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An ace down the middle or out wide always draws the breath of everyone assembled and sends down a stern message to the opponent on the other side of the net. It gets the player quick points and helps to close out games without getting into too much of a rally.
For the 2013 season so far, here are the top ace servers on the ATP tour:
5. Sam Querrey (576 aces in 45 matches)
The 6’6” American Sam Querrey is currently ranked 34th in the world, but is at number 5 when it comes to aces served for the season. A Los Angeles Lakers fan, Querrey considers his serve and forehand to be his strengths. And he packs quite a punch with his serves as evidenced by his record of 12.8 aces per game.
Querrey also once hit two home runs in batting practice back in 2008 at Dolphins Stadium in Miami.
4. Nicolas Almagro (589 aces in 59 matches)
‘Nico’, as he is popularly known, would not be amongst the foremost to come to people’s minds when they think of ace servers. But, the man from Murcia, Spain, who is well known for a delightful single-handed backhand has also made it a habit of sending down aces with alarming regularity.
He averages 9.98 aces per game, lower than Querrey, but has served more in total owing to more matches played.
Almagro loves the clay courts and believes that if he wasn’t a tennis player, he probably would have turned to football.
He is currently ranked 13 in the world.
3. Kevin Anderson (605 aces in 56 matches)
27-year-old Anderson, the 6’8” South African from Johannesburg rounds off the top 20 in the current rankings taking the last spot. Anderson apart from playing tennis used to also competitively run in the 800m races when he was young.
While his hobbies off the court include reading and outdoor adventuring, on the court he loves to send down aces, lots of them.
He averages 10.8 aces per game.
2. Milos Raonic (824 aces in 56 matches)
Canada’s Milos Raonic is one of the fastest risers in the sport over the last couple of years. Over the past two seasons, Raonic has seen a sharp climb in the rankings to finally break into the Top 10 this year.
The 6’5” Canadian, who is of Montenegrin descent, boasts one of the biggest serves on tour and it has been instrumental in his rise in the rankings. Coached by former Croat player Ivan Ljubicic, Raonic is currently ranked 11th in the world.
He is miles ahead of the chasing pack with a monstrous 824 aces, 219 ahead of third placed Anderson.
He averages 14.7 aces per game.
1. John Isner (911 aces in 56 matches)
There really should be no surprise here as to who the winner is.
It’s the top-ranked American in the world – John Isner.
Isner at 6’10” and 108 kg brings down the sledgehammer to knock aces down the court with astonishing ease. Isner is ranked 14th in the world currently, but is clearly ahead of everyone else in the ace count with 911 aces to his name.
The top three – Isner, Raonic, Anderson – have in fact all played the same number of matches, and it is an even better illustration of the trio’s exploits with all of them at level pegging.
Isner, who was already 6’3” at the age of 16 loves playing poker, golf, basketball and watching ESPN and he is averaging a staggering 16.26 aces per game.
Isner has said that if he wasn’t a tennis player, he’d be a basketball player.
Hey, at 6’10”, you can’t say it’s beyond his reach!
