface Ref.
156 United States Reilly Opelka 2019 New York Open Hard [18]
144 United States John Isner 2007 Legg Mason Tennis Classic [4]

Most aces served in a three-set match

No. Player W/L Opponent Round Event Surface Ref.
45 Croatia Ivo Karlović W Czech Republic Tomáš Berdych QF 2015 Halle Grass [19]
44 Australia Mark Philippoussis W Zimbabwe Byron Black 2R 1995 Kuala Lumpur Carpet (i) [20]
Croatia Ivo Karlović W Germany Daniel Brands 1R 2014 Zagreb Hard (i)
Australia Nick Kyrgios W United States Ryan Harrison 1R 2019 Brisbane Hard [21]
United States John Isner L China Wu Yibing F 2023 Dallas Open [22]
43 United States Mardy Fish L Belgium Olivier Rochus 2R 2007 Lyon [20]
United States Reilly Opelka W United States John Isner SF 2019 New York [4]
United States Reilly Opelka W Canada Branden Schnur F
40 Croatia Goran Ivanišević W Sweden Magnus Norman 1R 1997 Zagreb Carpet (i) [20]

Most combined aces in a three-set match

No. Player W/L Opponent Round Event Surface Ref.
81 United States Reilly Opelka W United States John Isner SF 2019 New York Hard [23][24]
71 Australia Nick Kyrgios W United States Ryan Harrison 1R 2019 Brisbane [21]

Most consecutive aces

No. Player W/L Opponent Round Event Surface Ref.
10 United States Sam Querrey W United States James Blake QF 2007 Indianapolis Hard [25][26]
8 Czech Republic Radek Štěpánek W Belgium Christophe Rochus F 2006 Rotterdam Hard (i) [27]
7 Germany Michael Stich W France Guy Forget SF 1993 Hopman Cup Hard [28]
United States Andy Roddick W Netherlands Sjeng Schalken QF 2003 US Open [29]
United States Andy Roddick L Australia Lleyton Hewitt SF 2005 Australian Open [30][31]
Chile Fernando González W Sweden Joachim Johansson 3R 2005 Wimbledon Grass [32]
Spain Feliciano López L Czech Republic Tomáš Berdych 2R 2013 Shanghai Hard [33]
Croatia Ivo Karlović W Russia Mikhail Youzhny 1R 2014 Halle Grass [34]
Switzerland Roger Federer W Australia James Duckworth QF 2015 Brisbane Hard [35]
United States Sam Querrey W Italy Thomas Fabbiano SF 2019 Eastbourne Grass [36]

Serving five consecutive aces from 0–40 down

Player W/L Opponent Round Event Surface Ref.
Germany Boris Becker W Ukraine Andriy Medvedev F 1995 Hopman Cup Hard [37]
United States John Isner L France Édouard Roger-Vasselin SF 2013 Delray Beach [38]
United States John Isner W Czech Republic Jiří Veselý 3R 2015 US Open [39]
United States Reilly Opelka W Spain Roberto Bautista Agut QF 2019 Basel Hard (i) [40]

Most aces without a double fault

No. Player W/L Opponent Round Event Surface Ref.
49 United States John Isner W Australia Bernard Tomic 1R 2016 Davis Cup Grass [41]
39 United States Reilly Opelka W United States John Isner SF 2022 Dallas Open Hard [42]
37 United States John Isner W Poland Jerzy Janowicz 1R 2016 Australian Open [14]
34 Croatia Ivo Karlović W Chile Nicolás Massú 1R 2007 Stockholm Hard (i)
33 United States Andy Roddick W Chile Fernando González 4R 2010 Australian Open Hard
31 Russia Marat Safin W United States Andre Agassi SF 2004 Australian Open [43][44]

Seasons with 1000+ aces[edit]

