Eleven players who have served 8,000+ aces on the ATP Tour: Roger Federer 3rd

02/27/2024 11:37 AM

On the back of the big-serving Ivo Karlovic’s retirement, we look at the 11 players who have served the most aces in ATP Tour history.

In case you didn’t know, an ace is used to refer to any legal serve that is not touched by the receiver and wins the point for the server.

So who are the best in the business when it comes to serving aces on the ATP Tour from 1991 until February 2024?

11. Marin Cilic – 8,024 aces (860 matches)

Former world No 3 Marin Cilic cracked the 8,000-aces milestone early in 2024 and there is a good chance that he will move up a couple of places before he hangs up his racket, given there is just over 1,000 aces between him and the player in sixth place.

At the height of his career, the 2014 US Open winner averaged between 500 and 800 aces per season so it was all about consistency for the big Croatian.

10. Ivan Ljubicic – 8,138 aces (680 matches)

Ivan Ljubicic’s tennis career spanned from 1998 until 2012 and during that time he won 10 singles titles, reached a career-high No 3 in the ATP Rankings and earned $10,181,121 in prize money.

Besides serving 8,138 aces, the Croatian also made 1,698 double faults.

He twice came close to breaking the 1,000 aces per season mark as in 2006 he served 926 aces and the following year he sent down 944 unreturnable serves.

9. Milos Raonic – 8,333 aces (536 matches)

The second active player on the list after Cilic, Milos Raonic has struggled with injury over the past few years, but he also has a chance of moving up the list.

The 2016 Wimbledon runner-up broke the 1,000-aces-per-season mark in 2012 when he served 1,002 aces and again in 2014 (1,107), but on both occasions he found himself second on the list of most aces in the year.

8. Pete Sampras – 8,858 aces (792 matches)

One of tennis’ all-time greats Pete Sampras was known for his booming serve and also his brilliant overhead smashes.

Sampras would most likely have been much higher on the list as the official ATP stats only starts from 1991 and at that point he was already a seasoned campaigner having won the 1990 US Open. He hit 1,000 aces in a season on only one occasion and that came in 1993.

7. Sam Querrey – 8,879 aces (694 matches)

The 1,98m (6’6″) Sam Querrey turned pro in 2006 and served 194 aces in his 17 matches on the ATP Tour that year.
It took him a couple of years to get fully up to speed and he generally served between 500 and 700 aces per season for the remainder of his career.

The American, who won 10 career titles, retired in 2022 to become a professional pickleball player.

6. Andy Roddick – 9,074 aces (776 matches)

Andy Roddick is one of only six players to have broken the 9,000-ace milestone.

In comparison to some of the other big servers, Roddick was quite short as is only 6’2″ (1,88m) yet he was quite good at serving aces.

The former world No 1 hit 989 aces in 91 matches during his 2003 US Open title year and the following year he reached four figures with 1,017.

5. Goran Ivanisevic – 10,237 aces (731 matches)

Goran Ivanisevic is partly responsible for grass courts being a lot slower these days compared to the 90s as he was one of those who served everyone off the court.

The Croatian holds the record for most aces served in a single season with 1,477 in 1996. He also passed the 1,000-ace mark in the 1994, 1997 and 1998 seasons.

Like Sampras, he would have been a lot higher if the stats included the first few years of his career.

4. Feliciano Lopez – 10,261 aces (976 matches)

Longevity did the trick for Feliciano Lopez as he is second in terms of most matches played by the players on this list, just missing out on the 1,000 mark.

The Spaniard, who won seven singles titles and reached a career-high No 12, passed the 500-ace mark for the first time in his career in 2003 and for the next two decades, he was always there or thereabouts.

3. Roger Federer – 11,478 aces (1,462)

There is quite a big gap between Roger Federer and Lopez and the gap to the second-placed player is even bigger.

It took the Swiss Maestro more than 1,400 matches to get to that 11,478 mark.

Federer rarely troubled the top ace servers per season stats and his best-ever season was in 2008 when he served 695 aces.

2. Ivo Karlovic – 13,728 aces (694 matches)

The joint-tallest professional tennis player at 2.11m (6 ft 11 in), Ivo Karlovic averaged 19,7 aces per match so he would no doubt have been at No 1 had he played the same amount of matches as the player at No 1.

Although the Croatian last played in 2021, he only announced his official retirement in February 2024.

In his retirement letter, he wrote: “I've had a very gratifying, unorthodox and long career coming from extremely humble beginnings, especially for a tennis player. Croatia was a very different country in the 80s and 90s when I was growing up, and I'm very proud of my accomplishments and what I've been able to overcome.”

One of those accomplishments was mastering the art of serving aces.

He featured four times on the top 10 list of most aces in a season with his best-ever campaign coming in 2015 when he served 1,447 aces.

1. John Isner – 14,470 aces (772 matches)

John Isner announced his retirement from tennis in 2023 sitting atop the ace chart and he is likely to stay there for a good few years.

The American first hit 1,000 aces during the 2010 campaign when he served 1,048 aces, but his best-ever season was in 2015 when he served 1,260 aces yet he still finished behind Karolovic that year.

Isner averaged 18.7 aces per match and he also passed the 1,000-ace milestone in the year during the 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 seasons.

The former world no 8 also holds the record for most aces served during a match as he hit 113 during the longest-ever tennis match against Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon in 2010.

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