The Importance Of The Serve In A Game Of Tennis
For a tennis player, the service has to be the most important component in his game. The simplest and most logical answer is because the serve marks the beginning of each and every point played in a match, and no other shot in the book can stake such a claim. For the record, if one cannot serve well, the player can never win matches at the highest level.
An ‘ace’, for all those who don’t know much about tennis, is when a player serves the ball so well that the ball lands in the service box with exceptional speed and placement that the receiver is unable to play it, giving the server a well-earned point. It’s the quickest and therefore the most effective way to earn a point. It’s also pretty hard to accomplish an ace because usually the receivers manage to touch the ball with their racquets despite having no chance of returning the ball into the other side of court. The server still gets the point.
Historically speaking, John Isner and Nicholas Mahut played the longest match in tennis history at Wimbledon 2010 that lasted for a staggering 11 hours. Isner had hit a record 113 aces with Mahut close behind with 103. 216 aces just in a single match speaks volumes about the importance of an ace.
As impressive as their accomplishment are, these players would not top the list of the best servers in the history of the game. There are several other players who have consistently shown serving exhibitions that defy the norm. Pete Sampras, arguably the greatest server of all time, has to top this list. With 14 Grand Slam singles titles under his belt, this superstar commands respect. On so many occasions, this athlete has dug himself out of a hole by serving aces in crucial situations. Pete’s service was extremely fast and his placement was out of this world, striking the furthermost square inch of the white with impregnable accuracy. His second serve, however, is what set him apart from the rest of the lot. Almost every player has a pretty slow second serve that ensures the ball lands in the right box. Sampras on the contrary would serve his second serve just as fast as his first. The fact that Sampras has hit second serve aces on so many instances proves this notion.
Roger Federer, arguably the most complete player to ever play the game, owns possibly the smoothest service motion in tennis. In fact, his entire game is so smooth that it appears to be almost effortless. While he may not have the devastating second serve of Sampras, his serve is still lethal in its deception. His ball toss is exactly the same, making it impossible for the receiver to predict the direction and spin on the ball. His serving hallmark came in the Wimbledon final of 2009 when he hit 50 aces.
Two honourable mentions are a must here, for these players have almost solely depended on their serves to take them home. Goran Ivanisevic and Ivo Karlovic were athletes who had monstrous serves and were almost impossible to break. Ivanisevic rarely had a match in which he served fewer than a dozen aces and the fact that he regularly served 30 to 40 aces in a match was no mean feat. His crowning achievement was his victory in his fourth Wimbledon final in the 2001tournament. Karlovic has only played one match so far in his career in which he hasn’t served an ace. The player has hit 50 aces on more than 4 occasions which is a record in itself. Remarkably, Karlovic lost all three of those matches proving that although a monster serve is a great weapon, it’s not the only thing needed to win matches at the highest level.
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