141 m.p.h.
At Wimbledon, where the London Olympic tennis tournament is being held, the fastest serve ever recorded (141 m.p.h.) was struck by American Sam Querry in 2009. Venus Williams owns the women鈥檚 fastest serve, of 129 m.p.h., clocked during her championship run in 2008. The average first-service speeds, of course, will be much lower, but they are still fast enough that players basically only have about half a second to react and return the ball. The ball鈥檚 fuzzy cover helps slow down its flight somewhat, but Wimbledon鈥檚 grass courts favor big servers because they are 鈥渇aster鈥� and the ball doesn鈥檛 bounce as high.
