The Speed Gun is on Steroids

[christo]

Sung to "The Piano has been drinking" by Tom Waits.
After seeing Grosjean throw down 2 wide serves at a buck 23 and 1 down the middle at 131, I can only conclude that the speed gun is juiced. Even Pete was only in the 120 range.

Everyone seems to be able to throw 130+ serves now.. Even Jenkins (the guy that got killed by roddick) was throwing 130+..

I seriously think the speed guns are messed up, or the racquet technology has changed drastically since sampras's time...

[dander]

well, there is no standard for speedguns. different guns measure the ball at different places in the flightpath. in the past few years, the usta has moved to a different format. that's why the us davis cup matches have ginepri serving in the 130's and roddie in the 150's. i'm not sure if wimby uses the same gun format.

[The tennis guy]

The speed gun might not be accurate. Grojean can generate serious pace. He has incredible pop on his first serve consider his height.

[NoBadMojo]

they are using livlier balls at this years us open. and these balls arent fuzzin up much i am told. that would explain the higher ball speed. ed

[Tennis Guy]

The speed guns are more accurate than before. And Grosjean is probably the best server under 6' 0".

[christo]

Doubtful

[Max G.]

Yeah... as speed guns get more accurate, measured speeds increase.

[silent bob]

Totally meaningless.

[Matt H.]

It makes you wonder about the guns when the numbers are really juiced for this years US Open.

1 year ago, Roddick was knocking 'em down at 141-142, and then this year he's popping it at 152. The really big giveaway, is that the serves OUT WIDE are starting to register in the 130's. That just doesn't seem right.

[amarone]

Originally Posted by Matt H.

1 year ago, Roddick was knocking 'em down at 141-142, and then this year he's popping it at 152. The really big giveaway, is that the serves OUT WIDE are starting to register in the 130's. That just doesn't seem right.

One of the claimed benefits of the new speed guns is that they are more accurate on wide serves. The old guns measured the relative velocity towards the gun. This means that a wide serve registered artificially low as its direction was not directly towards the gun. The new ones are supposed to correct for that.