Yours truly was watching Tallon Griekspoor take on Max Schoenhaus at the European Open in Brussels, enjoying what was otherwise a fairly typical afternoon of indoor tennis, when it occurred to me that there had been an unusually large number of aces, which naturally led to the rather pointless but suddenly irresistible question of just how many aces two professional tennis players could hit in a match that lasted only two sets, and whether the two gentlemen were anywhere near the record.
By that stage, they had already combined for more than 25. And by the time Schoenhaus won the second set, the count, according to the live statistics I was following, had reached 39. Griekspoor had hit 28. Schenhaus had contributed another 11.
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Had the Dutchman managed to finish the match in straight sets, that would have been an extraordinary number, so, naturally, I went looking for the record. And discovered that some tennis players have apparently spent entire afternoons doing little more than serving balls past one another.
This is the gold standard, and it is hard to imagine a more appropriate pairing. Opelka defeated Isner 7-6 7-6 in the Dallas Open semi-finals, with the two Americans combining for an astonishing 60 aces.
Opelka hit 39 while Isner managed a comparatively modest 21. Neither player faced a single break point, but the most extraordinary part was the second-set tiebreak, which Opelka eventually won 24-22.
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That is 46 points played just to determine one tiebreak. Opelka saved ten set points and needed eight match points to finally end the contest. His 39 aces also established the ATP Tour record for the most aces by one player in a two-set match, based on records dating back to 1991.
Another appearance for Isner which will probably shock you. Steve Johnson defeated his fellow American 7-6 7-6 in the Washington quarter-finals and according to historical match statistics, Isner struck 30 aces and Johnson added 22.
That makes 52. Once again, there were no breaks of serve, and once again, the decisive tiebreak became an endurance contest. Johnson eventually won the second-set breaker 17-15, having survived numerous set points.
Perhaps the most entertaining detail is that he lobbed the 6-foot-10 Isner at an important moment. Apparently, even when serves become almost impossible to return, somebody eventually has to find another way to win a point.
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Before Isner and Opelka tormented returners, Andy Roddick and Ivo Karlović did much the same. Their 2009 Queen’s Club quarter-final featured 50 combined aces: Roddick hit 24, and Karlović hit 26.
The American eventually prevailed 7-6 7-6 with only two break points being created during the entire match, both against Karlović late in the second set. The Croatian saved them, but unfortunately for him, Roddick was rather better at playing the important points in the tiebreaks.
The match also produced an astonishing combined ace rate of 34.2%, according to Tennis Abstract, so in other words, more than one in every three points ended without the returner touching the serve.
Roddick makes another appearance, this time against Joachim Johansson. The American defeated the Swede 6-3 7-6 at the 2004 San Jose tournament with the two players combining for 42 aces despite the opening set lasting only nine games.
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That is what makes this particular encounter remarkable. The Dallas and Washington matches benefited from two full tiebreak sets, including exceptionally long breakers. Roddick and Johansson managed their total in considerably fewer games.
Tennis Abstract recorded a combined ace rate of 31.6%, so it was one of those matches in which the person receiving serve probably spent much of the afternoon wondering whether standing a little further back would accomplish anything.
Our final example returns us to Washington, and to a familiar name. Karlović defeated Jack Sock 7-6 7-6 in the quarter-finals. The Croatian hit 26 aces, while Sock contributed 12, for 38 in two sets.
Karlović also saved all four break points he faced, and neither player lost a service game, so it was a pretty simple match. Karlović served exceptionally well while Sock struggled to find answers, and the match was decided by a handful of points in the tiebreaks.
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Which, come to think of it, describes much of Karlović’s career.
The obvious common denominator is serving ability. Isner, Opelka, Karlović, and Roddick were among the most accomplished servers of their generations. But there is another requirement. The opponent also has to hold serve.
A player can hit 30 aces and still finish with a relatively small combined total if his opponent contributes only a handful. That is why two excellent servers meeting on a relatively quick court provide the ideal conditions.
Tiebreaks help enormously too. Every additional service game creates opportunities for more aces, while an especially long tiebreak can add another ten or 15 points to the match. The Dallas record is the perfect example. It combined two enormous servers, two tiebreak sets and one extraordinarily long decider. Getting anywhere near 60 aces without those circumstances would be very difficult indeed.
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Which brings us back to Brussels. Griekspoor and Schenhaus reaching 39 combined aces through two sets was enough to send me searching through decades of tennis statistics. That total is only 11 short of the verified Roddick–Karlović encounter at Queen’s Club and 21 behind the extraordinary Dallas record. It would have been number 5 on the list had it ended in two sets.
More importantly, it also reminds us that tennis statistics can be wonderfully peculiar. Most people watching a match care about who wins. Occasionally, though, an entirely different contest develops alongside the score.
One involving two servers, an increasingly helpless returner, and the question of just how many times a tennis ball can fly past somebody before the afternoon is over.
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Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane – USA TODAY Sports
