Meet the Grand Slam champion who served more double faults in a match than anyone else and still won

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Even for the best in the game, mastering the serve can be a real challenge. Just ask Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff.

Long before she became one of the most dominant servers on tour, Sabalenka had her own battles with consistency, often piling up double faults in double figures.

Now it’s Gauff dealing with similar problems. Her 23 double faults against Danielle Collins at the Canadian Open made that clear.

But back at the 1999 Australian Open, someone went beyond even those numbers, setting a record for double faults in a single match that still stands today.

Amazingly, despite all those errors, they still came away with the win. The world record for most double faults served in a professional tennis match belonged to Germany’s Andrea Petkovic who hit 23 against Anna Chakvetadze at the US Open back in 2007.

Anna Kournikova hit 31 double faults in one match

Back at the 1999 Australian Open, a 17-year-old Anna Kournikova was already making waves as the 12th seed and a rising star on the WTA Tour.

But in her opening singles match, she had a day to forget, hitting 31 double faults during a 1-6, 6-4, 10-8 win over Japan’s Miho Saeki. That number still stands as the most double faults recorded by a player in a professional singles match.

Speaking after the match, Kournikova addressed the issue head-on. “It has been happening for a while so I am kind of used to it [smiling],” she said via The Independent. “I’m really frustrated with it just like everybody who is watching.”

“In practice I feel fine, I serve normal and there’s no sign of double faults – it’s just when I come to the line, when I play there’s something happening so I’m just going to have to get over it and try to fight through.” Kournikova went on to reach the fourth round before falling to Mary Pierce.

Kournikova found success later that year in women’s doubles, winning her first Grand Slam title alongside Martina Hingis. She would later reach world number one in doubles rankings in November that same year. The duo repeated their Australian Open victory three years later in 2002.

What Kournikova’s opponent said after the match

Kournikova’s serving issues certainly had an impact on a match that saw 149 unforced errors and 21 breaks of serve.

Interestingly, Miho Saeki said the double faults actually made things harder for her.

As per BNP Paribas, Saeki said: “You would think that her problems at the service were a chance for the opponent, but actually they weren’t.”

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“With so many faults, I couldn’t read her serve! You just never know if it will pass or not, whether to move because the ball will be short over the net, or if you should go towards the baseline because it will be long… there is no pace.”