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

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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

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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]

Milos Raonic hit 47 aces in 2024 Queen's, the most in a best-of-three-set match.[8] Ivo Karlović became the only player to hit at least 40 aces in three consecutive matches during 2015 Wimbledon.[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

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No. Career aces[12][13]
14,470   John Isner
13,728   Ivo Karlović
11,478   Roger Federer
10,261   Feliciano López
10,237   Goran Ivanišević
9,074   Andy Roddick
8,879   Sam Querrey
8,858   Pete Sampras
8,445   Milos Raonic
8,155   Marin Čilić
No. Aces in a season Year
1,477   Goran Ivanišević 1996
1,447   Ivo Karlović 2015
1,318   Ivo Karlović 2007
1,260   John Isner 2015
1,213   John Isner 2018
1,185   Ivo Karlović 2014
1,159   John Isner 2016
1,156   Goran Ivanišević 1994
1,131   Ivo Karlović 2016
1,123   John Isner 2017

Top 10 most aces served in a match

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No. Player W/L Opponent Round Event Sets Surface Ref.
113   John Isner W   Nicolas Mahut 1R 2010 Wimbledon 5 Grass [14][15]
103   Nicolas Mahut L   John Isner
78   Ivo Karlović L   Radek Štěpánek SF 2009 Davis Cup 5 Clay
75   Ivo Karlović W   Horacio Zeballos 1R 2017 Australian Open 5 Hard
67   Reilly Opelka L   Thomas Fabbiano 2R 2019 Australian Open 5 Hard
64   John Isner W   Ruben Bemelmans 2R 2018 Wimbledon 5 Grass
61   Ivo Karlović W   Lu Yen-Hsun 1R 2016 US Open 5 Hard
  Ivo Karlović L   Jan-Lennard Struff 2R 2018 Wimbledon 5 Grass
59   Ivo Karlović L   Kei Nishikori 2R 2019 Australian Open 5 Hard
56   Albano Olivetti L   Matthew Barton 1R 2016 Wimbledon 5 Grass [16][15]

Most aces in a US Open match

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No. Player W/L Opponent Round Event Surface Ref.
61   Ivo Karlović W   Lu Yen-hsun 1R 2016 US Open Hard [17]
52   John Isner L   Steve Johnson 1R 2020 US Open
49   Richard Krajicek L   Yevgeny Kafelnikov QF 1999 US Open
  Kevin Anderson W   Jiří Veselý 1R 2021 US Open
48   Alexander Bublik W   Thomas Fabbiano 2R 2019 US Open
  John Isner L   Michael Mmoh 2R 2023 US Open [18]

Most aces in a clay-court tournament

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

No. Player Event Surface Ref.
124   Martin Verkerk 2003 French Open Clay [19]
110   John Isner 2014 French Open
108   Michael Stich 1996 French Open
107   John Isner 2021 Madrid Open
101   John Isner 2017 Rome

Most aces in a one-week tournament

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No. Player Event Surface Ref.
156   Reilly Opelka 2019 New York Open Hard [20]
144   John Isner 2007 Legg Mason Tennis Classic [4]

Most aces served in a three-set match

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No. Player W/L Opponent Round Event Surface Ref.
47   Milos Raonic W   Cameron Norrie 1R 2024 Queen's Grass [8][21]
45   Ivo Karlović W   Tomáš Berdych QF 2015 Halle [22][21]
44   Mark Philippoussis W   Byron Black 2R 1995 Kuala Lumpur Carpet (i) [23][21]
  Ivo Karlović W   Daniel Brands 1R 2014 Zagreb Hard (i)
  Nick Kyrgios W   Ryan Harrison 1R 2019 Brisbane Hard [24][21]
  John Isner L   Wu Yibing F 2023 Dallas Open [25][21]
43   Mardy Fish L   Olivier Rochus 2R 2007 Lyon [23]
  Reilly Opelka W   John Isner SF 2019 New York [4]
  Reilly Opelka W   Brayden Schnur F
40   Goran Ivanišević W   Magnus Norman 1R 1997 Zagreb Carpet (i) [23]

Most combined aces in a three-set match

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No. Player W/L Opponent Round Event Surface Ref.
81   Reilly Opelka W   John Isner SF 2019 New York Hard [26][27]
71   Nick Kyrgios W   Ryan Harrison 1R 2019 Brisbane [24]

Most consecutive aces

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No. Player W/L Opponent Round Event Surface Ref.
10   Sam Querrey W   James Blake QF 2007 Indianapolis Hard [28][29]
8   Radek Štěpánek W   Christophe Rochus F 2006 Rotterdam Hard (i) [30]
7   Michael Stich W   Guy Forget SF 1993 Hopman Cup Hard [31]
  Andy Roddick W   Sjeng Schalken QF 2003 US Open [32]
  Andy Roddick L   Lleyton Hewitt SF 2005 Australian Open [33][34]
  Fernando González W   Joachim Johansson 3R 2005 Wimbledon Grass [35]
  Feliciano López L   Tomáš Berdych 2R 2013 Shanghai Hard [36]
  Ivo Karlović W   Mikhail Youzhny 1R 2014 Halle Grass [37]
  Roger Federer W   James Duckworth QF 2015 Brisbane Hard [38]
  Sam Querrey W   Thomas Fabbiano SF 2019 Eastbourne Grass [39]

