What would be your ranking of the top 10 best servers in tennis

This is a really interesting question because there are so many ways we can measure a great serve.

First, I only looked at players that everyone has either seen or read about. There are some players who hardly ever win a match at the ATP level, but have huge serves, are unbreakable at the Challenger level, and never even reach the top 20. One guy, Joachim Johansson, reached the semis of the 2004 US Open, but was plagued by shoulder injuries so he was only in the top 20 for a year. Props to him that he held the record for most aces served in one match (51), a four set loss to Agassi. That record went on to be broken by both Karlovic and Isner.

Secondly, we don’t have complete stats for all the players of the Open Era, so I will deal with them at the end of this post.

For the players from 1900-1968, Pancho Gonzalez was probably the greatest server of that era, and should be included in any discussion of all-time great servers. A testament to his greatness is that the pro tennis tour of his time tried to change the rules of the game to make the matches more competitive. That’s akin to the NCAA banning the dunk because of Kareem Abdul Jabbar when he was at UCLA.

What we do have are some really great ATP stats on serving from 1991-present: Leaderboard | ATP World Tour | Tennis

You can look at the standings by surface for a particular year or a career.

Some of the stats need to be understood in context. For example, Nadal is the #5 rated server during this period on clay, and in the top 20 on grass and hard courts because of his amazing overall game, but only #425 in aces per match.

Measure #1: Aces vs Double Faults

As a true measure of just the serve, I would look at the ratio of aces to double faults, as this is a measure of how many cheap points a player wins, and also the reliability of their second serve. Naturally, there are other factors involved, such as mental toughness, the ability to raise ones game under pressure and how much game a player has to back up their serve. For example, a player with relatively weak ground strokes will probably feel more pressure to take chances on their second serve in order to get into a winning situation.

Here are the best ace to double fault ratios:

Isner: 7.78

Roddick: 5.85

Karlovic: 5.62

Ljubicic: 4.80

Raonic: 4.68

Anderson: 4.16

Tsonga: 4.13

Federer: 4.10

Kyrgios: 3.94

Muller: 3.72

Querry: 3.75

Krajicek: 3.5

Sampras: 2.97

Ivanisevic: 2.89

Note: people remember that Sampras was close to unbreakable during his years at the #1 player, but the serve was only a part of his brilliance. Along with McEnroe, Edberg and Becker, Sampras was one of the greatest net players of all time. I’m not talking about his volley, here, I’m referring to his ability to cover the angles of the court and make it almost impossible for an opponent to pass him. In addition, Sampras was the first player I ever saw who could lunge for a low forehand volley and snap his wrist to drive the ball for surprise winners. Finally, Sampras had perhaps the greatest forehand half volley of all time when opponents hit a good return at his feet as he came in to the net. Where most net rushers would get down an try to block the ball deep on half volleys, Sampras attacked them like he was hitting a normal forehand. (BTW, Federer has the greatest half volleys from the back court I’ve ever seen, as he’s able to redirect deep returns to the other side of the court for winners with an ease and consistency that no one realizes how insane these shots are.)

Measure #2: How dominant is a player compared to his contemporaries

Improvements in rackets and strings, as well as the heights of the players makes it difficult to compare even Sampras’ generation to Isner and Karlovic.

With that in mind, I looked at Sampras’ career by year. By serve rating, Sampras was the best in the world in 1991, 1993-1996, and 2000. He was #2 from 1997–1999, #3 in 1992, #4 in 2001, and #6 in 2002.

Of the modern players, Roddick had a good run as the best server of his time (2003-2005, 2010), but Karlovic (2006–2009, 2014–2015 and Isner (2011–2013, 2016–2017) basically dominate tennis for 10 of the last 11 years.

Measure #3: How efficient is the player’s motion

When we think about great servers, a big part of their success is based on a player’s height and the angles they are able to create. If you look at the ace/double fault ratio rankings above, only four players are under 6′4″: Federer, Sampras, Roddick and Tsonga. That these players are among the best of their era is a testament to their technique and athletic abilities. Also, you can add John McEnroe, Roscoe Tanner and Serena Williams to this list. (Even though her serve wouldn’t dominate in men’s tennis, the fact that Serena can hit every type of serve, including flat serves wide of the backhand in the ad court at only 5′9″ is the reason she has the greatest serve in the history of women’s tennis.)

In addition, we have to take into account the huge differences in equipment, and court and ball speeds. The top servers from the 1990s are at the bottom of the overall list. My guess is that these players were serving and volleying, and forced to take more chances with their second serves, because they didn’t have a good enough back court game to feel comfortable staying back on fast surfaces.

Going back even further, Tanner was hitting 140 mph with this relic from the stone ages.

Imagine what Tanner might have done playing with a modern racket.

Measure #4: Who has the most variety (speed, spin and placement) in their serve

Here’s where I can include the great players I’ve watched during the Open Era:

1. Isner: not only does he hit huge serves to any spot on the court, he can slow down his kick serve so it bounces over the heads of guys like Del Potro (6′6″).
2. Sampras: at his peak, he was devastating on both the first and second serves.
3. McEnroe: was so dominant with his left-handed slice serves, players had to cheat over to protect their backhands, which allowed him to kill them out wide of the forehand.
4. Becker: with his toss, it looked like every serve was going to be a kick serve, but he could crush the ball and hit a great slice serve.
5. Federer: one of the greatest slice serves ever going wide of the deuce court. But he didn’t need to do as much with his second serve because of his baseline game and incredible movement.

