This article looks at how fast pro tennis players on the ATP and WTA Tours hit their forehands.
The forehand speeds below were mostly sourced from data released by the tournament organizers at the 2021 Australian Open in relation to the top 10 average and top 10 fastest speeds recorded of forehands hit at the 2021 tournament in Melbourne.
I will also look at the forehand speeds of top players like Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and Serena Williams, who are known for having some of the best forehands of all time.
Average Forehand Speeds in Tennis
From analyzing the data below, it seems that the average speed of forehands in Men’s tennis is between 65 and 85 Mph while the average speed in Women’s tennis was slightly lower at between 60 and 80 Mph.
Men’s tennis
Nikoloz Basilashvili had the fastest average ATP forehand recorded for a male player at the 2021 Aussie Open with an average of 82.5 MPH.
Marin Cilic, Botic van de Zandschulp, and Soon-woo Kwon were the only other players to hit their forehand over 80mph.
Average Speeds on the ATP Tour
| Player’s Name | Speed (km/h) | Speed (mph) |
|---|---|---|
| Nikoloz Basilashvili | 132.7 | 82.5 |
| Marin Cilic | 129.7 | 80.6 |
| Botic van de Zandschulp | 129.4 | 80.4 |
| Soon-woo Kwon | 128.9 | 80.1 |
| Norbert Gombos | 128.3 | 79.9 |
| Andreas Seppi | 127.6 | 79.3 |
| Aslan Karatsev | 127.6 | 79.3 |
| Reilly Opelka | 127.4 | 79.2 |
| Jan-Lennard Struff | 127.0 | 78.9 |
| Guido Pella | 126.5 | 78.6 |
| Rafael Nadal* | 122.9 | 76.4 |
| Roger Federer** | 111.1 | 69.0 |
*Average Speed for Rafael Nadal’s forehand at the 2021 Monte Carlo Masters.
**Average Speed for Roger Federer’s forehand at the 2019 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
Women’s Tennis
Veronika Kudermetova had the fastest average WTA forehand recorded for a female player at the 2021 Australian Open with an average of 76.6 MPH.
Average Speeds on the WTA Tour
| Player’s Name | Speed (km/h) | Speed (mph) |
|---|---|---|
| Veronika Kudermetova | 123.3 | 76.6 |
| Liudmila Samsonova | 123.0 | 76.4 |
| Jennifer Brady | 122.0 | 75.8 |
| Camila Giorgi | 121.6 | 75.6 |
| Arantxa Rus | 121.5 | 75.5 |
| Danka Kovinic | 120.9 | 75.1 |
| Maria Sakkari | 120.9 | 75.1 |
| Bernarda Pera | 120.6 | 74.9 |
| Kaia Kanepi | 120.6 | 74.9 |
| Katie Boulter | 120.3 | 74.7 |
| Serena Williams*** | 117.5 | 73.0 |
***Average Speed of Serena Williams’ forehand was according to Stats on the T.
Fastest Forehand Speeds in Tennis
2021 Australian Open (ATP)
The fastest forehand recorded at the 2021 Australian Open by a male player was 105.3 MPH, which was hit by the American Reilly Opelka.
Fastest Speeds on ATP Tour
| # | Player’s Name | Speed (km/h) | Speed (mph) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reilly Opelka | 169.5 | 105.3 |
| 2 | Alexei Popyrin | 168.2 | 104.5 |
| 3 | Nick Kyrgios | 167.6 | 104.1 |
| 4 | Casper Ruud | 167.3 | 103.9 |
| 5 | Matteo Berrettini | 166.5 | 103.5 |
| 6 | Alex Bolt | 166.4 | 103.4 |
| 7 | Laslo Djere | 166.1 | 103.2 |
| 8 | Aslan Karatsev | 166.0 | 103.1 |
| 9 | Vasek Pospisil | 165.5 | 102.8 |
| 10 | Hubert Hurkacz | 164.8 | 102.4 |
2021 Australian Open (WTA)
The fastest forehand recorded at the 2021 Australian Open by a female player was 98.5mph and was hit by Arantxa Rus.
Kaia Kanepi was in second place with her fastest forehand being 97.1mph.
Fastest Speeds on the WTA Tour
| # | WTA Player | Speed (km/h) | Speed (mph) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arantxa Rus | 158.6 | 98.5 |
| 2 | Kaia Kanepi | 156.2 | 97.1 |
| 3 | Olga Danilovic | 155.2 | 96.4 |
| 4 | Kristina Mladenovic | 154.5 | 96.0 |
| 5 | Donna Vekic | 154.1 | 95.8 |
| 6 | Maria Sakkari | 152.5 | 94.8 |
| 7 | Iga Swiatek | 152.4 | 94.7 |
| 8 | Sloane Stephens | 152.3 | 94.6 |
| 9 | Jennifer Brady | 151.5 | 94.1 |
| 10 | Veronika Kudermetova | 151.1 | 93.9 |
Below is a video from TennisTV showing some of the fastest forehands on the ATP Tour including forehands hit by Gael Monfils (186km), and Juan Martin Del Potro (172km).