Backhand Speeds in Pro Tennis

This article looks at how fast professional tennis players on the ATP and WTA Tours hit their backhands on average, and find out who hits the fastest backhand in tennis.

The data for the backhands detailed below were mostly sourced from stats released by the tournament organizers at the 2021 Australian Open in relation to the top 10 average speeds and top 10 fastest speeds for backhands that were recorded at the 2021 tournament.

I will also look at how fast top tennis players like Alexander Zverev, Rafael Nadal, and the recently retired Roger Federer hit their backhands on average.

Average Backhand Speeds in Pro Tennis

Average Backhand Speeds in Tennis

The average speed of backhands in men’s tennis is between 65 and 80 Mph while the average speed in women’s tennis is slightly lower at between 60 and 75 Mph.

Men’s Tennis

Nikoloz Basilashvili had the fastest average speed in the below list with an average of 79.6mph with his two handed backhand.

The fastest one handed backhand player on the list is Dominic Thiem with an average speed of 69.4mph.

ATP PlayerOne or Two Handed?Speed (km/h)Speed (mph)
Nikoloz Basilashvili*Two128.179.6
Pedro Sousa*Two120.975.1
Aslan Karatsev*Two120.174.6
Norbert Gombos*Two119.874.4
Jannik Sinner*Two119.474.2
John Millman*Two118.073.3
Borna Coric*Two117.673.1
Gianluca Mager*Two117.573.0
Dominik Koepfer*Two116.372.2
Ugo Humbert*Two116.072.1
Rafael Nadal**Two112.369.8
Dominic Thiem**One108.567.4
Novak Djokovic**Two108.367.3
Alexander Zverev**Two107.867.0
Roger Federer**One106.466.1

*Average Speed data was from the 2021 Australian Open.

**Average Speed data as per the ATP Tour website.

Women’s Tennis

Camila Giorgi had the fastest average backhand speed in the below list with an average speed of 72.6mph with her two handed backhand.

WTA PlayerOne or Two Handed?Speed (km/h)Speed (mph)
Camila GiorgiTwo116.972.6
Bernarda PeraTwo116.072.1
Aryna SabalenkaTwo115.972.0
Elena RybakinaTwo115.471.7
Ajla TomljanovicTwo115.071.5
Coco GauffTwo114.771.3
Liudmila SamsonovaTwo114.571.1
Rebecca MarinoTwo113.970.8
Ana BogdanTwo113.870.7
Anastasia PotapovaTwo113.274.7

Fastest Backhand Speeds in Tennis

Below is a list of the top 10 fastest backhands that were recorded at the 2021 Australian Open in the men’s and women’s events.

Top 10 Fastest Speeds at the 2021 Australian Open (ATP)

In the 2021 Australian Open Men’s Singles tournament, Denis Shapovalov had the fastest recorded backhand at 101.4 mph.

The only other tennis player to hit a backhand of at least 100 mph was Nikoloz Basilashvili.

#ATP PlayerOne or Two Handed?Speed (km/h)Speed (mph)
1Denis ShapovalovOne163.2101.4
2Nikoloz BasilashviliTwo161.0100.0
3Rafael NadalTwo156.697.3
4Pierre-Hugues HerbertTwo154.996.3
5Grigor DimitrovOne154.395.9
6Alexander ZverevTwo153.995.6
7Stan WawrinkaOne153.895.5
8Alexei PopyrinTwo153.595.4
9Fobio FogniniTwo153.095.1
10Dominic ThiemOne150.793.6

Top 10 Fastest Speeds at the 2021 Australian Open (WTA)

In the 2021 Australian Open Women’s Singles tournament, Ana Bogdan had the fastest recorded backhand at 91.6mph, just ahead of Camila Giorgi (91.5mph), and Ajla Tomljanovic (91.2mph).

#WTA PlayerOne or Two Handed?Speed (km/h)Speed (mph)
1Ana BogdanTwo147.491.6
2Camila GiorgiTwo147.291.5
3Ajla TomljanovicTwo146.791.2
4Aryna SabalenkaTwo145.390.3
5Liudmila SamsonovaTwo143.188.9
6Bianca AndreescuTwo143.088.8
7Marta KostyukTwo142.688.6
8Arantxa RusTwo142.288.4
9Olga DanilovicTwo142.188.3
10Anastasia PavlyuchenkovaTwo141.788.0

You may also be interested in my article on forehand speeds in pro tennis.