how fast can the pros hit their groundstrokes?

okdude1992

okdude1992

Hall of Fame
everyone always talks about how fast the pros serves are...
but there ground games are huge....that is the difference between top pros and futures/challenger players... the pros hit much bigger off the ground, and generally have more confidence...
a few years back i remember watching roddick vs. gonzalez at the australian open...roddick hit a 110 mph second serve and gonzalez pounded a 115 mph forehand return winner..at this point (i was 11 i think) i though to myself how big can these guys hit if they want to? i also remember last year at the US Open seeing blake jack a return winner past agassi so fast andre didn't even seem to see the ball...

so to make a long story short i was just searcing for james blake videos and found this..youve got to watch it to believe it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWNPaYbFL_s&search=james blake


for those of you who are wondering that was a 130 mph forehand off a 115 serve... impossible right?
 
L

LowProfile

Professional
If they return a serve blindly with a full swing, hoping they make clean contact, yes they can hit it over 100 mph. As for regular off-the-ground shots, very few pros can hit over 100 mph. Fernando Gonzalez breaks 100 mph every once in a while, but most clean winners are hit at around 80-90 mph.
 
ShcMad

ShcMad

Hall of Fame
I've seen Federer crack a forehand winner during this year's Australian Open, and it was clocked around 118mph or something along those lines, but it was definitely in the 110's. I can't remember who he was playing, but it was a crosscourt winner with a sick angle in which the ball landed inside the service box.
On another note, I read a post from a user here that Gasquet hit a crosscourt winner against Nalbandian during Wimbledon at 144kph = 89.48mph.
 
B

Bones08

Professional
Yeah, they have especiall Serena at AO 03, that Crosscourt forehand return against Kim was crazy!
 
FuZz_Da_AcE

FuZz_Da_AcE

Rookie
how about in general...not just winners. in a standard rally, what would you say is the average speed? i saw coria training at AO, and he was hitting the ball a fraction over the net consistently, pretty damn quick.
 
B

byealmeens

Semi-Pro
Federer has hit many forehands over 100 mph this year. Despite talk about how hard (and fast) Blake and Gonzalez hit, if you look at the speeds, no one can consistently hit as hard (when he wants to) as Federer. He's got it all....
 
Jonnyf

Jonnyf

Hall of Fame
BaseLineBash said:
I'd say the average speed during rallies is around 60mph on the ATP.
Click to expand...


Using a speed gun, ive had my groundies clocked (just normal rally at 70 odd) so i doubt it about 60 mate.
 
B

BaseLineBash

Hall of Fame
Jonnyf said:
Using a speed gun, ive had my groundies clocked (just normal rally at 70 odd) so i doubt it about 60 mate.
Click to expand...
Now Jonny, I don't know where you get your speed clocked at, off the racquet? or off the first bounce? On the ATP the ground-strokes and serves are clocked at first bounce. Just like a 400hp car(at the flywheel), 400hp isn't gonna make it to the rear wheels, more like 340whp to 360whp.
 
Jonnyf

Jonnyf

Hall of Fame
BaseLineBash said:
Now Jonny, I don't know where you get your speed clocked at, off the racquet? or off the first bounce? On the ATP the ground-strokes and serves are clocked at first bounce. Just like a 400hp car(at the flywheel), 400hp isn't gonna make it to the rear wheels, more like 340whp to 360whp.
Click to expand...

Over the net. Clock was at the net alhough i doubt its accurate
 
Andy Zarzuela

Andy Zarzuela

Professional
Well in recent matches....particular Davenport vs. Clijsters...

Davenport averaged about 70mph. (hits a purely flat ball)

Clijsters averaged about 57mph (hits more top spin & mixes up spins more), but she's just as powerful as others when she hits threw the ball

Venus averaged about 67mph (she hits more topspin than Davenport, so that's why her ball speed is slightly slower ) (but we all know she and
Serena are the strongest players...and can hit harder than any woman when they want to)

Karolina Sprem at 73 (hits
all power)

Sharapova 65 mph


These are the averages of some of biggest hitters on the WTA.......so that should be an indication that the ATP has slightly higher ball speeds...
 
B

BaseLineBash

Hall of Fame
I'm not saying I'm 100% accurate on my assessment. Ground-stroke speed is usually measured after a winner has been hit, and it seems most pros, ATP and WTA included hit more pace for winners. I wasn't estimating the average speed for winners, I was estimating the AVERAGE speed for RALLIES(on the Atp) which I think lies around 60mph give or take.
 
