Verdasco serve clocked at 150mph?

On Roddick's official website, it is stated that Verdasco managed to produce a serve at 150mph at the SAP Open final on Sunday, I didn't see the game myself but for those who did, did he actually slop in a beauty at that speed?

I wouldn't be overly flabbergasted if he did, as far as I can tell the dude really does have a seismic serve hiding behind that ultra mega spinner that brings him up to 170% first serve average.

I better order in some of those new Yonex bats and proceed to tear my rotator cuff to shreds replicating that service motion.
 

DrpShot!

Semi-Pro
I saw it, he was serving big, had a few readings in the 130s before that and maybe remember one in the 140s, but that was a bomb.
 

Fee

Legend
There is speculation that the gun in San Jose was juiced by 5 mph. Same has been said about previous years. Same has also been said about the guns used for Davis Cup.
 

chiapants226

Professional
sometimes the radar heads can malfunction though. we had some major problems with the radar heads at the australian open on rod laver arena when i was working there, we were getting random recordings. i remember the radar clocked a nadal second serve at 278km/h, and then later on it clocked a nadal first serve at 98km/h. depends on the radar positioning and when and how it is activated by the person working it also im pretty sure
 

ClubHoUno

Banned
Roddick has not been close to his record since - so yes, sometimes the Radar gun is just inaccurate as darn he_ll ;)
 

scotus

G.O.A.T.
There is speculation that the gun in San Jose was juiced by 5 mph. Same has been said about previous years. Same has also been said about the guns used for Davis Cup.

But the question is: Did Verdasco's serves outpace Roddick's serves in this match?

Juiced or not, the machine would be fair to both players, and Roddick pretty much has the fastest serve on tour.
 

origmarm

Hall of Fame
But the question is: Did Verdasco's serves outpace Roddick's serves in this match?

Juiced or not, the machine would be fair to both players, and Roddick pretty much has the fastest serve on tour.

My thoughts exactly.... it probably isn't accurate but that's not a bad way of getting a feeling for how far off it was.
 

Anaconda

Hall of Fame
It's not the racket, i heard Brad Gilbert and Darren Cahill mention that Nando can bring the heat but rarely does.

And Roddick purposely serves slower nowadays, just to bring the % up a little bit and for greater accuracy.
 

ericsson

Hall of Fame
It's not the racket, i heard Brad Gilbert and Darren Cahill mention that Nando can bring the heat but rarely does.

And Roddick purposely serves slower nowadays, just to bring the % up a little bit and for greater accuracy.

Agreed, at that level the racket doenst do that much...
 
I do not think it matters that much if it was 150MPH or 140MPH or even 135MPH, that is a fast serve.

Well to be fair you see players clocking 135-140 regularly these days, but 150 is still something huge, in my opinion Fernando Verdasco could potentially be the most powerful player currently on tour.
 

dParis

Hall of Fame
Correct, infact Verdasco clocked the fastest serve at the French open last year, 232 km/u or 144 mp/h and that on clay!
I take it that average serve speeds are lower at clay tournaments? I was under the impression that the speed is taken before the bounce - so what difference does the court surface make? Do pros hold back on pace since spin and placement are at a premium on clay? I could see that, but even so, they must bring the heat once in a while to mix things up.
 

adlis

Professional
I take it that average serve speeds are lower at clay tournaments? I was under the impression that the speed is taken before the bounce - so what difference does the court surface make? Do pros hold back on pace since spin and placement are at a premium on clay? I could see that, but even so, they must bring the heat once in a while to mix things up.

It is a few cm away from the contact point of the racket. I dont understand dPariss clay comment, misguided maybe.

some US speed gun software is fixed for commercial reasons .

davis cup sf 2005 Andy Roddick conveniently hit the world record 155mph serve at the Family Circle Tennis Centre, Charleston USA. notice that no other player especially roddick himself and physical freaks like isner and karlovic have come close to breaking the record.



