# Ace (tennis)

In tennis, an ace is a legal serve that is not touched by the receiver, winning the point for the server. In professional tennis, aces are generally seen on a player's first serve, where the server can strike the ball with maximum force and take more chances with ball placement, such as the far corners of the service box. According to the International Tennis Hall of Fame, this term was coined by the sports journalist Allison Danzig.

## Professional singles records

Aces have been officially recorded by the top-level professional tennis circuits since 1991, so these records start at that time.
Only main draw singles matches are included here.
Key :
| W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | DNQ | A | NH |

### ATP Tour

John Isner has the most aces in a tournament with 214 during the 2018 Wimbledon, and he has the most in a single match with 113 during his 11-hour encounter with Nicolas Mahut in 2010. John Isner has served the most aces with 14,470.
Milos Raonic hit 47 aces in 2024 Queen's, the most in a best-of-three-set match. Ivo Karlović became the only player to hit at least 40 aces in three consecutive matches during 2015 Wimbledon.
Goran Ivanišević has the most in a single season with 1,477 in 1996. He also has the second most in a tournament with 213 when he won the 2001 Wimbledon title.
Roger Federer hit 50 aces in the 2009 Wimbledon final, the record for a Grand Slam final. He is also third on the career list.

#### Aces

| No. | Career aces |
| 14,470 | John Isner |
| 13,728 | Ivo Karlović |
| 11,478 | Roger Federer |
| 10,261 | Feliciano López |
| 10,237 | Goran Ivanišević |
| 9,074 | Andy Roddick |
| 8,879 | Sam Querrey |
| 8,858 | Pete Sampras |
| 8,445 | Milos Raonic |
| 8,155 | Marin Čilić |
| No. | Aces in a season | Year |
| 1,477 | Goran Ivanišević | 1996 |
| 1,447 | Ivo Karlović | 2015 |
| 1,318 | Ivo Karlović | 2007 |
| 1,260 | John Isner | 2015 |
| 1,213 | John Isner | 2018 |
| 1,185 | Ivo Karlović | 2014 |
| 1,159 | John Isner | 2016 |
| 1,156 | Goran Ivanišević | 1994 |
| 1,131 | Ivo Karlović | 2016 |
| 1,123 | John Isner | 2017 |

#### Top 10 most aces served in a match

| No. | Player | W/L | Opponent | Round | Event | Sets | Surface |
| 113 | John Isner | W | Nicolas Mahut | 1R | 2010 Wimbledon | 5 | Grass |
| 103 | Nicolas Mahut | L | John Isner | 1R | 2010 Wimbledon | 5 | Grass |
| 78 | Ivo Karlović | L | Radek Štěpánek | SF | 2009 Davis Cup | 5 | Clay |
| 75 | Ivo Karlović | W | Horacio Zeballos | 1R | 2017 Australian Open | 5 | Hard |
| 67 | Reilly Opelka | L | Thomas Fabbiano | 2R | 2019 Australian Open | 5 | Hard |
| 64 | John Isner | W | Ruben Bemelmans | 2R | 2018 Wimbledon | 5 | Grass |
| 61 | Ivo Karlović | W | Lu Yen-Hsun | 1R | 2016 US Open | 5 | Hard |
| 61 | Ivo Karlović | L | Jan-Lennard Struff | 2R | 2018 Wimbledon | 5 | Grass |
| 59 | Ivo Karlović | L | Kei Nishikori | 2R | 2019 Australian Open | 5 | Hard |
| 56 | Albano Olivetti | L | Matthew Barton | 1R | 2016 Wimbledon | 5 | Grass |

#### Most aces in a US Open match

| No. | Player | W/L | Opponent | Round | Event | Surface |
| 61 | Ivo Karlović | W | Lu Yen-hsun | 1R | 2016 US Open | Hard |
| 52 | John Isner | L | Steve Johnson | 1R | 2020 US Open | Hard |
| 49 | Richard Krajicek | L | Yevgeny Kafelnikov | QF | 1999 US Open | Hard |
| 49 | Kevin Anderson | W | Jiří Veselý | 1R | 2021 US Open | Hard |
| 48 | Alexander Bublik | W | Thomas Fabbiano | 2R | 2019 US Open | Hard |
| 48 | John Isner | L | Michael Mmoh | 2R | 2023 US Open | Hard |

#### Most aces in a clay-court tournament

Note: This marked the third time that Isner had hit 100+ aces in a clay-court tournament.
| No. | Player | Event | Surface |
| 124 | Martin Verkerk | 2003 French Open | Clay |
| 110 | John Isner | 2014 French Open | Clay |
| 108 | Michael Stich | 1996 French Open | Clay |
| 107 | John Isner | 2021 Madrid Open | Clay |
| 101 | John Isner | 2017 Rome | Clay |