Rickson

Rickson

G.O.A.T.
70-80 mph baseline rallies in the ATP, but clean winners are often in the 90s. I've seen Moya's forehand clocked at 106 mph against Rainer Schuettler.
 
ShcMad

ShcMad

Hall of Fame
BaseLineBash said:
Now Jonny, I don't know where you get your speed clocked at, off the racquet? or off the first bounce? On the ATP the ground-strokes and serves are clocked at first bounce. Just like a 400hp car(at the flywheel), 400hp isn't gonna make it to the rear wheels, more like 340whp to 360whp.
Click to expand...

This reminds me of the old times when I was obsessed with modifying cars. You're absolutely right about the HP measurement at the flywheel vs. the actual wheel horsepower output. :mrgreen:
 
Jonnyf

Jonnyf

Hall of Fame
Nah, that wasnt my average.I swear ive worded that badly. In a normal rally i hit a few at 70 i think top was 74. So my point is that theirs no way Pros hit in the 60's
 
T

TheVicht

New User
Jonnyf said:
Over the net. Clock was at the net alhough i doubt its accurate
Click to expand...

over the net? are you sure cauz pros' serves are measured at contact (when its the fastest) and hard serves the ball reaches the returner at around 60 or 70

so

if your averaging 70 right over the net than that is very impressive, now i'm not doubting you or anything but are you sure
 
B

BaseLineBash

Hall of Fame
Jonnyf said:
Nah, that wasnt my average.I swear ive worded that badly. In a normal rally i hit a few at 70 i think top was 74. So my point is that theirs no way Pros hit in the 60's
Click to expand...
You can't say there is no way Pros hit on the average of around 60mph during rallies with any credibility. You yourself said you had your ground-strokes clocked around 70mph at net and not off the bounce which means the person on the other side of the net is probably getting 50-55mph groundstrokes from you on the AVERAGE. When clocking tennis ball speed you have to put into account first contact, distance to travel and bounce, all those factors can mean loss of mph by the time your opponent returns the tennis ball to your side of the court.
 
Jonnyf

Jonnyf

Hall of Fame
BaseLineBash said:
You can't say there is no way Pros hit on the average of around 60mph during rallies with any credibility. You yourself said you had your ground-strokes clocked around 70mph at net and not off the bounce which means the person on the other side of the net is probably getting 50-55mph groundstrokes from you on the AVERAGE. When clocking tennis ball speed you have to put into account first contact, distance to travel and bounce, all those factors can mean loss of mph by the time your opponent returns the tennis ball to your side of the court.
Click to expand...


Ok, im honestly sorry,ive messed up and made a total idiot of myself. My bad seriously
 
Alexandros

Alexandros

Professional
Andy Zarzuela said:
Well in recent matches....particular Davenport vs. Clijsters...

Davenport averaged about 70mph. (hits a purely flat ball)

Clijsters averaged about 57mph (hits more top spin & mixes up spins more), but she's just as powerful as others when she hits threw the ball

Venus averaged about 67mph (she hits more topspin than Davenport, so that's why her ball speed is slightly slower ) (but we all know she and
Serena are the strongest players...and can hit harder than any woman when they want to)

Karolina Sprem at 73 (hits
all power)

Sharapova 65 mph


These are the averages of some of biggest hitters on the WTA.......so that should be an indication that the ATP has slightly higher ball speeds...
Click to expand...


Where did you get these numbers from?
 
K

Kevo

Legend
I don't know what the speed is, and have no clue about real tournaments. I've never been to anything more than a challenger and exhibitions, but when I watched Roddick and Dent play at an exhibition in Dallas, I was surprised by how slow they hit. Roddick was loading everything up with spin, and dent was just trying to get into net with well placed approach shots. Of course the serves were blazing, but the rallies just looked about average to me. It was probably because it was just an exhibition, but I was a little disappointed to be honest.
 
A

AngeloDS

Hall of Fame
60 MPH is pretty fast and even in the 70s the ball is still very fast. A lot of people really underestimate speeds and how fast things are going. 60 MPH going out wide is tough even in the 50s the ball is still very tough to deal with.

And indeed the ball loses a lot of speed after it hits the ground. About 1/4 of it's speed is lost.
 
T

TacoTims

New User
I saw once on tv when they showed fastest forehand speed about 2 months ago and they had Joachim Johanson fastest at 178km/h and I think Andy Roddick second at 176km/h Gonzales third I think at around the same mark as Roddick with the rest in the 160s
 
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