Record for consecutive points won on serve

K

krosero

Legend
Does anyone know what this record is?

These are some that I know about:

21 by Lendl in a 1987 U.S. Open quarterfinal against McEnroe
20 by Cash in the 1987 Wimbledon final against Lendl
19 by Borg in the fifth set of the 1980 Wimbledon final against McEnroe
19 by Borg in the fifth set of a 1980 U.S. Open quarterfinal against Tanner
16 by McEnroe to open the 1985 U.S. Open final against Lendl
15 by McEnroe in a 1983 Wimbledon semifinal against Lendl
15 by Cash to open a 1987 Wimbledon semifinal against Connors
15 by Cash to close the 1987 Wimbledon final against Lendl
15 by Wilander in the 1988 Australian Open final against Cash
 
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I

ivo#1fan

Rookie
Not sure about what his longest string is but Karlovic must have some pretty impressive consecutive point won on serve since he leads the tour with highest % of 1st serve points won along with being ranked among the top in 1st serve percent. I have heard that twice he won consecutive games with 4 aces in a row. In other words, twice served 8 aces in a row. If I recall correctly one of the times was against the German Bjorn Phau (in a match which Ivo pulled out 12-10 in a 3rd set t-breaker of course).
 
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M

Moose Malloy

G.O.A.T.
Cash was amazing in '87.

The list is interesting, none of the big servers of the 90s are on it. Maybe because they didn't have as big a serve as Goran, Sampras etc they concentrated more on every point on serve in the 80s? while those other guys would be very casual sometimes, knowing they could just blow guys away down 0-30.

I think Rusedski came close to a golden set a few years ago, so he may have had 15 straight points or so on serve.
 
K

krosero

Legend
Moose Malloy said:
The list is interesting, none of the big servers of the 90s are on it. Maybe because they didn't have as big a serve as Goran, Sampras etc they concentrated more on every point on serve in the 80s? while those other guys would be very casual sometimes, knowing they could just blow guys away down 0-30.
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Actually I just didn't follow tennis too closely in the 90s. I read about the big matches in the newspapers, though, and I still noticed when records were broken.
 
K

krosero

Legend
Moose Malloy said:
I think Rusedski came close to a golden set a few years ago, so he may have had 15 straight points or so on serve.
Click to expand...
Speaking of golden sets, that means that Scanlon took at least 12 straight points on serve, plus at least the final point of the first set (he won the match 6-2,6-0).

ETA: unless of course Scanlon was broken near the end of the first set and won the set by breaking his opponent; then it would be just 12 straight.
 
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M

Mikael

Professional
I'm almost positive Greg Rusedski won more than 20 in a row during his match against Thomas Enqvist at Indian Wells in 1998, it was crazy. He won two love games at the end of the first set, so that's 8, and then the second went to the tiebreak and Rusedski must've won at least his first 4 or 5 service games to love, so that's 16 or 20, totaling 24 or 28...
 
M

Moose Malloy

G.O.A.T.
I'm almost positive Greg Rusedski won more than 20 in a row during his match against Thomas Enqvist at Indian Wells in 1998, it was crazy. He won two love games at the end of the first set, so that's 8, and then the second went to the tiebreak and Rusedski must've won at least his first 4 or 5 service games to love, so that's 16 or 20, totaling 24 or 28...
Click to expand...

here is his post match interview from that:

http://www.asapsports.com/show_interview.php?id=18160

not really conclusive:

"Advanced to tomorrow's semifinal and will play either Thomas Muster or Andrei Medvedev. In today's match, in the first game of the second set, 40-Love, Greg hit a record-breaking serve of 146 miles an hour, the fastest-recorded serve by an ATP Tour device at a tour event. He also had won 34 of 36 first serve points and had 21 aces. He's in his first career Mercedes Super 9 final."
 
K

krosero

Legend
Moose Malloy said:
here is that link on rusedski, it doesn't say how many consecutive pts on serve though:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/tennis/news/2001/03/22/ericsson_ap/

he was up 5-0 before losing a point
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So Rusedski won 25 straight points, which is one more than you get in a golden set. Scanlon had to have won at least 25.

