Video of Samuel Groth's 163.4mph Serve

[InvisibleSoul]

It seems like nobody here has ever seen a video of this serve, but surprisingly there is some video of this match, and it was posted all the way back on June 10th.

Supposedly he hit three serves in this match that beat Karlovic's previous record.

I don't know if this is the fastest serve, but I think this should be at least one of those three.

Starts at about 3:34: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGNISxoKL3Q&feature=player_detailpage#t=214s

[KineticChain]

looks like he has a youtube channel now. Here's a vid of him serving http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC6BvMSpeOM

[Paul Murphy]

I saw him play at a Challenger in Burnie in Australia in February.
Huge serve - pity about all the errors off his ground game.

[ericsson]

I have serious questions about the accuracy of these speeds... (Groth, Karlovic?)
For me personally Andy Roddick and now Milos Raonic which i both saw live hit the ball incredible hard and repeatedly over 140mph. Hard to believe that Groth hits so much harder suddenly...
Taylor Dent was another one who really smacked the ball.

[nereis]

I have serious questions about the accuracy of these speeds... (Groth, Karlovic?)
For me personally Andy Roddick and now Milos Raonic which i both saw live hit the ball incredible hard and repeatedly over 140mph. Hard to believe that Groth hits so much harder suddenly...
Taylor Dent was another one who really smacked the ball.

Like America, Australia has a history of turning out big servers in the mold of Wayne Arthurs. Sam is another one.

[wy2sl0]

I don't trust any of that crap. Karlovic was in a fastest serve competition with Raonic at the SAP open last year and could barely break 140 out of 10 serves while Raonic hit one a couple inches out at 154mph.

Raonic, Isner, and Roddick are the only people I know that could consistently serve 140's, and Raonic I would say confidently can serve at the highest average speed (high 130's low 140's over 3 sets).

People can believe what they want, but the variance in speed guns is very high (+/- 15mph or more, especially at the lower events) during matches.

Here is a real 150mph http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wlUP_dW9xM

Listen to how loud that is.

One more thing you guys need to realize as the difference between 140 and 145 is MUCH LARGER than 130-140. The exponential resistance of that type of racquet head speed means that someone hitting mid upper 140's is SIGNIFICANTLY faster than someone hitting low 140's.

[Headshotterer]

You could hear the SNAP ON THAT SERVE

[pvaudio]

I was in Cincy watching Dent v. Rafa, and at 40-30, Dent put one up the T at 149. I have yet to this day seen anything move that fast that is not powered by an engine. It was tossed, then hit the backboard. Nadal didn't even get out of ready position. While the video angle does in fact alter the speed perception, I do not buy the Groth number for a second. To add ~10mph onto 156mph (Karlovic) is so absurd that it should have immediately been put down to equipment error.

[The Meat]

I was in Cincy watching Dent v. Rafa, and at 40-30, Dent put one up the T at 149. I have yet to this day seen anything move that fast that is not powered by an engine. It was tossed, then hit the backboard. Nadal didn't even get out of ready position. While the video angle does in fact alter the speed perception, I do not buy the Groth number for a second. To add ~10mph onto 156mph (Karlovic) is so absurd that it should have immediately been put down to equipment error.

Sam Groth is 6'4", Roddick is 6'2", Karlovic is 6'10". Karlovic is 8 inches taller than Roddick and was only able to beat Roddick's record by a few mph's. Groth being 6 inches shorter than Karlovic, no way that he can serve faster than Karlovic even though he is 2 inches taller than Roddick.

I agree, the radar was juiced.

[InvisibleSoul]

The serve that I linked does look pretty damn fast though. He didn't even place it that well, but the other guy couldn't even get a racquet on it.

[mike84]

Highly doubt that is 163 MPH

so what does he average 140's?

guys like Milos, Isner, Karlovic etc can constantly serve in 140's while this guy does some random serve and it never repeats again.

