Roddick: 170mph serve possible?

Phil

Hall of Fame
I don't think it's possible from him-18 miles is a big difference. Of course, if he were to go the Barry Bonds route...
 

Matt H.

Professional
well, i think he'll eventually hit 160. He's still got a few more years before he hits his physical peak, and you can't forget the possibilites that technology bring to the table. I say it ends at 165.
 

Matt H.

Professional
well, back when he first came out on tour full time around 2001, i remember the talk being about his service motion and that he's gonna rip his shoulder right out of his socket. He was only hitting his serve at 140mph back then (only! LOL).
 

VictorS.

Professional
Well roddick is in uncharted territory. Nobody has ever hit the ball this hard before. But he seems to really take care of his body...has his own trainer, for example.
 

guernica1

Semi-Pro
For some reason I think his forehand motion will cause him wrist problems before his serve will cause him shoulder problems.

A very well respected orthopedic surgeon who deals with tennis injuries gave a conference for us once and said flat out he expected Roddick to develop problems at some point but his natural flexibility is really a huge protective factor.
 

JohnThomas1

Professional
"I suppose anything over 150mph is pretty much unreturnable. Why bother going faster and risk injury?"

I think his world record serve was returned from memory.
 
2 things guys:

1. Roddick isn't hitting any faster than when he was going in the low 140's. The new speed guns are registering higher speeds for everyone. Take the speed you get now, subtract around 5-7mph, and you get what the old radar would have recorded...

2.Nobody has ever increased their serve speed by 18mph from Roddick's age on.

I think it'd be great if he did it, but I dont' think he'll do it without radical equipment change and/or even faster radar guns....
 

alan-n

Professional
Taking a look at Roddicks serve in slow mo and trying his serve mechanics out myself. I just don't feel how his service motion is going to rip out his arms/wrist/shoulder anymore than any other service motion does...... his power comes from his the uncoiling motion of his legs and lower torso. This has been discussed quite often..... I tried Roddicks serve motion and if anything It feels like it has less wrist/arm/shoulder and more leg and lower torso.
 

Camilio Pascual

Hall of Fame
No way he'll make 170mph with the same equipment. He'd have to transmit ~ 30% or more energy to the ball to go from 150 to 170. This would be more than expecting a 100mph pitcher to throw a ball 110mph, which require ~21% more energy. We've had 100+ mph pitchers since at least the time of Bob Feller, we've had no 110 mph pitchers ever. I'd bet $10,000 it won't happen in the next 10 years. I'd make it 20 years, but I'm afraid I'll be dribbling my soup into my bib by that time and won't be able to enjoy the money. Hmmm, I could dribble caviar, I guess.
 
170 M.P.H.?? Hmmm....maybe he'll do it at Talladega but I don't think he will at the U.S. Open (heavy, humid air), unless some "out of left field" technology comes into play, i.e. a racquet that ACTUALLY does enhance BOTH power AND CONTROL (not to be confused with the 1,274 racquets that are presently being marketed as frames that improve BOTH your power AND your control).

Calling all eggheads!! Calling all eggheads!! What if Roddick were to serve a bomb in the rarified air at high altitudes? Take it a step further: what if Andy Delicadandy were on the moon (presumably at the SEA-OF-TRANQUILITY BEACH & TENNIS CLUB (which are known for their fast, albeit dusty courts) and he hit a big 1st serve? Aside from him probably having to contend with Neil Armstrong calling him on a footfault ("Mr. Roddick, that's one small step....."), I wonder what Andy Roddick or the ghost of Colin Dibley's M.P.H. "top-end" would be. Ok eggheads, "RUN" with your inertial and drag coefficients and ALL THINGS PHYSICS and get back with an answer. Thank you any and all TW-land Poindexters.
 

@wright

Hall of Fame
Well, Sean, I think most of the courts on the moon are very dusty which would add to the weight of the ball and slow it down after the bounce. Also, in his plan for world domination, Richard Williams will own the moon within 5 years and all tennis clubs established on it will be black only.
 

The tennis guy

Hall of Fame
I don't think the record of serve speed is accurate at all. First of all, the accuracy of radar guns vary widely, they are +/- 10 or even more; second the condition of wind on court. Thus 140 and 150 are not much different in those different conditions.
 

Phil

Hall of Fame
who gives a crap about serve speeds?!!?
i hate to watch roddick play...brute strength, no grace.

You spit out that word grace a lot these days. Why don't you drop tennis and start attending the ballet, you friggin girlie man, you.
 

tytan

New User
Phil said:
who gives a crap about serve speeds?!!?
i hate to watch roddick play...brute strength, no grace.

You spit out that word grace a lot these days. Why don't you drop tennis and start attending the ballet, you friggin girlie man, you.

goes to show the appreciation you have for the sport. you have my sympathy.
 

Phil

Hall of Fame
But if you'd rather go to the ballet, just go. Tennis is diverse-there is more to it than just a single game style. And by the way, don't forget your tutu.
 
sean orourke said:
Aside from him probably having to contend with Neil Armstrong calling him on a footfault ("Mr. Roddick, that's one small step....."), I wonder what Andy Roddick or the ghost of Colin Dibley's M.P.H. "top-end" would be. .

