John Isner, an American tennis player, has never won a major Grand Slam tennis tournament (his best performance was to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2018) but he did win 16 ATP titles. However, he is well-remembered as having one of the best serves ever, having achieved the most aces in the history of the ATP Tour, a total of 14,470. In one singles match (the astonishing eleven hour five minute first round Wimbledon match against Nicolas Mahut in 2010 which he won with a final score of 6–4, 3–6, 6–7(7–9), 7–6(7–3), 70 – 68 - a total of 183 games) he served up an astonishing 113 aces (Mahut only served 103 aces – only!). It will probably not surprise us to learn that the fastest recorded serve at any ATP event was also by a certain John Isner, at 253.0 km/h (157.0 mph) in the first round of the 2016 Davis Cup. Imagine receiving that service!
John Isner also holds the record for the most aces in a single tournament, when he served up 214 at Wimbledon in 2018 though Goran Ivanisevic holds the record for the most aces in a single season, with 1,477 in 1996. Other interesting statistics about serves are that Ivo Karlovic became the only player to hit at least 40 aces in three consecutive matches (which he did during 2015 Wimbledon) while Sam Querrey holds the record for the most consecutive aces in a single match, that being ten, which he achieved in the Quarter-finals of the 2007 Indianapolis tournament. It is not easy to achieve aces all the time; indeed, this season, Alexander Zverev has the highest percentage for first-serves being ‘in’ with 69.9%. Ben Shelton is only one of a very few people who have won all 24 points in a 6-0 set while serving (called “a golden set”) which he achieved in the third set of his match against Roberto Bautista Agut at the US Open.
We would not be totally out of line or off track therefore to conclude that service in tennis is rather important. In fact, the obvious truth is that a player will never win a point if they do not get their service in. It does not have to be an ace (though it would obviously help greatly) but the harder or stronger the serve, the better, for the point to be won. We may be brilliant at the slice, lob, top spin, backhand, drop shot but if we do not get our serve in, we will achieve nothing. It is as simple as that.
There are so many life lessons to learn from tennis in this regard but the clear and necessary lesson to learn is that the whole point and purpose of life depends on our service for others; there is no point in life if we do not get our service in. As we pause in between games, we do well to reflect on that point, again and again. We must make sure we serve well. Equally, though, there are many other relevant lessons we can learn about service.
The beauty is that even if we fail with our first serve, we still have another chance; in life we need to make the most of our service opportunities but if we mess up one, we still have another chance. As in tennis, we can go all out with our service in life as we know we can have another opportunity; we need to give it our all. Furthermore, it is not good enough to serve well once, fulfilling the point of that rally or experience; we need to do it again and again. Service needs to be repeated, regularly, consistently, accurately. But as in tennis, we need to think carefully about where we serve and how we serve, to ensure it will be to the best advantage. We do not just hit and hope or do anything and hope that something good may come of it. No, we need to think carefully about what we do.
Above all, as with tennis service, we need to compose ourself before we serve, to give it our very best. And as with tennis service, we do not want anything to come back our way; we are not in service in the community for what will come to us. We must give it our all and not seek any reward; the reward is seeing the point being secured.
In recent weeks Zimbabwe hosted four other African countries for the 2025 Davis Cup qualifiers but in being defeated in each match many lessons will have been learned. Our role at school is to help children learn crucial life lessons through sport and tennis provides numerous lessons. What it all boils down to is this: in life as in tennis, it all starts with service. We must ace our service; we must first serve. “The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity”, the classic novelist Leo Tolstoy declared. Serve well and we win. It is as easy as that. It is about time we taught it. Have we got the point yet?
