The 5 Fastest Serves in Women’s Tennis

We all know the sport of tennis requires insane reaction time as well as high fitness levels to compete in the professional tourneys. We have previously looked at the fastest male servers of all time, and here we are going to look at the women’s side of the game.

Smashing a ball onto the other side of the court isn’t as easy as it sounds. In female tennis, very few players have managed to break into the 130 mph serve range, although the ones that do deserve some recognition. In this article, we’ll discuss the 5 fastest-serving female tennis players ever and give you some of the background around their super-speedy serves.

4=. Alycia Parks, 129 mph serve – 2021 US Open

Parks was well-known for her serving ability and her delivery. In her 2021 US Open performance, she matched Venus Williams’ longtime record of a 129 mph serve on her first. Not to many’s surprise though, the game was played indoors with little to no wind affecting the game, but still walloping the ball to start a rally at 129 mph is extremely fast, a serve most players would have trouble accurately returning.

4=. Venus Williams, 129 mph serve – 2007 US Open

Originally the fastest female tennis serve of all time was set back in 2007  by none other than Venus Williams. In her second-round match of the 2007 US Open against Ashley Harkleroad, Williams would strike a 129 mph serve at her opponent. Of course Venus went on to achieve an incredible amount in her heavily-garlanded career, but today her big serve is only good enough for fourth place on this particular list.

3. Sabine Lisicki, 131 mph serve – 2014 Stanford

Following up Venus Williams and her record is Sabine Lisicki with a 131 mph serve back in the 2014 Stanford tourney. The 24-year-old 2013 Wimbledon runner-up managed to whip a serve reaching speeds of around 131 mph before her opponent, Ana Ivanovic, got her racket to it but sent the ball wide. Lisicki would end up losing the set to Ivanovic but the German athlete still walked away with a podium finish in terms of speed of service.

2. Aryna Sabalenka, 133 mph serve – 2018 WTA Elite Trophy

Up next is Aryna Sabalenka, a player with the second-fastest female tennis serve of all time. Sabalenka was no stranger to serving it fast and with a 133 mph serve in the 2018 WTA Elite Trophy beat out fellow German competitor Sabine Lisicki by just 2 mph. While there are some disputes as to how proper and accurate the technology for recording the fastest serves is used, we can still say that serving up a lightning-fast ball for your opponent is an impressive achievement.

1. Georgina Garcia Perez, 136.7 mph serve – 2018 Hungarian Ladies Open

Lastly, we have Geogina Garia Perez, a female tennis player who served 136.7 mph in the 2018 Hungarian Ladies Open and is the current fastest-serving female tennis player of all time. It is important to note at the time that the WTA didn’t keep an official serve speed ranking in all events due to consistency issues, so this serve was “officially” recognized because it was not at the main draw level of the WTA tour. Still, crushing a ball in the second-round qualifiers at the Hungarian Ladies Open at a speed of 136.7 mph, Perez served the fastest “unofficial” yet still recognized women’s tennis serve in the history of the sport.