#### Most aces in a one-week tournament

| No. | Player | Event | Surface | Ref. |
| 156 | Reilly Opelka | 2019 New York Open | Hard | |
| 144 | John Isner | 2007 Legg Mason Tennis Classic | Hard | |

#### Most aces served in a three-set match

| No. | Player | W/L | Opponent | Round | Event | Surface |
| 47 | Milos Raonic | W | Cameron Norrie | 1R | 2024 Queen's | Grass |
| 45 | Ivo Karlović | W | Tomáš Berdych | QF | 2015 Halle | Grass |
| 44 | Mark Philippoussis | W | Byron Black | 2R | 1995 Kuala Lumpur | Carpet (i) |
| 44 | Ivo Karlović | W | Daniel Brands | 1R | 2014 Zagreb | Hard (i) |
| 44 | Nick Kyrgios | W | Ryan Harrison | 1R | 2019 Brisbane | Hard |
| 44 | John Isner | L | Wu Yibing | F | 2023 Dallas Open | Hard |
| 43 | Mardy Fish | L | Olivier Rochus | 2R | 2007 Lyon | Hard |
| 43 | Reilly Opelka | W | John Isner | SF | 2019 New York | Hard |
| 43 | Reilly Opelka | W | Brayden Schnur | F | 2019 New York | Hard |
| 40 | Goran Ivanišević | W | Magnus Norman | 1R | 1997 Zagreb | Carpet (i) |

#### Most combined aces in a three-set match

| No. | Player | W/L | Opponent | Round | Event | Surface | Ref. |
| 81 | Reilly Opelka | W | John Isner | SF | 2019 New York | Hard | |
| 71 | Nick Kyrgios | W | Ryan Harrison | 1R | 2019 Brisbane | Hard | |

#### Most consecutive aces

| No. | Player | W/L | Opponent | Round | Event | Surface |
| 10 | Sam Querrey | W | James Blake | QF | 2007 Indianapolis | Hard |
| 8 | Radek Štěpánek | W | Christophe Rochus | F | 2006 Rotterdam | Hard (i) |
| 7 | Michael Stich | W | Guy Forget | SF | 1993 Hopman Cup | Hard |
| 7 | Andy Roddick | W | Sjeng Schalken | QF | 2003 US Open | Hard |
| 7 | Andy Roddick | L | Lleyton Hewitt | SF | 2005 Australian Open | Hard |
| 7 | Fernando González | W | Joachim Johansson | 3R | 2005 Wimbledon | Grass |
| 7 | Feliciano López | L | Tomáš Berdych | 2R | 2013 Shanghai | Hard |
| 7 | Ivo Karlović | W | Mikhail Youzhny | 1R | 2014 Halle | Grass |
| 7 | Roger Federer | W | James Duckworth | QF | 2015 Brisbane | Hard |
| 7 | Sam Querrey | W | Thomas Fabbiano | SF | 2019 Eastbourne | Grass |

#### Serving five consecutive aces from 0–40 down

| Player | W/L | Opponent | Round | Event | Surface |
| Boris Becker | W | Andriy Medvedev | F | 1995 Hopman Cup | Hard |
| John Isner | L | Édouard Roger-Vasselin | SF | 2013 Delray Beach | Hard |
| John Isner | W | Jiří Veselý | 3R | 2015 US Open | Hard |
| Reilly Opelka | W | Roberto Bautista Agut | QF | 2019 Basel | Hard (i) |

#### Most aces without a double fault

| No. | Player | W/L | Opponent | Round | Event | Surface |
| 49 | John Isner | W | Bernard Tomic | 1R | 2016 Davis Cup | Grass |
| 39 | Reilly Opelka | W | John Isner | SF | 2022 Dallas Open | Hard |
| 37 | John Isner | W | Jerzy Janowicz | 1R | 2016 Australian Open | Hard |
| 34 | Ivo Karlović | W | Nicolás Massú | 1R | 2007 Stockholm | Hard (i) |
| 33 | Andy Roddick | W | Fernando González | 4R | 2010 Australian Open | Hard |
| 31 | Marat Safin | W | Andre Agassi | SF | 2004 Australian Open | Hard |
| Seasons with 1000+ aces No.PlayerYears Ref. 7 John Isner2010, 12, 15–19 4 Goran Ivanišević1994, 96–98 Ivo Karlović2007, 14–16 2 Milos Raonic2012, 14 Kevin Anderson2015, 18 1 Pete Sampras1993 Andy Roddick2004 Reilly Opelka2019 Hubert Hurkacz2023 | Most seasons finished as ace leader No. Player Years 8 John Isner 2010, 12–13, 16–19, 22 6 Goran Ivanišević 1992, 94, 96–98, 2001 5 Ivo Karlović 2007–09, 14–15 3 Andy Roddick 2003–05 2 Pete Sampras 1993, 95 1 Guy Forget 1991 Richard Krajicek 1999 Marat Safin 2000 Wayne Arthurs 2002 Ivan Ljubičić 2006 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 2011 Milos Raonic 2020 Alexander Bublik 2021 Hubert Hurkacz 2023 |

