Wimbledon 2025 Historic Moment Draws Gasps at Centre Court originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
Move over F1, because tennis is stepping on the gas.
Fans flock to Wimbledon every year to witness the world’s best tennis players battle it out at the oldest tennis championship in the world and speed is on full display this year.
The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club’s iconic grass courts provide a faster playing surface which tends to shorten rallies and favors speed off the first serve.
While the average first serve in men’s professional tennis is around 120 mph, it’s not uncommon to see players hit occasional serves in the 130 and even 140 mph range during tournament play.
Seeing a serve in the 150s? Almost never, which is why the crowd had an audible reaction to Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard’s record breaking serve during his first round match against Taylor Fritz at Wimbledon on Monday.
In the video posted on Wimbledon’s X account, Perricard is just three points into the first set when he serves an absolute bullet, clocking a mind-blowing 153 mph.
Audible gasps can be heard from the crowd immediately following the serve which Fritz, 27, amazingly gets his racket on and lets Newton’s Third Law of Motion take it from there.
At 153 miles per hour, Perricard’s serve set a new Wimbledon serve speed record, breaking Taylor Dent’s previously held record of 148 mph at the event in 2010. The record breaking serve by Perricard, 21, is emblematic of a trend among the younger cohort of tennis players bringing immense power and speed to the game.
Ben Shelton, 22, turned heads during his U.S. Open debut in 2023 where he hit the fastest serve of the tournament at 149 mph.
Perricard lost the point during his record breaking serve. After four sets, the match was suspended due to Wimbledon’s 11 p.m. curfew. Play resumed the next day, and Fritz ultimately won in five sets.
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This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 3, 2025, where it first appeared.