Cinch/London - Bombs Away

[jimlosaltos]

There's life left in that arm -- and those old legs.

Raonic just hit a RECORD 47 aces in a best-of-three set match!

P.S. Hit one lineperson, too, but no bonus points for that. (She's OK, smiled.}

ATP Table

filedata/fetch?id=104689&d=1718656489&type=thumb

[stroke]

I have always felt he had the best serve ever, under 6'10".

[jimlosaltos]

I have always felt he had the best serve ever, under 6'10".

Quite likely. I recall Jack Sock, who is friends with and hit with John Isner frequently, said Milos' first serve was more difficult to handle because it "moves a lot more".

Midway through his career, it appeared to me that Isner modified his motion slightly, reduced the velocity and went for more action on the ball. I did a video eons ago of an ace Milos hit vs Djokovic. Novak moved the wrong way but Milo's wide slice didn't just land wide it kept climbing and hit near the top of the scoreboard way outside the court. Indian Wells has a large court area, so you can imagine it carving this long arc after bouncing. Novak still won their match, the finals that year, tho

[jimlosaltos]

All 47 of Raonic's Aces
In 1:16 minutes. Enjoy. From TennisTV on YouTube

https://youtu.be/9j8n6wzgXNE?si=ehalLr-Eis88N21s

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[jimlosaltos]

Per ATP site, Milos' serving stats

Max Speed 145 MPH
Average First serve 132 MPH
Average Second Serve 118 MPH
First serve in 69%
First serve now 86%
BPs saved 2/2
Serve rating: 324

Plus, he was painting lines. Here is the court map of all 47 Raonic aces

filedata/fetch?id=104697&d=1718752141&type=thumb

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[stroke]

Per ATP site, Milos' serving stats

Max Speed 145 MPH
Average First serve 132 MPH
Average Second Serve 118 MPH
First serve in 69%
First serve now 86%
BPs saved 2/2
Serve rating: 324

Plus, he was painting lines. Here is the court map of all 47 Raonic aces

filedata/fetch?id=104697&d=1718752141&type=thumb

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And that does not even factor in his RPM'S on his 1st and 2nd serves, which seems to be toward the highest end of ATP players.

[stroke]

Per ATP site, Milos' serving stats

Max Speed 145 MPH
Average First serve 132 MPH
Average Second Serve 118 MPH
First serve in 69%
First serve now 86%
BPs saved 2/2
Serve rating: 324

Plus, he was painting lines. Here is the court map of all 47 Raonic aces

filedata/fetch?id=104697&d=1718752141&type=thumb

#

And that does not even factor in his RPM'S on his 1st and 2nd serves, which seems to be(non quantitative just eyeballing it) toward the highest end of ATP players.

[jimlosaltos]

And that does not even factor in his RPM'S on his 1st and 2nd serves, which seems to be(non quantitative just eyeballing it) toward the highest end of ATP players.

Absolutely. I wish we could find that somewhere.

Gets back to quote from Jack Sock on why Milos is harder to return than Isner.

i thought I'd posted this link, but don't see it so .... here you go. This is a slowmo video I did of Milos aceing Djokovic in their IW final 8 years ago.
Djoko leaned the wrong way and it was over. On a good, large monitor you can see the logo rotation - slice & kick. Ball just moves after the bounce going to the wall, which is a long ways on that court.

Worth a watch IMHO:

https://youtu.be/fofFYc-obTI

[stotty]

Below is the all time leaderboard for aces. The first two are obvious but Roger is perhaps not. He didn't have the quickest serve out there but it was deadly accurate. I expected Sampras to be higher but then I suppose career longevity has a significant bearing on figures like these. Clearly, also, there is an advantage in being super tall.

1. John Isner Active 14481
2. Ivo Karlovic 13762
3. Roger Federer 11452
4. Feliciano Lopez Active 10313
5. Goran Ivanisevic 10131
6. Andy Roddick 9067
7. Sam Querrey 8939
8. Pete Sampras 8689
9. Milos Raonic Active 8242
10. Marin Cilic Active 8233

[jimlosaltos]

Below is the all time leaderboard for aces. The first two are obvious but Roger is perhaps not. He didn't have the quickest serve out there but it was deadly accurate. I expected Sampras to be higher but then I suppose career longevity has a significant bearing on figures like these. Clearly, also, there is an advantage in being super tall.

1. John Isner Active 14481
2. Ivo Karlovic 13762
3. Roger Federer 11452
4. Feliciano Lopez Active 10313
5. Goran Ivanisevic 10131
6. Andy Roddick 9067
7. Sam Querrey 8939
8. Pete Sampras 8689
9. Milos Raonic Active 8242
10. Marin Cilic Active 8233

Interesting list. Yes, Fed seems to be the only "spot" server on the list.

Querry, Cilic perhaps underestimated servers / players.

Yes, tall helps, longevity is essential -- I'd add with a touch of cynicism, so does having to play 5 tiebreakers match after match, not to name anyone in particular, but the holder of the 5-Out Career Slam (Losing 5 setters are every major)

[jimlosaltos]

Speaking of Serving Contests:

The 6 ft 8 in French guy beat Ben Shelton. Must sting getting beaten by someone younger.

Raonic falls to Fritz, who served lights out - and he returns a lot better.

[stotty]

Interesting list. Yes, Fed seems to be the only "spot" server on the list.

Querry, Cilic perhaps underestimated servers / players.

Yes, tall helps, longevity is essential -- I'd add with a touch of cynicism, so does having to play 5 tiebreakers match after match, not to name anyone in particular, but the holder of the 5-Out Career Slam (Losing 5 setters are every major)

Probably the true winner is the player who has served the most aces over 10,000 service games. Still not a 100% perfect method but at least it takes care of the player-longevity factor.

[jimlosaltos]

Probably the true winner is the player who has served the most aces over 10,000 service games. Still not a 100% perfect method but at least it takes care of the player-longevity factor.

Just for my interest, I'd love to see:

1) Ace ratio: i.e. Aces per first serves in and per set
2) Unreturned serves per match over career.

One can dream.

[stotty]

Just for my interest, I'd love to see:

1) Ace ratio: i.e. Aces per first serves in and per set
2) Unreturned serves per match over career.

One can dream.

One could drill down on the aces dilemma forever: who has served the most aces wide, who has served the most aces down the centre, who has served the most aces on clay, who has served the most on grass, etc, etc. One stat I really liked was one of Goran's. The BBC showed a graphic of 32 aces he served during a match at SW19. He served 8 out wide to the deuce side, 8 wide to the ad side, and 8 each down the centre lines of the deuce and ad boxes. Now that was clearly a man who could hit aces equally as well to any spot he chose. Goran was lethally accurate.

[jimlosaltos]

One could drill down on the aces dilemma forever: who has served the most aces wide, who has served the most aces down the centre, who has served the most aces on clay, who has served the most on grass, etc, etc. One stat I really liked was one of Goran's. The BBC showed a graphic of 32 aces he served during a match at SW19. He served 8 out wide to the deuce side, 8 wide to the ad side, and 8 each down the centre lines of the deuce and ad boxes. Now that was clearly a man who could hit aces equally as well to any spot he chose. Goran was lethally accurate.

Bublik leads in underarm aces. Just sayin'