No. Player Years Ref.
7 United States John Isner 2010, 12, 15–19 [45][46]
4 Croatia Goran Ivanišević 1994, 96–98 [47]
Croatia Ivo Karlović 2007, 14–16
2 Canada Milos Raonic 2012, 14 [47][48]
South Africa Kevin Anderson 2015, 18 [45][49]
1 United States Pete Sampras 1993 [50]
United States Andy Roddick 2004 [47]
United States Reilly Opelka 2019 [51]
Poland Hubert Hurkacz 2023 [52]

Most seasons finished as ace leader[edit]

No. Player Years
8 United States John Isner 2010, 12–13, 16–19, 22
6 Croatia Goran Ivanišević 1992, 94, 96–98, 2001
5 Croatia Ivo Karlović 2007–09, 14–15
3 United States Andy Roddick 2003–05
2 United States Pete Sampras 1993, 95
1 France Guy Forget 1991
Netherlands Richard Krajicek 1999
Russia Marat Safin 2000
Australia Wayne Arthurs 2002
Croatia Ivan Ljubičić 2006
France Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 2011
Canada Milos Raonic 2020
Kazakhstan Alexander Bublik 2021
Poland Hubert Hurkacz 2023

WTA Tour

Serena Williams holds the record for most aces in a tournament with 102 en route to winning the 2012 Wimbledon title.[53]

Karolína Plíšková has the most aces in a single season with 530 in 2016,[54] which broke her own record of 517 in 2015.[55] She has also served the most aces in a match on clay, with 21 in her second round victory over Jeļena Ostapenko at Stuttgart in 2021.[56]

Most aces in a match

There have been 32 matches played in which a player has served 20 or more aces, since 2008.[57]

No. Player W/L Opponent Round Event Sets Surface Ref.
31 Czech Republic Kristýna Plíšková L Puerto Rico Monica Puig 2R 2016 Australian Open 3 Hard [57]
28 Czech Republic Kristýna Plíšková L Puerto Rico Monica Puig 2R 2019 Luxembourg 3 Hard (i)
27 Germany Sabine Lisicki W Switzerland Belinda Bencic 2R 2015 Birmingham 2 Grass
France Caroline Garcia L China Zhang Shuai 2R 2022 Tokyo 3 Hard [58]
24 Estonia Kaia Kanepi W Czech Republic Lucie Šafářová 1R 2008 Tokyo 3 Hard [59]
United States Serena Williams W Belarus Victoria Azarenka SF 2012 Wimbledon 2 Grass [57]
Czech Republic Kristýna Plíšková W Czech Republic Karolína Plíšková 2R 2019 Birmingham 3
Czech Republic Karolína Plíšková W United States Amanda Anisimova 2R 2021 US Open 3 Hard [60][61]
Canada Rebecca Marino L France Caroline Garcia 2R 2022 Guadalajara Open Akron 3 Hard [62]
23 United States Serena Williams W China Zheng Jie 3R 2012 Wimbledon 3 Grass [57]
Czech Republic Kristýna Plíšková L France Océane Dodin 1R 2016 Linz 3 Hard (i)
22 Netherlands Brenda Schultz W Croatia Iva Majoli QF 1994 Birmingham 3 Grass [63]
United States Meghann Shaughnessy L Czech Republic Nicole Vaidišová F 2005 Memphis 2 Hard (i) [64]
Australia Alicia Molik L United States Venus Williams QF 2007 Tokyo 2 Hard
Russia Ekaterina Alexandrova W United States Kristie Ahn QF 2019 Seoul 3 [57]
Belgium Alison Van Uytvanck L United States Sofia Kenin SF 2020 Lyon 3

Seasons with 500+ aces

No. Player Years Ref.
2 Czech Republic Karolína Plíšková 2015–2016 [65][54]

Half-ace

In 1999, the Swedish artist and writer Kjell Höglund proposed a term for when an opponent manages to hit the ball without it actually entering into play. He suggested it should be called a "half-ace".[66]

See also

References

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