I know that Wilander won 23 straight points when he defeated McEnroe at the 1983 French. But that topic deserves another thread.

Rusedski served three times during his streak, which began and ended on Massu's serve. So Rusedski had at least 12 straight points on serve.
 
S

Sean Dugan

Rookie
Sampras v Rafter at Compaq Grand Slam Cup in 1997? I believe Pete won about 25 points in a row on serve.
 
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K

krosero

Legend
One thing I've noticed about the matches I listed and some that have been suggested, like Rusedski-Envist and Ivanisevic-Sampras, is that very few of the streaks are in a fourth or fifth set. Borg's were both in the fifth, and Wilander's was spread out between the fourth and fifth.

That suggests that these service streaks could be as much about endurance as the serve. What do they say, that the serve is the first to go when you get tired?

And Wilander did not even have a big serve, so you could have a significant streak without even serving big (his service percentage for that match was in the 80s).
 
M

Mikael

Professional
I'm going back to my old house this weekend where I got my old tennis tapes, and will definitely check the Rusedski-Enqvist match in 98. Now I want to see if it really was over 25 points or not.
 
K

krosero

Legend
Mikael said:
I'm going back to my old house this weekend where I got my old tennis tapes, and will definitely check the Rusedski-Enqvist match in 98. Now I want to see if it really was over 25 points or not.
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I look forward to that, I'm going to try and research or watch some of these matches too.
 
K

krosero

Legend
The one to beat

From http://www.iht.com/bin/print_ipub.php?file=/articles/1995/07/08/ten.t.php

Becker Stuns Agassi, Setting Up a Final Showdown With Sampras
By Ian Thomsen International Herald Tribune

Saturday, July 8, 1995

[snip]

On Sunday, in his seventh Wimbledon final, No. 3 Becker will meet No. 2 Pete Sampras, the two-time defending champion and four years his junior, which amounts to a generation in tennis. In a rematch of last year's final, Sampras beat No. 4 Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia, 7-6 (9-7), 4-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

[snip]

Their match had exhibited all of the magic and drama that the preceding semifinal had lacked. Sampras's victory went on for 2 hours, 33 minutes at a Morse Code pace, only to be resolved anticlimactically and appropriately by a pair of opening games on Ivanisevic's serve.

The tone was established by a first-set tiebreaker that Sampras won like a stubborn arm-wrestler over 49 interminable minutes. Ivanisevic then won a throttling 26 consecutive points on serve, sprinkled with some of his 38 aces, to dominate the second set. The Croatian would win the fourth set similarly, if not quite as impressively; but much more revealing was his response to such success — each time turning and losing serve to start the ensuing set. He began the third set with a pair of double faults (he served eight overall).

[snip]
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But there's something I don't understand about this. He had 20 straight points on serve in the second set. He doubled in his next service game. That doesn't get us to 26. Were the missing points in the first-set tiebreak? How can that be, if he lost the tiebreak?
 
vive le beau jeu !

vive le beau jeu !

Talk Tennis Guru
vive le beau jeu ! said:
i'm not sure but i think ivanisevic didn't lose any point on his serve during the 2nd set of his SF against sampras at wimbledon 1995.
he won that set 64 so that would give at least 20 straight points on serve.
unfortunately for him, he lost that match despite winning 10 points more than sampras...
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krosero said:
From http://www.iht.com/bin/print_ipub.php?file=/articles/1995/07/08/ten.t.php

But there's something I don't understand about this. He had 20 straight points on serve in the second set. He doubled in his next service game. That doesn't get us to 26. Were the missing points in the first-set tiebreak? How can that be, if he lost the tiebreak?
Click to expand...
glad to see i may have suspected the right match... but you're right : there is something wrong with the count of aces if he really started the 3rd set with a pair of double-faults ! :p
 
M

Moose Malloy

G.O.A.T.
here's another one:

September 10, 2004

Fghting power with power, Joachim Johansson ended Andy Roddick's bid to repeat as United States Open champion last night. Ousting the defending champion and the last American in the men's draw, Johansson outlasted Roddick, 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-4, at Arthur Ashe Stadium, moving into a semifinal match tomorrow against Lleyton Hewitt.