Andy Roddick............155,03(249.4kph)............ 2004 davis cup
Chris Guccione............154,11(248kph)............ 2007 davis cup
Ivo Karlovic............153,002007............ Nottingham
john isner............151,00............2007 Washington
------------------------------150------------------------------
Greg Rusedski............149,00............Indian Wells 1998
 

dParis

Hall of Fame
It is a few cm away from the contact point of the racket. I dont understand dPariss clay comment, misguided maybe.
Thanks for the info.

I made it quite clear that I was referring to a previous post that emphasized that a 144mph serve was registered on clay. So I asked why it is notable that that speed was registered on clay. I'm not sure what you mean by my comment possibly being "misguided". Perhaps you should read post #26 again including ericsson's quote and my follow up question.
 

Vyse

Semi-Pro
IMO he has the best service motion plus the muscle he has been putting on, who knows. I hope it was a legitimate radar gun.
 
Ok so it doesn't surprise me that the guns are juiced but even so I reckon Verdasco probably could manage a legitimate 150, I mean the guy is an absolute monster (not literally) and his service motion is relatively comparable to Roddick's, who holds record for fastest serve recorded in the history of the universe.


Or does he?! I feel like by creating this thread I find myself now in the biggest bunker of all time, and it is ultra monsoon pouring all in my bunker, and someone has replaced my freaking ball with an egg.
 
D

Deleted member 45559

Guest
yeah for real last time roddick got 150 was two years ago
 

origmarm

Hall of Fame
Thanks for the info.

I made it quite clear that I was referring to a previous post that emphasized that a 144mph serve was registered on clay. So I asked why it is notable that that speed was registered on clay. I'm not sure what you mean by my comment possibly being "misguided". Perhaps you should read post #26 again including ericsson's quote and my follow up question.

I'm not sure what ericsson meant either. Seems to be irrelevant given how they measure it. Perhaps the servers are trying to conserve energy more on clay due to the nature of the points or have less energy as the match progresses? Similarly given that the advantage of the big serve is nullified to a degree perhaps they just don't bother and go more for placement?
 
well whatever the circumstances, let it be a juiced radar or the radar itself being faulty, the fact is he hit it OUT, so stop caring about this, roddick and others have probably hit serves faster that the 155 mph record that were OUT
 
D

Deleted member 22147

Guest
The actual speed gun seems to have been way off , I've seen players you wouldn't expect serving massive.
 

mtommer

Hall of Fame
sometimes the radar heads can malfunction though. we had some major problems with the radar heads at the australian open on rod laver arena when i was working there, we were getting random recordings. i remember the radar clocked a nadal second serve at 278km/h, and then later on it clocked a nadal first serve at 98km/h. depends on the radar positioning and when and how it is activated by the person working it also im pretty sure

We ran into this at Kzoo Nationals this year. In our case the guns were recording accurately but not sending the number to the display on time. The number reported on the display was about 7-10 mph slow.
 

Bashi

Rookie
Correct, infact Verdasco clocked the fastest serve at the French open last year, 232 km/u or 144 mp/h and that on clay!

surface wouldn't affect serve speed... the surface only affects the way it bounces. the ball doesn't bounce when the server hits the ball. *sigh*
 

LPShanet

Banned
I'm not sure what ericsson meant either. Seems to be irrelevant given how they measure it. Perhaps the servers are trying to conserve energy more on clay due to the nature of the points or have less energy as the match progresses? Similarly given that the advantage of the big serve is nullified to a degree perhaps they just don't bother and go more for placement?

Surface is relevant, not because it causes the serves to slow down (as mentioned, the gun clocks them right after striking), but because the average serve speed is almost always lower on clay for strategic reasons. A flat serve, which is the fastest, sets up right in the strike zone for most pros on clay, and with the slower court speed can make for target practice for a good returner. For that reason, many pros will take a little heat off on clay, and add spin to get the ball higher up on the returner. This is made even more important because the pros tend to return from further back on clay, so the flat serves are even slower at the time of striking, and spin serves need to kick up even higher. Also, in an effort to use more of the box, and move opponents around, pros will take a little off to get greater variety of placement on clay. So basically, while there are still some hard flat serves being hit, the typical serve on clay will have more spin and less heat. Therefore, while there's no reason a record serve couldn't be hit on clay, it does become somewhat less likely.
 
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