Ball Speed in Pro Tennis

By John Yandell

It's indisputable that pro tennis has become a supersonic sport. But what do we REALLY know about the incredible speeds of the shots hit by the best players in pro tennis?

We know from the radar guns that pro serves routinely reach serve speeds of 120 to 130mph, and that players such as Andy Roddick and Taylor Dent are capable of hitting serves that reach speeds of 150mph--and more.

But what part of the serve does the radar gun reading represent? What happens to the speed of the serve over the course of its flight to the receiver? Is it going still 120mph at the time of the return?

What about the speed of the other shots besides the serve? How fast are players hitting forehands, backhands, volleys, overheads and returns? A common perception is that a great return can come back faster than the serve. How does this perception square with reality? The answers we found to all these questions may surprise you.

John Yandell is widely acknowledged as one of the leading videographers and students of the modern game of professional tennis. His high speed filming for Advanced Tennis and Tennisplayer have provided new visual resources that have changed the way the game is studied and understood by both players and coaches. He has done personal video analysis for hundreds of high level competitive players, including Justine Henin-Hardenne, Taylor Dent and John McEnroe, among others. In addition to his role as Editor of Tennisplayer he is the author of the critically acclaimed book Visual Tennis. The John Yandell Tennis School is located in San Francisco, California.

Contact Tennisplayer directly: jyandell@tennisplayer.net

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