Venus Williams served a thundering serve at 128 mph (206 kph) in her second round match at the French Open against another American Ashley Harkleroad.

Photo by FFT

Venus was a set and 4:1 up when she served the record serve. She then won the game for 5:1 and then…

“I really just got over confident. I was just feeling like I couldn’t lose and then it was even. So it was definitely a mistake that I’ve made before, not often.”

Venus eventually won the match 6-1, 7-6. And did she think about her record serve?

“I loved it. That’s where I think my focus got a little bit ‑‑ I lost a little bit because I saw the 206. I was so excited because I broke my record. I just lost a bit of focus there, for sure. And I’m really glad that I broke that record, because, I mean, when I was younger, I was always trying to serve harder and harder, and now I’m not trying to serve hard. It comes hard. So it was unexpected.”

But this serve was still not the fastest in women’s tennis history. WTA released a press release a little later stating that Brenda Schultz McCarthy served the fastest serve in her qualifying match in Cincinatti last year at 130 mph.

So Venus now officially holds the record for the fastest serve in the main draw.

Here is quick comparison of the fastest servers at French Open until today:

Related posts:


• Slovenia With 3 Players In The First Round Of Wimbledon 2009
• Gilles Muller And His Incredible Run At The US Open 2008
• 6 Mental Reasons Why Serena Williams Lost To Justine Henin
• Interview Insights – Ana Ivanovic at US Open 2009
• The Worst American Performance at the French Open in at least 30 years

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 30th, 2007 at 11:09 pm and is filed under French Open, Venus Williams. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.