By hitting 19 of them to defeat Roberto Bautista Agut in the second round in Paris, Hubert Hurkacz became the 9th player to total 1,000 aces in a single ATP Tour season (since 1991, when this data started being collected by the ATP). Who were the other eight?
Sampras was first, Ivanisevic still holds the record
In the first season with official stats, Guy Forget topped the list with 595 aces in 84 matches. The first player to go over 1,000 was one of the greatest ever, 14-time Grand Slam champion Pete Sampras (1,011 in 1993).
Goran Ivanisevic came close a year earlier with 957 and went on to dominate this metric in the 1990s (he was also the first player to hit 10,000 aces in his career). The Croat, who won 2001 Wimbledon as a wildcard and coaches Novak Djokovic, made it over a thousand on four occasions and blasted a staggering 1,477 aces in 1996, which remains the record to this day.
The next player to join this elite club was Andy Roddick. He won the US Open and finished year-end No. 1 in 2003 but came 11 aces short of 1,000, returning with 1,017 the year after. One of the greatest servers of all time is Ivo Karlovic (2nd on the all-time list), who managed 1,318 aces in 2007 and was then back with three more contributions to the list in 2014-16, including a personal best of 1,447 in 2015.
Isner with the most longevity
It’s no surprise that John Isner is right up there. In fact, he leads the field in most seasons with over 1,000 aces (just like he leads the all-time aces leaderboard). Between 2010 and 2019, he managed to get onto the list on seven occasions, peaking at 1,260 in 2015.
Three more players got over 1,000 in the 2010s, with two of them currently on the brink of wrapping up their careers. Milos Raonic reached 1,002 in 2012 and 1,107 in 2014, while Kevin Anderson got 1,074 in 2015 and 1,082 in 2018. One that could easily add to this count (but is currently struggling with his health, back after 15 months of inactivity) is Reilly Opelka, who hit 1,014 aces in 2019.
Hurkacz is currently on 1,004, with 66 matches played in 2023. It’s practically impossible for anyone else to join him this year, as he’s the only player whose mark stands at over 700. But the Pole hasn’t said the last word. He’s still in the Paris draw, and if he needs it to secure Nitto ATP Finals qualification, Hurkacz will also compete in Metz next week. And then if he manages to make Turin…
Over 1000 aces in an ATP Tour season (since 1991):
Sampras – 1993
Ivanisevic – 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998
Roddick – 2004
Karlovic – 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016
Isner – 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
Raonic – 2012, 2014
Anderson – 2015, 2018
Opelka – 2019
HURKACZ – 2023— Damian Kust (@damiankust) November 1, 2023
Main Photo Credit: Peter van den Berg – USA TODAY Sports