During one stretch that began during the third set and spilled into the fourth, Roddick won 29 consecutive points on his serve.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/10/s...and&adxnnlx=1157364567-wtsSK2RavwHT4ttCoZRhCg


here are the match stats(by set as well)

http://web.archive.org/web/20040923103811/www.usopen.org/en_US/scores/stats/day17/1504ss2.html

Roddick won 20 of 20 service pts in the 3rd, & in the 4th won 16 out of 18.
 
K

krosero

Legend
Moose Malloy said:
here's another one:

September 10, 2004

Fghting power with power, Joachim Johansson ended Andy Roddick's bid to repeat as United States Open champion last night. Ousting the defending champion and the last American in the men's draw, Johansson outlasted Roddick, 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-4, at Arthur Ashe Stadium, moving into a semifinal match tomorrow against Lleyton Hewitt.

During one stretch that began during the third set and spilled into the fourth, Roddick won 29 consecutive points on his serve.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/10/s...and&adxnnlx=1157364567-wtsSK2RavwHT4ttCoZRhCg


here are the match stats(by set as well)

http://web.archive.org/web/20040923103811/www.usopen.org/en_US/scores/stats/day17/1504ss2.html

Roddick won 20 of 20 service pts in the 3rd, & in the 4th won 16 out of 18.
Click to expand...

That is amazing, that the two longest streaks we've mentioned so far (Ivanisevic and Roddick) have come from losing efforts.
 
K

krosero

Legend
A few others

I got these just by Googling phrases like "consecutive points on serve."



24 by Srichaphan against Philippoussis here: http://www.itftennis.com/abouttheitf/news/newsarticle.asp?articleid=11429

23 by Roddick against Ferrero in the 2003 USO final (see http://www.abc.net.au/sport/content/s940881.htm), but reported elsewhere as 24 (see http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/us_open_2003/3088724.stm)

23 by Bob Bryan here: http://www.insidetennis.com/0506_the_buzz.html

17 by Roddick against Simon Greul here: http://www.projectspurs.net/tennisworldradio/?m=200603

15 at least by Edberg against McEnroe in a 1991 Wimbledon 4th-round match (7-6 [4], 6-1, 6-4, see http://www.iht.com/bin/print_ipub.php?file=/articles/1991/07/03/mac_.php)

15 by Nadal here: http://www.openseatbarcelona.com/1/en/news/2007/day3.asp

14 by Federer here: http://scoreboards.canoe.ca/default.asp?c=canoe&page=tennis-m/scores/archive_05/western_recap.htm

13 by Benjamin Becker against Agassi



27 by Bob Bryan IN A DOUBLES match here: http://www.redorbit.com/news/sports/463362/bryan_brothers_give_us_the_edge_against_chile/



11 by Venus against Serena Williams in a 2005 U.S. Open quarterfinal (see http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-09/05/content_475047.htm)
 
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A

andreh

Professional
krosero said:
I got these just by Googling phrases like "consecutive points on serve."



http://www.projectspurs.net/tennisworldradio/?m=200603

15 at least by Edberg against McEnroe in a 1991 Wimbledon 4th-round match (7-6 [4], 6-1, 6-4, see http://www.iht.com/bin/print_ipub.php?file=/articles/1991/07/03/mac_.php)


http://scoreboards.canoe.ca/default.asp?c=canoe&page=tennis-m/scores/archive_05/western_recap.htm
Click to expand...

Edberg also won 15 in a row against Becker in the 1990 Wimbledon final.
 
M

Mikael

Professional
OK, just got back from my old house and it seems like Rusedski gets third place here, with 25 points in a row won against Enqvist at Indian Wells in 1998. I watched the match and Rusedski's run started with him recovering from a 0-4 deficit in the first set to hold serve twice to love... then in the second set he held to love the first 4 service games and won one point on his serve at 5-3 before actually getting broken back in that game! The run is amazing considering Enqvist had one of the best returns of serve in the game back then... But Rusedski just kept coming up with huge spinny serves, both first and second, and great volleys.
 