LOL, (a groaner but funny)

As for Roddick's top speed...

PROS: Roddick's racquet is now VERY light, like 2 oz. Ball is also very light.

No air resistance means ball has no deceleration meaning the just about any serve would be blindingly fast to the receiver.

After that flat ball serve bounces in low gravity it's not coming down anytime soon, watch it take off and reach 20ft or so, opponent must take on the rise! lol

CONS:

Here's the biggie, since spin will have virtually no effect at all on the ball and the gravity is very low, putting any serve with pace into the box will be very very tough.

Also, your motion will need serious adjustment as even Ivanisevic, Krajicek, Curren or Tanner would find their normal tosses going about higher than Graf's! When the ball does start coming down, it will take forever!

Oh, and probably should use pressureless balls, normal balls might just explode when you open the can lol!

I'm spending way too much time on this board.
 
@wright said:
Wouldn't your toss just keep going up into oblivion?

I don't think so...the moon has gravity, it's just a lot weaker than here on earth...1/6th the gravity of earth springs to mind? So you could probably go through your motion a few times while waiting for your normal toss to come down!
 

Tennis Guy

Semi-Pro
sean orourke said:
Calling all eggheads!! Calling all eggheads!! What if Roddick were to serve a bomb in the rarified air at high altitudes? Take it a step further: what if Andy Delicadandy were on the moon (presumably at the SEA-OF-TRANQUILITY BEACH & TENNIS CLUB (which are known for their fast, albeit dusty courts) and he hit a big 1st serve? Aside from him probably having to contend with Neil Armstrong calling him on a footfault ("Mr. Roddick, that's one small step....."), I wonder what Andy Roddick or the ghost of Colin Dibley's M.P.H. "top-end" would be. Ok eggheads, "RUN" with your inertial and drag coefficients and ALL THINGS PHYSICS and get back with an answer. Thank you any and all TW-land Poindexters.
LOL

Datacipher said:
Roddick isn't hitting any faster than when he was going in the low 140's. The new speed guns are registering higher speeds for everyone. Take the speed you get now, subtract around 5-7mph, and you get what the old radar would have recorded...
Actually radar guns are more accurate. So you should add 5-7 mph to older serves.
 
Tennis Guy said:
[Actually radar guns are more accurate. So you should add 5-7 mph to older serves.

Sure, that's a good point and of course that is relative to the last generation of speed guns. The guns from the early 90's were recording even slower/later. It's a bit unfortunate that we still don't really have an objective comparison of serves for the last 15 years even though we sort of pretend we do.
 

jings

Professional
Andy and I ...

"We could be together, servin' on the moon"

.... with apologies to The Police.
 

Ronaldo

Bionic Poster
The closer the radar gun can get to the point when the ball leaves the racquet strings, the higher the reading from earlier posts on this subject. @wright, will those clubs be limited to the darkside of the moon?
 
Camilio Pascual said:
No way he'll make 170mph with the same equipment. He'd have to transmit ~ 30% or more energy to the ball to go from 150 to 170. This would be more than expecting a 100mph pitcher to throw a ball 110mph, which require ~21% more energy. We've had 100+ mph pitchers since at least the time of Bob Feller, we've had no 110 mph pitchers ever. I'd bet $10,000 it won't happen in the next 10 years. I'd make it 20 years, but I'm afraid I'll be dribbling my soup into my bib by that time and won't be able to enjoy the money. Hmmm, I could dribble caviar, I guess.

He would have to transmit 30% or more energy? how do you know that exact amount of energy? Don't play these calculator games, it's boring.
 

Jonnyf

Hall of Fame
[SIZE=4]When dey were first introd in Wimbledon Centre Court in 1991 and Marc Rosset held it with 134it increased slightly year 2 yaer until Rusedski hit 149 until roddick on Feb 2004 wit 150 mph two months later 152 which was returned by Bjorkmann the 153at Queens the 155!!! against Belarus in da Davis cup "I hit a gd 1.Dats bout it" he said den he replied again "To me it's still a point.But it's something i'll be able to tell people about one day" However there are two models of speed gun manufactured by diffrent companies. All of Roddick's quickest serves in the Davis cup were aimed with the Wige Radar gun,While it's rival the IDS gun has only one clocked Roddick higher than 147 mph: his 152 deliver at the Us in 2004. To confuse further some believe that in 1931!! Bill Tildenhis a 163MPH serve but a study in 2000 proved it to b "Inconclusive". [/SIZE] MEN"!!!
1.Andy Roddick,155,153,152,149 n watevr else.
2. Greg Rusedski 149 = Indian Wells 1998
3.Taylor Dent 145 Us open 2004
4.Jo-Wilfred Tsonga 144 Parim Mas 2004 and Joachim Johansson Stolkholm 2004.

