[Sam L]

Well we've often talked about and marvelled at the fastest aces ever by men and women.

But how about the SLOWEST ace ever? Shouldn't there be a record for such a feat too? Anyone know what it is?

 

[TheBoiledEgg]

I know this wasn't timed but at edgbaston last yr

Anastasia Myskina served a 2nd serve ace against Lisa Raymond.

why ?? cos it bounced twice before it reached Lisa so she couldn't get to it,.
Anastasia served it right down the T but it was out of reach.


Beat that, it was around 50mph or less.

 

[Williams Rulez]

Must be one of those 2nd serves that get a weird bounce. I saw one such ace on clay.

 

[Dahveed]

It could be a great weapon actually, esp. on a first serve it could surprise your opponent. I dunno why no-one ever thinks about it?

 

[TheBoiledEgg]

I forgot to mention this as it was really funny .....

As the serve was so slow, the wind carried it further and further away from Lisa

so it looked really great

 

[BJK]

I can't tell you how slow it was, but Francoise "Frankie" Durr did pull off an ace every now and again. You would have to have seen her serve to know what I am talking about, if we had a radar gun back then, her serve would probably clock in around 20 mph.

 

[Sam L]

Exactly Dahveed, it could be a great weapon, but as a surprise tactic of course

Anyway I would've loved to see the Myskina serve I love serves or groundstrokes that go "not as planned" but end up winning for you like mis-hits, extremely slow serves etc...

I have never seen Francoise Durr unfortunately! But during those days I imagine they'd be serving pretty slow.

 

[tennisvideos]

Francoise Durr

Love that post about Frankie Durr. It's true, once they measured the womens serves in the late 70s with the radar gun and hers DID NOT REGISTER! And yes, she did ace people occasionally. I actually saw her ace Rosie Casals once in a veterans event and Rosie screamed out "THAT WAS FOUL!" LOL. I have it on video - I filmed it live at Wimbledon.

I also have lots of match footage of Francoise from the 60s and 70s as she was one of my idols. Honestly, perhaps the most unorthodox player of all time. If you thought her serve was crazy, you should see her backhand! She held her racket like a soup ladle. Teddy Tinling used to call her serve the "powder puff" or "Marshmallow"!

70s Tennis, you should email me sometime as I also have lots of 60s and 70s matches from the good old "You've come a long way baby days".....

 

[DutchieGirl]

It could be a great weapon actually, esp. on a first serve it could surprise your opponent. I dunno why no-one ever thinks about it?

I did it once when I was playing mixed doubles in a club tourney with my brother! lol This tall guy who is a big hitter was standing like 2 metres behind the baseline to return my serve, so I hit it really soft and it just died on him (we were playing on grass too). It was quite funny. Even he said "good serve" to me! hehe

As for the slowest serve on tour... I have no idea sorry!