K

krosero

Legend
Mikael said:
OK, just got back from my old house and it seems like Rusedski gets third place here, with 25 points in a row won against Enqvist at Indian Wells in 1998. I watched the match and Rusedski's run started with him recovering from a 0-4 deficit in the first set to hold serve twice to love... then in the second set he held to love the first 4 service games and won one point on his serve at 5-3 before actually getting broken back in that game! The run is amazing considering Enqvist had one of the best returns of serve in the game back then... But Rusedski just kept coming up with huge spinny serves, both first and second, and great volleys.
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Terrific details, thanks. So at least #3 on this (tentative) list was from a win.
 
35ft6

35ft6

Legend
The ones by Borg are surprising to me. I'm sure it's because I don't know enough about him, but while I heard his serve was potent, still, those numbers come as quite as surprise.
 
K

krosero

Legend
35ft6 said:
The ones by Borg are surprising to me. I'm sure it's because I don't know enough about him, but while I heard his serve was potent, still, those numbers come as quite as surprise.
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Right now he has the highest number as of 1980.

That does not mean, of course, that he had the record; I just have never heard of someone before 1980 with a higher number. Comments welcome from those who know more about tennis history.
 
M

Moose Malloy

G.O.A.T.
Ferrero won 24 straight points on serve vs Blake at 2007 Wimbledon. Won all 20 points on serve in the 2nd set.

score was 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (4)
 
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AAAA

AAAA

Hall of Fame
none of the stats given so far differentiate between

1 ) winning the point from an ace/unreturnable - that is the server doesn't need to hit another shot

2) winning the point after the serve is returned over the net, server must hit at least one more shot be it volley or ground stroke.
 
M

Moose Malloy

G.O.A.T.
none of the stats given so far differentiate between

1 ) winning the point from an ace/unreturnable - that is the server doesn't need to hit another shot

2) winning the point after the serve is returned over the net, server must hit at least one more shot be it volley or ground stroke.
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I've seen a lot of those matches, & the majority of the points were unreturned serves. Borg was serving out of his mind in the fifth set of the '80 Wimbledon final as was Cash vs Lendl in '87.

But does it matter? whether its unreturned or an easy putaway, it is the result of some great serving. I suppose someone could have had a long streak against someone tanking or injured.
 
T

The tennis guy

Hall of Fame
krosero said:
Does anyone know what this record is?

These are some that I know about:

21 by Lendl in a 1987 U.S. Open quarterfinal against McEnroe
20 by Cash in the 1987 Wimbledon final against Lendl
19 by Borg in the fifth set of the 1980 Wimbledon final against McEnroe
19 by Borg in the fifth set of a 1980 U.S. Open quarterfinal against Tanner
16 by McEnroe to open the 1985 U.S. Open final against Lendl
15 by McEnroe in a 1983 Wimbledon semifinal against Lendl
15 by Cash to open a 1987 Wimbledon semifinal against Connors
15 by Cash to close the 1987 Wimbledon final against Lendl
15 by Wilander in the 1988 Australian Open final against Cash
Click to expand...

These are way off. Federer just won 35 against Lopez last week. I don't know whether that was a record or not.
 
K

krosero

Legend
The tennis guy said:
These are way off. Federer just won 35 against Lopez last week. I don't know whether that was a record or not.
Click to expand...
I'd love to know if this was a record, but each time I've seen it mentioned there is no mention of a record.

The next-best mentioned in this thread is 29 by Roddick, against Johansson (2004 USO QF).
 
A

avmoghe

Semi-Pro
Vision84 said:
Can't remember the name but sometime in the early 80s a guy won a match at Wimbledon without losing a point.
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??????????? Hopefully you mean 'without losing a point on serve' ?

As far as I know, there was only one true golden set in tennis... don't think anyone's won a match without losing a point.
 
M

Moose Malloy

G.O.A.T.
But there's something I don't understand about this. He had 20 straight points on serve in the second set. He doubled in his next service game. That doesn't get us to 26. Were the missing points in the first-set tiebreak? How can that be, if he lost the tiebreak?
Click to expand...

