Top 10 Servers in the WTA?

[captainbryce]

Who would you say are the best servers on the women's tour? Obviously, most people would put Serena Williams as the clear number one, but who are the other women who would make your list?

My list:

1. Serena Williams
2. Sabine Lisicki
3. Petra Kvitova
4. Samatha Stosur
5. Maria Sharapova
6. Nadia Petrova
7. Madison Keys
8. Venus Williams
9. Ana Ivanovic
10. Sloane Stephens

Follow up question: How come most women on the WTA are terrible servers? Outside of this list (and perhaps with the exception of a few more), their serves generally suck!

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/tennis/story/2012-08-27/us-open-serena-williams-serve-is-best-shot-in-tennis/57336298/1

 

[SpinToWin]

Kvitova at 3?

 

[Maximagq]

Because women aren't natural at throwing.

 

[vegasgt3]

I'd move Venus way up that list, unless you factor in the days she plays when she is sick. She still holds the record for WTA fastest serve at 129. Julia Gorges is 3rd on the list behind Serena.

 

[Vcore89]

Venus
Lisicki
Serena
Graf

 

[helloworld]

There's Serena, and there's the rest.

 

[SpinToWin]

Venus
Lisicki
Serena
Graf

Stosur also has a great serve.

 

[cc0509]

Who would you say are the best servers on the women's tour? Obviously, most people would put Serena Williams as the clear number one, but who are the other women who would make your list?

My list:

1. Serena Williams
2. Sabine Lisicki
3. Petra Kvitova
4. Samatha Stosur
5. Maria Sharapova
6. Nadia Petrova
7. Madison Keys
8. Venus Williams
9. Ana Ivanovic
10. Sloane Stephens

Ivanovic and Stephens? Have you seen Ivanovic's ball toss?

When we are talking about the best servers of the WTA it is:

1) Serena Williams (in a class by herself.)





2) Venus Williams (not so much now compared to in her prime but you need to put her on the list because she is still active and can still post some great serving numbers.)



3) Sam Stosur (only because of her nice second kick serve.)

The rest, forget about it. Too inconsistent.

 

[yangster007]

There is no such thing as "good serve" in WTA other than Serena, Henin was the other one with a good serve but she retired

 

[DRII]

Venus during her peak hit more service winners than peak Serena, but fewer aces.

Serena overall is clearly the best and has so much control and reproducibility over her serve.

Davenport was also a good server and had a very good 2nd serve relative to first.

of the newer comers; Keys and Liski have the potential to be great servers, but lose their timing sometimes and thus are relatively inconsistent...

 

[Vcore89]

Stosur also has a great serve.

Venus
Lisicki
Serena
Stosur
Graf

Missing here and there is bound to happen but here you go, my revised top five.:wink:

 

[SpinToWin]

Venus
Lisicki
Serena
Stosur
Graf

Missing here and there is bound to happen but here you go, my revised top five.:wink:

Good list

 

[ScentOfDefeat]

In the 90's it was probably Brenda Schultz-McCarthy (for the first serve). Shame she only had a serve.

 

[captainbryce]

Kvitova at 3?

Her lefty power serve is pretty good for a girl.

 

[captainbryce]

I'd move Venus way up that list, unless you factor in the days she plays when she is sick. She still holds the record for WTA fastest serve at 129. Julia Gorges is 3rd on the list behind Serena.

I'm judging them mostly as they are today. But I suppose over the course of a career, Venus should probably be at 2 or 3.

 

[captainbryce]

Ivanovic and Stephens? Have you seen Ivanovic's ball toss?

When she actually gets her first serve in, it's one of the best ones on the tour.

2013 WTA ACE Leaders

1 WILLIAMS , SERENA 480 (80 matches)
2 LISICKI , SABINE 297 (52 matches)
3 KVITOVA , PETRA 250 (70 matches)
4 KEYS , MADISON 225 (41 matches)
5 IVANOVIC , ANA 222 (61 matches)


2014 WTA ACE Leaders

1 PLISKOVA , KAROLINA 174 (23 matches)
2 WILLIAMS , SERENA 146 (18 matches)
3 GOERGES , JULIA 106 (15 matches)
4 PENNETTA , FLAVIA 92 (20 matches)
5 IVANOVIC , ANA 92 (29 matches)


Fastest serves by a woman (All-Time)

1 Venus Williams 207.6 km/h (129.0 mph) 2007 US Open
2 Serena Williams 207.0 km/h (128.6 mph) 2013 Australian Open
3 Julia Görges 203.0 km/h (126.1 mph) 2012 French Open
4 Brenda Schultz-McCarthy 202.7 km/h (126.0 mph) 2007 Indian Wells
5 Nadiya Kichenok 202.0 km/h (125.5 mph) 2014 Australian Open
6 Sabine Lisicki 201.2 km/h (125.0 mph) 2011 Stanford
7 Anna-Lena Groenefeld 201.1 km/h (125.0 mph) 2009 Indian Wells
8 Ana Ivanovic 201.0 km/h (124.9 mph) 2007 French Open
9 Kristina Mladenovic 200.0 km/h (124.3 mph) 2009 French Open
10 Tatjana Maria 199.6 km/h (124.0 mph) 2012 US Open

What's wrong with Stephens?

