The serve has always been the most important shot in tennis, as it’s the only one players are in complete control of.
As such, big servers have always been a threat on both the ATP and WTA tours, with some players rising to the top of professional tennis having mastered the shot despite having big weaknesses in the rest of their games.
The best server, statistically, in the men’s game currently is world number one Jannik Sinner, who has a tour-high serving rating of 302.4.
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Sinner has come on leaps and bounds with his serve over the past year, having recently won Wimbledon after conceding just one break point across the second week of the tournament.
But according to Serena Williams’ former coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, the Italian is not yet a top-five server in tennis history.
Patrick Mouratoglou names the five best servers in history
In a post on Instagram, Mouratoglou said: “I have rated the five best serves in the history of our sport.
“First of all, I want to apologise, Andy Roddick and Goran Ivanisevic. Maybe they are just one millimetre away from the top five. I had to choose. Sorry.
“My number five is Roger Federer. His serve is unbelievable. He masters all the spins, hits a lot of aces. And when he was playing serve and volley, he was winning so many points.
“Number four, Nick Kyrgios. I think for a guy of his size, unbelievable.
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“Number three, Ivo Karlovic. A giant. Of course, a big advantage. His serve was doing 90% of the job.
“Number two, John Isner. Another giant. I think he just had more variety, could do more things with his serve.
“And number one is a big surprise for everyone. It’s Sampras. ‘Oh, but Kalovic is serving bigger than Sampras.’ Yes and no.
“I just took into consideration the height of the guy. He’s probably around 30 centimetres smaller than the two other guys. And if you look at the serve, the number of aces, the quality of his second serve, the confidence he had in his serve is number one for me.”
What Roger Federer said about Pete Sampras’ serve
For many years, Pete Sampras was considered the greatest player of all time, with the American once holding the record for the most Grand Slam titles in men’s tennis history.
A big part of Sampras’ success was his serve, which Roger Federer explained back in 2018.
As per Tennis 365 that year, Federer said of Sampras: “I think his success at Wimbledon, being able to win it seven times is amazing.
“And he finished off with the US Open victory. It was very special against his biggest rival, Andre Agassi. I think that’s what I’ll remember most of him.
“But especially his fluid game. I guess the best serve we’ve seen in tennis history, even though today we also have some good ones.
“But it’s just the way he used it and the way he backed it up. And, you know, what a smooth mover he was, as well, which he never really got credit for.”
Federer and Sampras played just once on the ATP Tour, with the Swiss winning their sole meeting at Wimbledon in 2001.
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