Ace (tennis)

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

ATP Tour

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. He is also second on the career list.^[6]

Ivo Karlović has the most career aces with 12,936.^[6] He also has the most in a best-of-three-set match with 45 at Halle in 2015.^[7] Two weeks later, during Wimbledon, he became the only player to hit at least 40 aces in three consecutive matches.^[8]

Goran Ivanišević has the most in a single season with 1,477 in 1996.^[9] 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.^[10] He is also third on the career list.^[6]

Most aces in a match

#	Player	W/L	Opponent	Round	Event	Sets	Surface
113	John Isner	W	Nicolas Mahut	1R	2010 Wimbledon	5	Grass
103	Nicolas Mahut	L	John Isner	1R	2010 Wimbledon	5	Grass
78	Ivo Karlović	L	Radek Štěpánek	SF	2009 Davis Cup	5	Clay
75	Ivo Karlović	W	Horacio Zeballos	1R	2017 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
61	Ivo Karlović	L	Jan-Lennard Struff	2R	2018 Wimbledon	5	Grass
56	Albano Olivetti	L	Matthew Barton	1R	2016 Wimbledon	5	Grass
55	Ivo Karlović	L	Lleyton Hewitt	1R	2009 French Open	5	Clay
53	Ivo Karlović	W	Alexandr Dolgopolov	2R	2015 Wimbledon	5	Grass
	Ivo Karlović	W	Yūichi Sugita	2R	2018 Australian Open	5	Hard
	John Isner	L	Kevin Anderson	SF	2018 Wimbledon	5	Grass

Seasons with 1000+ aces

#	Player	Years
6	John Isner	2010, 12, 15–18
4	Goran Ivanišević	1994, 96–98
4	Ivo Karlović	2007, 14–16
2	Milos Raonic	2012, 14
2	Kevin Anderson	2015, 18
1	Pete Sampras	1993
1	Andy Roddick	2004

Other

Most in a one-week tournament: 144 – John Isner at the 2007 Legg Mason Tennis Classic^[4]^[11]
Most consecutive: 10 – Sam Querrey against James Blake at 2007 Indianapolis^[11]^[12]^[13]
5 consecutive aces when down love-40: Boris Becker against Andriy Medvedev and John Isner against Jiří Veselý^[11]

WTA Tour

Serena Williams holds the record for most aces in a tournament with 102 en route to winning the 2012 Wimbledon title.^[14]

Karolína Plíšková has the most aces in a single season with 530 in 2016,^[15] which broke her own record of 517 in 2015.^[16]

Most aces in a match

#	Player	W/L	Opponent	Round	Year	Event	Sets	Result	Surface
31	Kristýna Plíšková	L	Monica Puig	2R	2016	Australian Open	3	6–4, 6–7^(6–8), 7–9	Hard
27	Sabine Lisicki	W	Belinda Bencic	2R	2015	Birmingham	2	6–1, 7–6^(7–4)
24	Kaia Kanepi	W	Lucie Šafářová	1R	2008	Tokyo	3	4–6, 6–3, 6–4
24	Serena Williams	W	Victoria Azarenka	SF	2012	Wimbledon	2	6–3, 7–6^(8-6)	Grass
23	Serena Williams	W	Zheng Jie	3R	2012	Wimbledon	3	6–7^(5–7), 6–2, 9–7	Grass
23	Kristýna Plíšková	L	Océane Dodin	1R	2016	Linz	3	7–6^(7-2), 5–7, 3–6
22	Brenda Schultz	W	Iva Majoli	QF	1994	Birmingham	3	6–4, 5–7, 6–0
	Meghann Shaughnessy	W	Nicole Vaidišová	F	2005	Memphis	2	7–6, 7–6
	Alicia Molik	L	Venus Williams	QF	2007	Tokyo	2	6–7^(4–7), 3–6
21	Michaëlla Krajicek	L	Camila Giorgi	2R	2015	's-Hertogenbosch	3	7–6^(7–2), 2–6, 4–6
	Naomi Broady	W	Jelena Ostapenko	2R	2016	Auckland	3	4–6, 7–6^(7–4), 7–5
	Karolína Plíšková	W	Dominika Cibulková	SF	2017	Qatar	3	6–4, 4–6, 6–3
	Naomi Broady	W	Carol Zhao	1R	2018	Monterrey	3	6–3, 6–7^(5–7), 6–2