Harder, Better, Faster...

There has been a marked rise in the amount and intensity of off-court training among tennis players over the last few decades, and one place to clearly see the increase in physicality of the sport is in serve speed. The six fastest servers of all time have all emerged over the last three years; have a look at that list now, as well as leaders from the 2008 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour season.
 
Perhaps the most noteworthy result of the 2008 season was Venus Williams equalling her all-time record of 129 mph, which she first served at the US Open last year but repeated at Wimbledon this year. Anna-Lena Groenefeld became the second-fastest server of all time by firing one at 128 mph, also on the slick lawns of Wimbledon.
 
Top 15 Fastest Servers - 2008 
1. Williams, Venus (129.0 mph - Wimbledon)
2. Groenefeld, Anna-Lena (128.0 mph - US Open)
3. Williams, Serena (125.0 mph - Miami)
4. Lisicki, Sabine (124.0 mph - Cincinnati)
5. Brémond, Severine (121.8 mph - Australian Open)
6. Bychkova, Ekaterina (121.2 mph - Roland Garros)
     Petrova, Nadia (121.2 mph - Roland Garros)
8. Stosur, Samantha (121.0 mph - US Open)
9. Fedossova, Youlia (119.3 mph - Roland Garros)
10. Sprem, Karolina (119.0 mph - Amelia Island)
11. Ivanovic, Ana (118.1 mph - Roland Garros)
      Tulyaganova, Iroda (118.1 mph - Australian Open)
13. Amanmuradova, Akgul (118.0 mph - Amelia Island)
      Cavaday, Naomi (118.0 mph - Wimbledon)
      Kleybanova, Alisa (118.0 mph - Wimbledon)

Top 15 Fastest Servers - all-time

1. Williams, Venus (129.0 mph - 2007 US Open, 2008 Wimbledon)
2. Groenefeld, Anna-Lena (128.0 mph - 2008 Wimbledon)
3. Williams, Serena (127.0 mph - 2006 Cincinnati)
4. Schultz-McCarthy, Brenda (126.0 mph - 2007 Indian Wells, 2007 Cincinnati)
5. Ivanovic, Ana (124.9 mph - 2007 Roland Garros)
6. Lisicki, Sabine (124.0 mph - 2008 Cincinnati)
7. Granville, Laura (123.0 mph - 2003 Memphis)
    Gullickson, Carly (123.0 mph - 2003 Memphis)
    Stevenson, Alexandra (123.0 mph - 2003 Memphis)
    Taylor, Sarah (123.0 mph - 2003 Memphis)
11. Petrova, Nadia (122.4 mph - 2005 Australian Open)
12. Henin, Justine (122.0 mph - 2005 Charleston)
13. Brémond, Severine (121.8 mph - 2008 Australian Open)
       Molik, Alicia (121.8 mph - 2005 Australian Open)
       Sánchez Lorenzo, María (121.8 mph - 2004 Acapulco)
 
 
Serves recorded on Stadium Court and must be in play to count. Recorded and distributed by Information and Display Systems, Inc.