Samuel Groth 163 MPH Serve Faster Than World's Fastest Car? (VIDEO)
A new record was broken in the tennis world Saturday with a high-speed serve during a recent tennis match in South Korea.
During a tennis match in South Korea, one player broke the world record of fastest tennis serve. Sam Groth was able to hit the ball at 263 kph (163 mph) Saturday during an ATP tennis match. Croatian born Ivo Karlovic, who in 2011 served the ball at 251 kph during the Davis Cup against Germany, held the previous record.
Groth is an Australian player ranked as the 340th best male tennis player in the world, according to SB Nation. The 6-foot, 4-inch player didn't immediately realize that he had broken the unofficial record, according to The Age. Groth admitted that at first, he was too busy grabbing his towel.
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''Then I looked around at my opponent,'' Groth said, ''and he was down the other end laughing.''
While Groth may not have won the match, losing 6-4, 6-3 to opponent Uladzimir Ignatik of Belarus, his serve definitely stood to amaze some.
''It became a bit of a talking point around the guys; I guess it's not something you see too often, where suddenly 263 pops up on a radar gun,' he explained.'
While not as fast as the world's fastest car, the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, which according to SuperCars.org can hit up to 267 mph, it is faster than most cars (only sports cars tend to surpass 160mph). Groth himself didn't appear too impressed however, although perhaps a bit surprised.
''I've always known I had a big serve, so I was sort of aware what the records were but obviously playing Challengers and stuff and having time off last year I haven't had that many opportunities to get in front of a gun, either,'' Groth admitted, adding that it's too bad that fast serves don't win the match.
"If you're an athlete and you run the fastest time you're going to win; in tennis, if you hit the fastest serve it doesn't necessarily mean you're going to win the match," Groth said.