[Timbo's hopeless slice]

I have seen Groth, Karlovic, Roddick and all the top 5 live and Sam has the biggest serve.
(and the most unreliable game overall of almost anyone I have ever seen)

[ctoth666]

Yeah that one serve at 3:34 is absolutely massive. That ball is onto the opponents racquet in less than .46 seconds. Im trying to analyze the waveform right now in some software and then do the same with the Karlovic serve.

[SStrikerR]

Highly doubt that is 163 MPH

so what does he average 140's?

guys like Milos, Isner, Karlovic etc can constantly serve in 140's while this guy does some random serve and it never repeats again.

It wasn't "never repeated again" anybody who knows of the guy knows he always serves huge like those other guys. Did he hit 163? No, the gun definitely wasn't right. It still maybe have been the biggest serve ever though, that thing was massive.

[Viper]

I didn't believe it before.

Now, if all the elements did indeed line up correctly, I can totally see that being possible. That serve was monstrous.

[Torres]

Apart the stance does anyone else think his motion is surprisingly Roddick like?

[Paullaconte1]

Apart the stance does anyone else think his motion is surprisingly Roddick like?

It looks a bit different than Roddick. However, this is just brute force!!!

[MonfilsMadness]

I saw him play in Brisbane once.
Very fast, a big test for the returner.

[dominikk1985]

I have serious questions about the accuracy of these speeds... (Groth, Karlovic?)
For me personally Andy Roddick and now Milos Raonic which i both saw live hit the ball incredible hard and repeatedly over 140mph. Hard to believe that Groth hits so much harder suddenly...
Taylor Dent was another one who really smacked the ball.

yes. he certainly can serve above 140 easily with his body but 163?

I doubt the measurements of those small "bush" tournaments. Where is Busan?:) I guess they have lesser technology than the masters or slams.

[NLBwell]

Groth's been known as the biggest or one of the biggest servers in the game for years so I wouldn't be surprised at all if he hit the fastest serve ever. 163 is awfully high to be correct, though.
I saw Taylor Dent playing the other day. Didn't hit his biggest serves that often, but when he unloaded it sounded much different than anyone else's serve.
Not sure that Brian Battistone's serve doesn't get onto the receiver even faster, though. He contacts the ball 3 to 4 feet into the court with that jump-serve of his.

[dominikk1985]

I just saw that match. has there ever been a more terrible mover like him? He moves like an elefant even karlovic moves twice as good.

he plays S&V but he cannot really volley and has no footwork at the net. but certainly a big serve.

with his footwork s&v is certainly the way to go but even there he needs to move a lot better. If he had the movement at the net of John macenroe NOW (at age 53 I'm not even talk prime of course) he would be easily top100 but he doesn't move like an athlete at all. he actually has quite big and technically sound groundies but can't use them at all with his movement.

[NLBwell]

He was not playing much on the tour for awhile because he was making Jaramilla breakfast. His movement might get better - or maybe not.

[Beacon Hill]

I called lines at a Groth match once. He has, of course, a very fast serve, but I think it is unlikely that the radar gun was accurate the day he got the record.

[merwy]

yes. he certainly can serve above 140 easily with his body but 163?

I doubt the measurements of those small "bush" tournaments. Where is Busan?:) I guess they have lesser technology than the masters or slams.

Your lack of topographical knowledge doesn't have anything to do with the accuracy of the speed guns.

Seriously people, why is everyone so keen on believing what they want to believe? Who cares about who has the fastest serve. Obviously you, for some reason, feel like the record "should" belong to a top player. The guy apparently served 163 MPH. That's well above the former record, so even with a small inaccuracy, the margin is quite big there. You shouldn't base anything off of the sound that you hear when the racket hits the ball. I'm not an expert but the sound depends on a lot of other things than just the speed of the ball (i.e. the distance to the microphone, how much wind there is and perhaps even the string tension, i don't know). Also, Sam Groth surely is big enough to hit serves like that. Have you seen his serve motion? It looks like it's designed to just smack the ball as hard possible with zero spin on it. Doesn't look very efficient to me, but yeah, it does make the serve go fast.