Women.
1.Venus Williams, 127 Zurich 1998
2. Serena Williams 126,Wimbledon 2004
3.Brenda Schultz-McCarthy, Wimbledon 1997 and Laura Granville Memphis 2003 and Alexandra Stevenson Memphis 2003 and Sarah Taylor Memphis 2003
 

FalconX

Rookie
maybe someone knows about this...I can't hit hard at all so I don't know...but in pingpong when you wanna generate more pace on your serve you toss the ball real high...I was wondering what would happen if roddick was able to serve from a really high ball toss cuz the one he currently uses is very short?
 

predrag

Professional
FalconX said:
maybe someone knows about this...I can't hit hard at all so I don't know...but in pingpong when you wanna generate more pace on your serve you toss the ball real high...I was wondering what would happen if roddick was able to serve from a really high ball toss cuz the one he currently uses is very short?
Actually toss height in TABLE TENNIS:) has nothing to do with the pace.
It's spin and deception.

Regards, Predrag
 

Max G.

Legend
Sure he'll get 170! With increases (er... improvements...) in radar gun measurements, anything is possible!
 
S

splink779

Guest
I agree that we should be adding mph to old serves, not subtracting from new ones. Radar guns aren't falsley reading the serves faster. The technology is imporving, thus they are more accurate.
 

Shaolin

G.O.A.T.
I think Ive seen Roddick hit 160+ already. Last year vs Austria Davis Cup, closing out I believe Koubek, Roddick hit an ace that didnt even register on the speed gun, but it was easily the biggest serve Ive ever seen. He hit it into the middle of the service box and was still an ace, koubek swung and missed. He set the record in that match with his 155 serve and this one looked easily 5-10 mph faster.

For the record, Im not a Roddick fan. This serve was insane though.
 
Roddick can probably hit 170 at his peak.. Right now id say he can hit 160+ without it going in the box. Do you mean 170 in the box? If Roddick at his best just blasts the ball as hard as he could...id say a good 171-3 mph. His power is insane.
 
S

splink779

Guest
Well its not like you can bring them up in a new topic without you guys getting pissed and telling them to go search for it.
 

bc-05

Semi-Pro
he's one crazy person seriously... is that his strength that gave him that power? or his technique is that good? i mean if its strength that means anyone with a good genetic can do the training regimen he does and serve as good as he is.. but if its all about technique.. forget about it.. coz technique is not what someone can master.. everyone has their own way of hitting.. now if it's both then someone with a better genetic than andy and trains harder than andy but not a technique as good can serve faster.. now if u ask me i think his serve is mostly technique.. maybe he is strong but compare him to dent.. dent would be much stronger but thats only my 2 cents.. coz if he was about strength only.. i would want to know what kinda training he does.. like ive always been stronger compare to my peers e.g. i bench 230 pounds when i was 16 yrs old.. but then again i dont know.. i can serve in the 125 region.. but i want to serve in the 140 region? possible? im 19 now.. ;)
 
S

splink779

Guest
I think andy is much stronger than Den't. Don't confuse flab for muscle ;). I think Andy's shoulders and forearms are bigger than Dent's.
 

Jonnyf

Hall of Fame
Type on Google images andy roddicks serve and there will be a pic dat takes you through his 149 mph and it talks bout him bein 1 of da only players to move da parts of his body in unison which adds alot of power honestly check
 

bc-05

Semi-Pro
pwoahhh i can imagine butistuhhhh having andy roddicks technique... 180mph im telling u.. this guy isnt just upperbody... his whole body is muscle... he's pwoahhhhh check this out... ok now.. im not talking about how fast he can run or how good of a player but how fast this guy can hit his forehand, backhand and serve..
Dave_Batista.jpg

imagine him with andy's technique... strength andy x39847682346, technique = andy, weight = 300 pounds.. his flexibility is good ive seen him fight.. like if ur a fighter u cant be slow or ull get bashed.. now think about it..
 

ShooterMcMarco

Hall of Fame
Jonnyf said:
Type on Google images andy roddicks serve and there will be a pic dat takes you through his 149 mph and it talks bout him bein 1 of da only players to move da parts of his body in unison which adds alot of power honestly check

wtflightning.jpg











hehe, just jokin
 

Pirc Defense

New User
Dedans Penthouse said:
170 M.P.H.?? Hmmm....maybe he'll do it at Talladega but I don't think he will at the U.S. Open (heavy, humid air), unless some "out of left field" technology comes into play, i.e. a racquet that ACTUALLY does enhance BOTH power AND CONTROL (not to be confused with the 1,274 racquets that are presently being marketed as frames that improve BOTH your power AND your control).

Calling all eggheads!! Calling all eggheads!! What if Roddick were to serve a bomb in the rarified air at high altitudes? Take it a step further: what if Andy Delicadandy were on the moon (presumably at the SEA-OF-TRANQUILITY BEACH & TENNIS CLUB (which are known for their fast, albeit dusty courts) and he hit a big 1st serve? Aside from him probably having to contend with Neil Armstrong calling him on a footfault ("Mr. Roddick, that's one small step....."), I wonder what Andy Roddick or the ghost of Colin Dibley's M.P.H. "top-end" would be. Ok eggheads, "RUN" with your inertial and drag coefficients and ALL THINGS PHYSICS and get back with an answer. Thank you any and all TW-land Poindexters.

lol. Good stuff.
 
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