Quentin Halys hit 32 aces against Holger Rune in Basel on Monday and still lost, 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5). Thirty-two is a big number for a best-of-three match. It is nowhere near the record. The ATP has kept ace counts since 1991, and its records split the best-of-five matches played at the Grand Slams from the best-of-three format used almost everywhere else on tour, because two extra sets change what is possible.
What counts as an ace
An ace is a serve that lands inside the service box and is not touched by the receiver. A serve the returner reaches but cannot put back in play does not count, however hard it was hit. How serving is built is covered in our serve explainer.
The record: 113
The most aces in a match belong to John Isner, who hit 113 against Nicolas Mahut in the first round at Wimbledon in 2010. Isner won the fifth set 70-68 after 11 hours, five minutes spread over three days, still the longest match on record. Wimbledon had no final-set tiebreak at the time, so the fifth set could end only with a break of serve.
Mahut later admitted the loss weighed on him. “At the start, it did bother me a lot because I was tired of being the handsome loser,” he said in 2025, the week he retired at the Rolex Paris Masters. Since 2022 all four majors have played a 10-point tiebreak at six games all in the deciding set, so a fifth set of that length can no longer happen. Our tiebreak rules explainer sets out the current format.
Isner finished his career as the ATP’s all-time ace leader. In his last singles match, at the 2023 US Open, he hit 48 aces and lost to Michael Mmoh in a fifth-set tiebreak.
The best-of-three record: 47
In three sets the record is 47, set by Milos Raonic against Cameron Norrie at Queen’s Club in June 2024. Raonic won 6-7 (6), 6-3, 7-6 (9), held all 17 of his service games and saved two match points. “With the scoreline and having to save match points, I probably needed every single one of those,” he said. He broke the record of 45 that Ivo Karlovic set against Tomas Berdych in the Halle quarterfinals in 2015.
Behind them, the highest best-of-three counts since 1991 include:
- 44: Karlovic, Zagreb 2014; Mark Philippoussis, Kuala Lumpur 1995; Nick Kyrgios, Brisbane 2019; Isner, Dallas 2023; Reilly Opelka, Brisbane 2026, in a second-round loss to Kamil Majchrzak
- 43: Isner, Queen’s Club 2016; Mardy Fish, Lyon 2007; Opelka, twice, New York 2019
The men who served 50
Fifty aces takes a best-of-five match, and it is rare even then. When Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard hit 51 to beat 20th seed Sebastian Korda in five sets in the first round at Wimbledon in 2024, a match he reached as a lucky loser, he became the seventh man to hit more than 50 in a match. Isner and Karlovic are among the others. Opelka hit 67 in 2019, the most by anyone that season, and lost to Thomas Fabbiano.
Why the biggest totals often come in defeat
Opelka’s 67, his 44 in Brisbane this year, Isner’s 48 against Mmoh and Halys’s 32 on Monday all came in losses. Mpetshi Perricard hit 44 aces in the last round of Wimbledon qualifying in 2024 and lost that match too. Ace totals climb with the length of a match, and matches go long when neither server is broken, which means sets are settled in tiebreaks, where a handful of return points decide the result. A server can win almost every point on his own delivery and still lose a match decided by three or four points on the other man’s.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most aces ever hit in a tennis match? 113, by John Isner against Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon in 2010.
What is the record in a best-of-three match? 47, by Milos Raonic against Cameron Norrie at Queen’s Club in 2024.
Who has hit the most aces in a career? John Isner is the ATP’s all-time leader. The ATP’s ace records begin in 1991.
Does a serve the returner touches count as an ace? No. Only a serve that lands in and is not touched by the receiver is an ace.
Season Snapshot (as of 27 October 2026)
2026 highs. As of 13 July, the most aces in a best-of-three match this season were Opelka’s 44 in his loss to Majchrzak in Brisbane, and the most in a best-of-five match were Alexander Bublik’s 48 in his third-round win over Frances Tiafoe at Wimbledon.
Season leaders. As of 13 July: Taylor Fritz 580, Alexander Zverev 528, Felix Auger-Aliassime 470, Jannik Sinner 454, Hubert Hurkacz 434.
Fastest serves. Mpetshi Perricard had the fastest average first serve on the ATP Tour in 2025, at 134.4 mph (216.3 km/h), and the fastest average second serve, at 117 mph. He plays Arthur Fils in the first round in Basel this week. The Swiss Indoors Basel guide has the draw.
This snapshot is dated and will change. The career record above does not.