 

[captainbryce]

There is no such thing as "good serve" in WTA other than Serena, Henin was the other one with a good serve but she retired

Henin had a "fast" first serve for a woman, but it wasn't one of the best serves. It was way too predictable (she went down the T like 80% of the time), and too inconsistent. She actually changed her service motion like 3 or 4 times throughout the course of her career.

 

[captainbryce]

Davenport was also a good server and had a very good 2nd serve relative to first.

Excellent point. She should definitely be on the list.

 

[70後]

10 Serenas

 

[helloworld]

When she actually gets her first serve in, it's one of the best ones on the tour.

2013 WTA ACE Leaders

1 WILLIAMS , SERENA 480 (80 matches)
2 LISICKI , SABINE 297 (52 matches)
3 KVITOVA , PETRA 250 (70 matches)
4 KEYS , MADISON 225 (41 matches)
5 IVANOVIC , ANA 222 (61 matches)


2014 WTA ACE Leaders

1 PLISKOVA , KAROLINA 174 (23 matches)
2 WILLIAMS , SERENA 146 (18 matches)
3 GOERGES , JULIA 106 (15 matches)
4 PENNETTA , FLAVIA 92 (20 matches)
5 IVANOVIC , ANA 92 (29 matches)


Fastest serves by a woman (All-Time)

1 Venus Williams 207.6 km/h (129.0 mph) 2007 US Open
2 Serena Williams 207.0 km/h (128.6 mph) 2013 Australian Open
3 Julia Görges 203.0 km/h (126.1 mph) 2012 French Open
4 Brenda Schultz-McCarthy 202.7 km/h (126.0 mph) 2007 Indian Wells
5 Nadiya Kichenok 202.0 km/h (125.5 mph) 2014 Australian Open
6 Sabine Lisicki 201.2 km/h (125.0 mph) 2011 Stanford
7 Anna-Lena Groenefeld 201.1 km/h (125.0 mph) 2009 Indian Wells
8 Ana Ivanovic 201.0 km/h (124.9 mph) 2007 French Open
9 Kristina Mladenovic 200.0 km/h (124.3 mph) 2009 French Open
10 Tatjana Maria 199.6 km/h (124.0 mph) 2012 US Open

What's wrong with Stephens?

Wow, I didn't know Ivanovic with such an ugly ball toss could have pretty effective results!

 

[yangster007]

Wow, I didn't know Ivanovic with such an ugly ball toss could have pretty effective results!

When Ivanovic plays, I am always too busy to watch her toss if you know what I mean.

 

[SpinToWin]

When she actually gets her first serve in, it's one of the best ones on the tour.

2013 WTA ACE Leaders

1 WILLIAMS , SERENA 480 (80 matches)
2 LISICKI , SABINE 297 (52 matches)
3 KVITOVA , PETRA 250 (70 matches)
4 KEYS , MADISON 225 (41 matches)
5 IVANOVIC , ANA 222 (61 matches)


2014 WTA ACE Leaders

1 PLISKOVA , KAROLINA 174 (23 matches)
2 WILLIAMS , SERENA 146 (18 matches)
3 GOERGES , JULIA 106 (15 matches)
4 PENNETTA , FLAVIA 92 (20 matches)
5 IVANOVIC , ANA 92 (29 matches)


Fastest serves by a woman (All-Time)

1 Venus Williams 207.6 km/h (129.0 mph) 2007 US Open
2 Serena Williams 207.0 km/h (128.6 mph) 2013 Australian Open
3 Julia Görges 203.0 km/h (126.1 mph) 2012 French Open
4 Brenda Schultz-McCarthy 202.7 km/h (126.0 mph) 2007 Indian Wells
5 Nadiya Kichenok 202.0 km/h (125.5 mph) 2014 Australian Open
6 Sabine Lisicki 201.2 km/h (125.0 mph) 2011 Stanford
7 Anna-Lena Groenefeld 201.1 km/h (125.0 mph) 2009 Indian Wells
8 Ana Ivanovic 201.0 km/h (124.9 mph) 2007 French Open
9 Kristina Mladenovic 200.0 km/h (124.3 mph) 2009 French Open
10 Tatjana Maria 199.6 km/h (124.0 mph) 2012 US Open

What's wrong with Stephens?

sorry, but serve speed is a bad statistic to use for good servers. Good servers rarely lose their serve and have a lot of unreturned serves or weak responses off their serve because it is effective. Best example: Stosur. She is not on the list, but she serves with extreme kick and slice, which most women on tour cannot handle. Kvitova loses a lot of her service games unnecessarily.

