He’s the man with the big serve, but Sam Groth hopes one day he’ll be known as the man with the high tennis ranking.

Groth has shot up to 97th in the world rankings, a vast improvement on 12 months ago when he was 210th.

The 26-year-old is determined to keep that trend going, and he was given even more motivation over the weekend when he made his long-awaited Davis Cup debut in Australia’s 5-0 World Group play-off triumph over Uzbekistan in Perth.

Groth, whose 263km/h serve is a world record, has set his sights on becoming an integral part of Australia’s Davis Cup team.

But he knows it won’t be easy in a talent pool featuring rising star Nick Kyrgios, veteran Lleyton Hewitt, plus Bernard Tomic, Chris Guccione and emerging talent Thanasi Kokkinakis.

Groth is well on the way to achieving his goal of finishing in the top 100 by the end of the year, but he definitely doesn’t see that as an end point for him.

“I think I can still get a lot better. There’s still a lot of things in my game I can tighten up,” Groth said.

“I don’t want to finish my career with a high of 92 and float around the 100-mark for the next five years.

“I want to try to get as high as I can, and I feel like I can do that.”

Groth gave tennis away in 2011 in order to play Aussie Rules football for Vermont in Victoria’s Eastern Football League.

But his passion for the game never died, and the big-serving Victorian is keen to make the most of his second coming.

Groth’s Davis Cup debut went exactly to plan, with the 193cm right-hander posting a 6-3 6-2 win over world No.527 Temur Ismailov.

“To get the chance to pull on the green and gold and get out there on court is a dream come true and something I’ve wanted since I was a kid,” Groth said.

“My goal over the past 18 months has been to make myself available to be that player who can play both doubles and singles, to give the team more options.”

Groth has improved his doubles ranking to 37, and he wants to surge past world No.33 Australian John Peers in the coming months.