A tennis ball launched at 230 km/h against your wrist isn’t a pleasant experience. Just ask Ben Shelton, who bore the brunt of Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard’s monster serve at last year’s Swiss Indoor finals in Basel.
But Shelton, who kicked off his Australian Open campaign against fellow countryman Brandon Nakashima on Tuesday, could at least be thankful he wasn’t facing Sam Groth.
Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard hits America’s Ben Shelton with a booming serve.Credit: Tennis TV
In 2012, the Australian launched the fastest serve in recorded history during the Busan Open: a bomb clocked at 263.4 km/h.
But how do the serves of Perricard and Groth compare with the speeds of other sporting projectiles? Fast as it was, Groth’s record-breaking tennis shot pales when measured against another racquet sport.
We look at some of the fastest balls ever struck.
Badminton
Coming in as the fastest “ball” in any sport is the birdie (or shuttlecock) in badminton. While not technically a ball, the shuttlecock can reach eye-watering speeds – especially if smashed by India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy.
In a controlled environment, Rankireddy clocked an earth-shattering 565 km/h. For context, that is nearly halfway to the speed of sound (1,236 km/h), almost twice as fast as an F1 car, five times as fast as a cheetah at full speed and 12 times as fast as Usain Bolt. Still only 24 years old, Rankireddy may well beat his own record in the future.
Malaysia’s Tan Pearly hit the birdie at 438 km/h for the fastest speed clocked by a female – still considerably quicker than the next sport on the list.
Golf
Professional long driver Kyle Berkshire holds the record for hitting the fastest golf ball, at 388.8 km/h, which he achieved at an indoor net in 2023. In a tournament environment, where accuracy is king, America’s Cameron Champ leads the pack, clocking an average speed of just over 306 km/h off the tee.
Soccer
While Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are the biggest names in the game, neither comes close to Brazilian Ronny Heberson when it comes to power shooting. Playing for Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon against Associação Naval in 2007, Heberson scored from a free-kick clocked at 210km/h. Even better, his 88th-minute strike was the only goal of the game, securing victory for his side.
Baseball
Two players have become synonymous with heavy hits in the MLB: Yankees Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge, who have racked up 13 of the 21 hardest home runs in history.
Of the two, Stanton has the fastest, clocking a 2018 homer at 195.8 km/h. However, the hardest-hit ball in the MLB came from Oneil Cruz, who crunched one at 196.9 km/h against the Atlanta Braves in 2022.
When it comes to pitching, Aroldis Chapman, then at the Cincinnati Reds, threw a 170 km/h ball which has held the record for fastest pitch for almost 15 years.
Cricket
Pakistani pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar earned the nickname the “Rawalpindi Express” when he set a record for fastest delivery ever during the 2003 ICC World Cup. In a match against England, Akhtar sent one down at 161.3 km/h, making him the first of only three bowlers — alongside Australian duo Brett Lee and Shaun Tait — to break 100 mph.
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