Ivanisevic then won a throttling 26 consecutive points on serve, sprinkled with some of his 38 aces, to dominate the second set.
Click to expand...

I can confirm it was only 21 straight(just watched that set)

Lost his last serve point in the 1st set tiebreak, didn't lose a point on serve in the entire 2nd set(it was really quite amazing, he hardly missed any 1st serves in the set), doubled in the 2nd point of his 1st serve game of the 3rd.

Sampras was very lucky to escape with a win.
 
F

FedForGOAT

Professional
Moose Malloy said:
I can confirm it was only 21 straight(just watched that set)

Lost his last serve point in the 1st set tiebreak, didn't lose a point on serve in the entire 2nd set(it was really quite amazing, he hardly missed any 1st serves in the set), doubled in the 2nd point of his 1st serve game of the 3rd.

Sampras was very lucky to escape with a win.
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I agree. Given the way Federer dominates now people forget that Sampras and other "dominating" no. 1's were pushed much harder.
 
R

ReturnWinner

Rookie
Nalbandian won 22 service points in a row against Nadal in the paris final

he won two points to make it 44 then hold at love to win the first set 64 then in the second set he did not lose a single service point.
 
K

krosero

Legend
21 by Lendl in a 1987 U.S. Open quarterfinal against McEnroe
20 by Cash in the 1987 Wimbledon final against Lendl
19 by Borg in the fifth set of the 1980 Wimbledon final against McEnroe
19 by Borg in the fifth set of a 1980 U.S. Open quarterfinal against Tanner
16 by McEnroe to open the 1985 U.S. Open final against Lendl
15 by McEnroe in a 1983 Wimbledon semifinal against Lendl
15 by Cash to open a 1987 Wimbledon semifinal against Connors
15 by Cash to close the 1987 Wimbledon final against Lendl
15 by Wilander in the 1988 Australian Open final against Cash
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Obviously the record streak, whoever it belongs to, is much longer than any of these. Federer's is the longest we've found so far. But for those keeping track, Lendl's was not the longest at his time. I found another one, just two months earlier: Becker had 22 straight in his first two sets against Mayotte, 1987 Davis Cup tie.
 
K

krosero

Legend
Just updating this thread.

Rod Laver won 16 consecutive points on his serve in the 1969 USO final against Tony Roche, from his first service game of the second set to his first of the third set.

That may be the highest as of 1969, who knows; I haven't read about any such streaks reported before then. Bud Collins noticed this streak during the match but he didn't say there was anything really unique about it.
 
K

krosero

Legend
So we had said that Borg had the best streak as of 1980, with 19 straight points in the Wimbledon final against McEnroe.

I've found another streak of 19 points, by John Newcombe in the 1971 final.

That final came up in another thread about Sunday's Wimbledon final so I looked up the New York Times article:

In the finest sustained serving streak since Bob Falkenburg won here in 1948, he had four service games at love and was 5-4 and 40-love. Not a single point had [Stan] Smith won against service all the way throught the set. Desperately he fought off three set points to get to deuce. At advantage John aced him for 6-4 and two sets each.
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Newcombe won 6-3, 5-7, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

He had lost his last service game of the third, so his streak was entirely in the fourth set.

He came within just 1 point of doing what Cash did in a 6-2 set in the 1987 final against Lendl, which was to win a whole set without dropping a point on serve (but Cash had to win only 4 service games; Newk did that in his 6-4 set).

I read the Times article on Falkenburg in 1948, but it didn't say anything about a service streak. In fact there were 19 breaks in that match. Falkenburg won 7-5,0-6,6-2,3-6,7-5.

He had to save 3 match points -- the last person to do so successfully in a Wimbledon final (it was mentioned on Sunday after Federer saved two match points in the fourth set).

The 1948 article reports Falkenburg winning his last 3 service games in the third set and his first 3 in the fourth set. The streak of consecutive points -- if that's what the 1971 article is referring to -- could have occurred there. At other stages of the match he was getting broken often.
 
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