Ben Shelton recently took to social media to dispute the speed of his serve during his second-round match at Wimbledon.
It was widely reported that one of Shelton’s pacey serves in that match against Lloyd Harris had earned the young American a place in the history books as the fastest-recorded serve in Wimbledon history.
Trailing by two sets to one, Shelton opened the first game of the fourth set against the South African qualifier with the fastest recorded serve at Wimbledon, clocking at 153 mph that Harris could not return to go 40-0 up.
It was picked up by the radar gun on Court 18 and can be seen in the video below. Now, that number was of immense importance because it was higher than Sam Groth’s bullet serve (second-fasted at the 2015 Championships), measured at 147 mph in a match against Roger Federer.
It also eclipsed the current record holder, Taylor Dent of the USA, who sent down a 148 mph serve while competing at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships.
But according to the post-match stats sheet from the official Wimbledon website, Shelton’s recorded serve during the match against Harris (which he turned around to win in five sets) was actually 138 mph, falling short of the tournament’s record.
And the American flagged the report, instilling him as the new record holder for the fastest serve at Wimbledon. He believed the radar gun malfunctioned as his second-serve kicker was, by his estimation, no more than 85 mph.
“Btw this is fake news. It was a slow kick 2nd serve. Prolly 85 mph. Radar gun malfunction.”
While Shelton was denied the record, he has previously made a name for himself as one of the best servers in men’s tennis. He dominated the serving charts during his first Grand Slam tournament outside the US soil, at the 2023 Australian Open.
The 21-year-old lefty also turned heads during his run to the 2023 US Open semifinal last summer when he hammered the fastest serve at the tournament since 2003 at 149 mph.