### WTA Tour

Serena Williams holds the record for most aces in a tournament with 102 en route to winning the 2012 Wimbledon title.

#### Most aces in a match

There have been 32 matches played in which a player has served 20 or more aces, since 2008.
| No. | Player | W/L | Opponent | Round | Event | Sets | Surface |
| 31 | Kristýna Plíšková | L | Monica Puig | 2R | 2016 Australian Open | 3 | Hard |
| 28 | Kristýna Plíšková | L | Monica Puig | 2R | 2019 Luxembourg | 3 | Hard (i) |
| 27 | Sabine Lisicki | W | Belinda Bencic | 2R | 2015 Birmingham | 2 | Grass |
| 27 | Caroline Garcia | L | Zhang Shuai | 2R | 2022 Tokyo | 3 | Hard |
| 24 | Kaia Kanepi | W | Lucie Šafářová | 1R | 2008 Tokyo | 3 | Hard |
| 24 | Serena Williams | W | Victoria Azarenka | SF | 2012 Wimbledon | 2 | Grass |
| 24 | Kristýna Plíšková | W | Karolína Plíšková | 2R | 2019 Birmingham | 3 | Grass |
| 24 | Karolína Plíšková | W | Amanda Anisimova | 2R | 2021 US Open | 3 | Hard |
| 24 | Rebecca Marino | L | Caroline Garcia | 2R | 2022 Guadalajara Open Akron | 3 | Hard |
| 23 | Serena Williams | W | Zheng Jie | 3R | 2012 Wimbledon | 3 | Grass |
| 23 | Kristýna Plíšková | L | Océane Dodin | 1R | 2016 Linz | 3 | Hard (i) |
| 23 | Zheng Qinwen | W | Naomi Osaka | 1R | 2024 Berlin | 3 | Grass |
| 22 | Brenda Schultz | W | Iva Majoli | QF | 1994 Birmingham | 3 | Grass |
| 22 | Meghann Shaughnessy | L | Nicole Vaidišová | F | 2005 Memphis | 2 | Hard (i) |
| 22 | Alicia Molik | L | Venus Williams | QF | 2007 Tokyo | 2 | Hard |
| 22 | Ekaterina Alexandrova | W | Kristie Ahn | QF | 2019 Seoul | 3 | Hard |
| 22 | Alison Van Uytvanck | L | Sofia Kenin | SF | 2020 Lyon | 3 | Hard |
| 22 | Clara Tauson | L | Sofia Kenin | 2R | 2024 Toray | 3 | Hard |

#### Most seasons finished as ace leader

Note: Most aces served in a season since 2010.
| No. | Player | Years |
| 5 | Karolína Plíšková | 2015–17, 19, 21 |
| 3 | Serena Williams | 2012–14 |
| 2 | Caroline Garcia | 2022–23 |
| 1 | Nadia Petrova | 2010 |
| 1 | Marion Bartoli | 2011 |
| 1 | Julia Görges | 2018 |
| 1 | Elena Rybakina | 2020 |
| 1 | Zheng Qinwen | 2024 |

#### Seasons with 500+ aces

Karolína Plíšková has the most aces in a single season with 530 in 2016, which broke her own record of 517 in 2015. She has also served the most aces in a match on clay, with 21 in her second round victory over Jeļena Ostapenko at Stuttgart in 2021.
| No. | Player | Years | Ref. |
| 2 | Karolína Plíšková | 2015–2016 | |

#### Most aces in WTA 1000s in a season

Elena Rybakina has served the most aces in WTA 1000 events in a season with 235 in 2023, the most since 2009. Followed by Karolína Plíšková with 234 and Serena Williams with 233.

## Half-ace

In 1999, the Swedish artist and writer Kjell Höglund proposed a term for when an opponent manages to hit the ball without it actually entering into play. He suggested it should be called a "half-ace".