Canada’s Milos Raonic has the second-fastest serve at the Australian Open this year with 234 km/h. In first is Australia’s Sam Groth, at 235 km.JASON REED/Reuters
A tennis ball booms off the racquet of Milos Raonic at more than 230 kilometres an hour, one of the best serves in tennis history – and far faster than a big-league fastball or a hockey slap shot.
The man on the other side of the court can take some solace that the tennis ball – much more so than a baseball or hockey puck – will slow significantly, losing roughly half its velocity, as it travels over the net and bounces off the court before it is to be returned.
"It's not fun. Not fun at all," said Grant Connell, the Canadian who played in the 1990s and was once No. 1-ranked in doubles. The biggest serve of his era was Goran Ivanisevic, who hit more than 10,000 aces – the second-most in history.
"It's really a bit of a guessing game," Connell said. "The guys nowadays are so good, I can't even imagine returning serves today. With some people, it can come up on you so ridiculously fast. You get used to it, and you adapt to it. But a regular player can't really relate to it; it's not possible."
Raonic's serve has been crafted since he grew up in the Toronto suburbs, spending a third or more of practice on his serve. Today, at 6 foot 5, his serve is the bedrock of his game and has helped him reach the Australian Open semi-final, a Canadian men's first.
Raonic does not always post the fastest serve – at the Australian Open this year, Raonic's 234 km/h is second to the 235 banged out by Sam Groth of Australia – but it is notably faster than others. The third-fastest serve in Australia has been 226 km/h, from American John Isner. The eight km/h gap between Raonic in second and Isner in third is the same as between Isner and the 14th-fastest serve, Andy Murray, Raonic's semi-final opponent, at 218 km/h.
Raonic does not necessarily gun for aces. He is second with 84 in five matches. Isner, who lost in the fourth round, had 114.
Raonic, however, is tied for first in first-service points won, with 83 per cent.
His Australia performance mirrors his game in recent years.
In 2014 and 2015, Raonic was top five in aces and in both years second in first-serve points won, at more than 80 per cent, both times behind No. 1 Ivo Karlovic and No. 3 Roger Federer.
Karlovic, 36, is 6 foot 11 and has the most aces in history, 10,457, but has never cracked tennis's top 10. Federer is No. 3 all-time in aces, but hits them at about a third of the rate of Karlovic.
Raonic seeks "unpredictability" on his serve. He also bounces the ball an even number of times before serving. Six if he feels good. Eight or 10 if he feels stress.
"It's all about being able to do different types of serves from the same start, from the same motion," Raonic said at a sponsor event in 2014. "That way I can keep [the returner] out of rhythm and off balance as much as possible."
In tennis, there are upward of 0.7 seconds to handle a serve that starts at 190 km/h – a fairly typical speed – across the 78-foot tennis court. On arrival, it is down to about 100 km/h. When Raonic launches one of his 230-plus serves, it's going 160 km before it bounces, 135 after the bounce and about 115 at the baseline.
Compared with baseball or hockey, there is more time to return a tennis ball than there is to hit a fastball or stop a hockey puck.
On the ice, a goalie can have as little as 0.2 seconds to deal with a slap shot from the slot.
It's not a reaction. It's reflex. Like in tennis or a baseball hitter, it's ability and years of practice. The object can move so fast that for a portion of its journey the human eye doesn't really see it.
"When the puck is coming at you from a guy like Al Macinnis or Brett Hull or Al Iafrate, the key is you have to see the puck leave the stick," retired goaltender Kelly Hrudey said.
Hockey has variables that tennis and baseball do not: tipped pucks, and the traffic of bodies.
And then there are the greats, who didn't have the biggest slap shots. Hrudey and Wayne Gretzky were teammates for eight seasons. Gretzky was a magician in the way the puck left his stick.
"I could never figure out his release," Hrudey said. "It fooled your eyes."
In baseball, a hitter has less than half a second – roughly 0.4 seconds – between the ball leaving the pitcher's hand and arriving at the plate.
"Piece of cake," laughed Matt Stairs, who played 19 seasons in the majors, with two seasons of 100-plus runs batted in.
"A fastball is an easy pitch to swing at, but not an easy one to hit. You rely more on using your hands than your body. If you use your hands, you'd be surprised how quickly you can get to a ball, where if you have a lot of body movement, by the time you swing, the ball is by you."
Stairs has seen his share. And hit his share. He has the most pinch-hit homers in history, 23. He faced heat from the start. The first big-league pitcher he faced, in 1992, was Rob Dibble, the flame-throwing closer for the Cincinnati Reds.
"He had a violent windup and threw the ball well," Stairs said. "It was in the mitt before you could even take a swing."