Robbie Temple smashes a ball almost six times faster than Usain Bolt’s top speed and yet, agonisingly, it is not enough.
A mere 161 miles per hour. Eight short of his own world record. From the sea of suits and champagne watching on, an exasperated ‘ooh’ ripples across the indoor court.
We’re at Queen’s, the revered sporting club in an affluent part of west London, and we’re here to watch the jolly old sport of rackets.
Except rackets is serious business. Watch your head! One crowd member almost disobeys the golden rule but luckily reacts just in time to avoid waking up with a massive shiner on their forehead.
One source describes the sport as ‘scary’ to play due to the speed at which the ball travels. Another goes for ‘exhausting’. This game, first played in prisons in the 1700s as the forerunner to squash, makes you sweat profusely – physically and mentally. But its devotees can’t get enough of it.
Daily Mail Sport simply had to go along when invited. Queen’s, its facade resplendent with golden Christmas lights on this December evening, promised a small slice of history to those inside. The fastest man ever to hit a ball in rackets. Could it really be?
Daily Mail Sport went to watch a world record attempt for the fastest ever ball to be hit in rackets – but the participants just came up short
Robbie Templs achieved the high on the night of 161mph but came short of his own record
In stepped four chaps of myriad racket-based disciplines: Richard Owen, a rackets world champion; Bryn Sayers, the world No 7 in real tennis (the precursor to lawn tennis); Temple, a former squash star; and Lee Childs, once of Davis Cup repute and of no relation to the similarly named Jack Reacher author.
Now for the slightly inconvenient truth. Until a few days prior, Willie Boone held the long-standing record of 164mph. Then, in a practice session, Temple smashed it with a 169mph attempt. So in some respects this new effort was lacking the tension it might have.
And yet, for this brief interval in the National Schools Championships, time seemed to stand still. Barely a breath could be heard. Anyone with the brass neck to drop a pin would likely have been escorted out to the bar.
Eight attempts each. First up is Sayers. He reaches a respectable 131mph. Not bad, but there’s ground to make up.
Then Childs has a go. Sadly, it’s regression. None of his efforts come close. One, as aforementioned, pings off the wall and flies back 20 metres into the crowd.
We’re thus denied a repeat of his 2003 Wimbledon heroics when, ranked 444th in the world, he managed to reach the second round… only to be beaten by a debutant wildcard named Rafael Nadal.
Next up is Mr Owen, perhaps the most likely to break the record due to his prominence in rackets.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Owen reaches a very commendable 154mph – as quick as a Boeing 737 when it achieves lift-off. But not enough.
And so it falls to Temple, the man who broke the record in practice. As with Owen, there’s a palpable sense of anticipation here – this man clearly has power.
But it’s not sufficient. He reaches his limit for the day on 161mph. You need decent eyes to see the ball as it moves, but the technology manned by Yohan Cassirame, the man drafted in from Roland Garros to oversee the attempt, captures its speed precisely.
And so their excursion ends. No record broken tonight, but the gallery is entertained nevertheless.
You may have never heard of rackets, or might not have had a chance to play. Daily Mail Sport is told that there are only 14 dedicated, active courts in the UK, and new ones cost £1.5million to make. But if you fancy a high-octane sport to try in 2026, it’s well worth a try.
