Taylor Dent: 139MPH

The highlight of the day at the Mercedes Open was Taylor Dent serving Carlos Moya sixteen (!) aces in a game that would go to Dent 6-3, 6-4. There were a couple games which were all aces for Dent.

This picture was taken after a 130MPH serve.

This picture was taken right before...

...WHACK!... a 139MPH (the record for the day) serve straight at Moya who couldn't get out of the way.

That's junior sh*t bro...

Newcomb, John. The Book of Tennis Lists. Norman Giller, 1985: 21

"'Big Bill' Tilden delivered the fastest serve ever officially measured. It was timed at 163.6 m.p.h. in 1931. Britain's Mike Sangster had a serve timed at 154 m.p.h. in 1963. Ellsworth Vines was clocked at 128 m.p.h. and his 1930s contemporary Lester Rollo Stoeten sent down a serve timed at 131 m.p.h. The fastest serve scientifically timed was the 137 m.p.h. cannonball from American Scott Carnahan at Los Angeles in 1976. Then in 1981 a West German lawn tennis coach and statistician, Horst Goepper, claimed a serving speed of 199.53 m.p.h.during a test in Weinheim."

What's the difference...

...between a serve that was "officially measured" and a serve that was "scientifically timed"? And I'm sure Dent would love to "claim" a serving speed of 199MPH, except he's got a game to play. The problem with stats: they don't mean sh*t until you've got context. Take 'em with a grain of salt.