Serving five consecutive aces from 0–40 down

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Player W/L Opponent Round Event Surface Ref.
  Boris Becker W   Andriy Medvedev F 1995 Hopman Cup Hard [40]
  John Isner L   Édouard Roger-Vasselin SF 2013 Delray Beach [41]
  John Isner W   Jiří Veselý 3R 2015 US Open [42]
  Reilly Opelka W   Roberto Bautista Agut QF 2019 Basel Hard (i) [43]

Most aces without a double fault

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No. Player W/L Opponent Round Event Surface Ref.
49   John Isner W   Bernard Tomic 1R 2016 Davis Cup Grass [44]
39   Reilly Opelka W   John Isner SF 2022 Dallas Open Hard [45]
37   John Isner W   Jerzy Janowicz 1R 2016 Australian Open [14]
34   Ivo Karlović W   Nicolás Massú 1R 2007 Stockholm Hard (i)
33   Andy Roddick W   Fernando González 4R 2010 Australian Open Hard
31   Marat Safin W   Andre Agassi SF 2004 Australian Open [46][47]

Seasons with 1000+ aces

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No. Player Years Ref.
7   John Isner 2010, 12, 15–19 [48][49]
4   Goran Ivanišević 1994, 96–98 [50]
  Ivo Karlović 2007, 14–16
2   Milos Raonic 2012, 14 [50][51]
  Kevin Anderson 2015, 18 [48][52]
1   Pete Sampras 1993 [53]
  Andy Roddick 2004 [50]
  Reilly Opelka 2019 [54]
  Hubert Hurkacz 2023 [55]

Most seasons finished as ace leader

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

WTA Tour

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Serena Williams holds the record for most aces in a tournament with 102 en route to winning the 2012 Wimbledon title.[56]

Most aces in a match

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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   Kristýna Plíšková L   Monica Puig 2R 2016 Australian Open 3 Hard [57]
28   Kristýna Plíšková L   Monica Puig 2R 2019 Luxembourg 3 Hard (i)
27   Sabine Lisicki W   Belinda Bencic 2R 2015 Birmingham 2 Grass
  Caroline Garcia L   Zhang Shuai 2R 2022 Tokyo 3 Hard [58]
24   Kaia Kanepi W   Lucie Šafářová 1R 2008 Tokyo 3 Hard [59]
  Serena Williams W   Victoria Azarenka SF 2012 Wimbledon 2 Grass [57]
  Kristýna Plíšková W   Karolína Plíšková 2R 2019 Birmingham 3
  Karolína Plíšková W   Amanda Anisimova 2R 2021 US Open 3 Hard [60][61]
  Rebecca Marino L   Caroline Garcia 2R 2022 Guadalajara Open Akron 3 Hard [62]
23   Serena Williams W   Zheng Jie 3R 2012 Wimbledon 3 Grass [57]
  Kristýna Plíšková L   Océane Dodin 1R 2016 Linz 3 Hard (i)
  Zheng Qinwen W   Naomi Osaka 1R 2024 Berlin 3 Grass
22   Brenda Schultz W   Iva Majoli QF 1994 Birmingham 3 Grass [63]
  Meghann Shaughnessy L   Nicole Vaidišová F 2005 Memphis 2 Hard (i) [64]
  Alicia Molik L   Venus Williams QF 2007 Tokyo 2 Hard
  Ekaterina Alexandrova W   Kristie Ahn QF 2019 Seoul 3 [57]
  Alison Van Uytvanck L   Sofia Kenin SF 2020 Lyon 3
  Clara Tauson L   Sofia Kenin 2R 2024 Toray 3

Most seasons finished as ace leader

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Note: Most aces served in a season since 2010.[65]

No. Player Years
5   Karolína Plíšková 2015–17, 19, 21 [65]
3   Serena Williams 2012–14 [65]
2   Caroline Garcia 2022–23 [66][67]
1   Nadia Petrova 2010 [65]
  Marion Bartoli 2011
  Julia Görges 2018
  Elena Rybakina 2020 [68]

Seasons with 500+ aces

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Karolína Plíšková has the most aces in a single season with 530 in 2016,[69] which broke her own record of 517 in 2015.[70] 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.[71]

No. Player Years Ref.
2   Karolína Plíšková 2015–2016 [72][69]

Most aces in WTA 1000s in a season

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Elena Rybakina has served the most aces in WTA 1000 events in a season with 235 in 2023, the most since 2009. Followed by Karolína Plíšková with 234 and Serena Williams with 233.[73]

Half-ace

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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".[74]

See also

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References

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