Measure #5: The most difficult serve to read

This is a measure of the quickness and/or disguise in the motion, and the unpredictability of the player. This is a little more subjective, so the order could change depending on which match you might watch, the vagaries of memory, and recency bias. Get ready for a surprise.

1. Kyrgios: the erratic Australian has a rocking motion that delivers the ball as quickly as any player besides Rosco Tanner who was one of the few players to hit the serve while it was still on the rise. But I give Nick the edge over the rest of the players on this list because of his service philosophy and unpredictability. He doesn’t believe in second serves, unless he wants to change the pace or conserve energy. He has stated that he never misses the same serve twice in a row, so it’s common for him to hit 130 mph “second” serves that are actually a second first serve to the same spot. (Peter Fleming was the first to do this, back in my playing days, but he didn’t have as much variety.) At the first round of this year’s US Open he hit three second serves over 130 mph in the first game. He’s got the #5 serve rating on the ATP database. If he could become more solid physically and mentally, he would have the potential to be one of the greatest servers of all time.
2. McEnroe: Mac’s bizarre motion was the equivalent of a Hall of Fame Major League Baseball pitcher. His back was to his opponents during the windup, so they had no idea where his body was going to go and what kind of serve he would hit.
3. Tanner: while he didn’t have as much variety in his serve as the top guys I listed, he was one of the few players to ever hit his serve on the rise. His motion was so quick, and so different from any player serving during his generation, it was almost impossible to break him, even though the rest of his game wasn’t outstanding.
4. Isner: besides his height, quick service motion, disguise and the ungodly angles he can create, Isner often looks like he’s going to collapse at the end of a long match. He might barely run for balls in rallies sometimes, but he never lets down on his serve. In addition, he keeps something in reserve even when he’s running on fumes. In this year’s US Open, during the horribly hot and humid conditions that caused a number of players to retire during matches and the suspension of play for the juniors during the heat of the day, Isner had a titanic quarterfinal match against del Potro. The commentators were talking about him being so tired that he started serving more from a 3/4 side arm motion. The speed on his first serve had dropped from a high of 140 mph down to 111 on a couple of serves. But on big points on his second serve, he still could hit 125 mph into a corner, as well as using a 95–98 mph kick serve ace that bounced as high as del Potro’s head.
5. Karlovic: Dr. Ivo has one of the most effortless service motions of any player in the game. While players like Roddick look like they’re doing contortions as they prepare to unleash a big serve, the big Croatian looks like he’s just warming up as he hits almost 20 aces per match, the highest number of any modern player. He was still in the top 20 at age 38 in 2017 because his serve and overall game are so relaxed and efficient.
6. Sampras: besides tremendous variety, and a well disguised toss, Sampras has a bigger shoulder turn than most of the top servers. His back is facing the serve almost as much as McEnroe, masking his intentions. He was also willing to take more chances, going for a big second serve, so opponents could never feel like they could relax if he missed his first serve.
7. Ivanisevic: the combination of being tall, left handed, and hitting the serve at the highest point of the toss made the big Croatian extremely tough to read.

Conclusions

Serving isn’t simply about pure power. Roddick’s serve was huge, but his lack of variety and disguise on the serve and his inability to master the serve and volley made it easy for opponents to stand way back and float balls deep.

If you watch each player’s motion, it seems like the rocking action and the back foot stepping up behind the front foot creates a quicker motion that’s harder for opponents to read. Of the seven most difficult serves to read, only Sampras and McEnroe keep their back foot back throughout the service motion, but Sampras rocks back a lot to start his motion.

Of the 14 best servers by ace to double fault ratio, only Raonic, Federer and Sampras keep their back leg stationary throughout the motion.

My final rankings of top 10 servers is based on who would be the most difficult to break. I went with the three most dominant servers of their generation to start the list, penalizing Roddick for his lack of variety. Then I threw in three of the greatest servers of the era before the ATP stats based on watching them play and seeing how unreturnable their serves were. Kyrgios has the talent to be around #5, but his lack of training and proper coaching makes him less consistent.

1. Isner. It’s interesting that he has a higher ace to double fault ratio on clay (8.3) than he does on hard courts. This speaks to the incredible variety and angles he can create. (His grass court ratio was even more insane at 9.95)
2. Karlovic
3. Sampras
4. Tanner
5. Becker
6. McEnroe
7. Roddick
8. Raonic
9. Federer
10. Kyrgios

NOTE: For players who are not professionals, this style makes it much harder to consistently control the toss and the timing, so I’m not saying this is the best way to serve for everyone. The rocking-step through action also requires stronger and more flexible legs, and is a little harder on the back and abdominals, as players throw their hips forward creating the shape of a reverse “C” with their bodies. As the motion goes forward, the player has to snap back up and forwards in order to hit the ball in the proper location. Recreational players will find that as they get tired, their serve will drop off much more when they use this more physically demanding style. For most people, Federer has a simple, classic motion to use as a model.

Thanks for the A2A