 

[captainbryce]

sorry, but serve speed is a bad statistic to use for good servers. Good servers rarely lose their serve and have a lot of unreturned serves or weak responses off their serve because it is effective. Best example: Stosur. She is not on the list, but she serves with extreme kick and slice, which most women on tour cannot handle. Kvitova loses a lot of her service games unnecessarily.

I'd say that first serve percentage, and number of second serve points won are two stats that factor into "holding" serve more than the precision or speed of the shot itself. But I'm not asking who is the best at holding serve, I'm asking about who has the best "shot" (e.g., technique, power, placement, effectiveness). I've seen Serena Williams broken at love before due to having a low first serve percentage -- but she still has the best service motion technique in the world.

 

[captainbryce]

It's been almost two years, and I'm afraid by list doesn't change much. What say you guys?

 

[beltsman]

Who would you say are the best servers on the women's tour? Obviously, most people would put Serena Williams as the clear number one, but who are the other women who would make your list?

My list:

1. Serena Williams
2. Sabine Lisicki
3. Petra Kvitova
4. Samatha Stosur
5. Maria Sharapova
6. Nadia Petrova
7. Madison Keys
8. Venus Williams
9. Ana Ivanovic
10. Sloane Stephens

Follow up question: How come most women on the WTA are terrible servers? Outside of this list (and perhaps with the exception of a few more), their serves generally suck!

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/spor...liams-serve-is-best-shot-in-tennis/57336298/1

lmao that list drops off quickly...and by quickly I mean there is only one decent server before it goes off a cliff

 

[beltsman]

It's been almost two years, and I'm afraid by list doesn't change much. What say you guys?

Absolutely nothing has changed. All of WTA has horrific serves, besides Serena who is okay.

 

[Fedinkum]

No one mentioned the Pliskova twins? Their techniques and fundamentals are very sound. Plus their very tall frame. They have to be there somewhere in the top 10.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

No one mentioned the Pliskova twins? their techniques and fundamentals are very sound. They have to be there somewhere in the top 10.

Definitely, Kristýna (the less famous one) broke the WTA record against Puig earlier this year.

 

[nguyentuanson16792]

Sharapova at 5

 

[Fedinkum]

Definitely, Kristýna (the less famous one) broke the WTA record against Puig earlier this year.

yeah, I could never remember which Pliskova is better, but I remember they both have a lovely action, and the lefty one has the swing out wide slice, absolutely deadly.

 

[captainbryce]

No one mentioned the Pliskova twins? Their techniques and fundamentals are very sound. Plus their very tall frame. They have to be there somewhere in the top 10.

I've not seen either play, so I can't judge.

 

[donquijote]

Lucie Hradecka should be in the list.

 

[Moonballballer]

Michaela Krajicek should be high too

 

[I Am Finnish]

Coco vandeweghe?

 

[happyloman]

Pliskova

 

[I Am Finnish]

Pliskova

Krystina or karolina?

 

[tennis_pro]

Michaela Krajicek should be high too

Richard be proud.

 

[boredone3456]

On the current tour it's hard to say.

Serena is solid still even after all her years on the tour.

Venus used to be amazing now with her illness and everything her serve has definitely been affected.

Lisicki....ok she hit's hard but that's about it, power isn't everything and Lisicki isn't the most consistent on the serve.

Ivanovic, for her really weird serve motion is pretty affective on the serve, problem is her return game isn't consistent so she falls apart.

Stosur is awesome, especially her kick serve.

Keys from what I have seen has at least improved, I think Davenport is trying to work her in the area because God knows she is not a natural ball striker like Lindsay was...although keys isn't killer on the serve by any means.

I'm glad someone mentioned the Pliskova twins, while their overall games could grow more they do have decent serve mechanics. I think Kristyna is better on the serve of the 2 at her best, but she is way more inconsistent than her sister.

Some of the others are pure power servers, which isn't the be all and end all of serving. McCarthy had a big serve but it didn't always do her a huge load of good being just powerful...her placement was problematic at times like so many of the current ladies.

 

[happyloman]

Krystina or karolina?

Karolina. Haven't seen krysrina

 

[Fedinkum]

I think the lefty sister is even more deadly...but here is a taste of the right handed Pliskova. Kudos to the owner of the clip...very nicely composed.