Armidale’s Anthony Kelly stepped out in front of a nation-wide audience late last week on Channel Nine’s Today Show to set the Guinness World Record for Fastest Tennis Ball Caught.

The officiating body stipulated Kelly had to catch a ball at 120kmph to set the new world record, but that proved to be barely a challenge for The Arrow Catcher.

Kelly caught three out of eight tennis balls fired from a ball gun by his assistant Brydie Hawthorne, with the fastest clocked at an astonishing 192.8kmph.

“I smashed the mark they set for me,” Kelly said.

He originally set out to break the 200kmph mark, but Kelly was still ecstatic with his record-breaking effort.

The idea for the record originated in 2009, but it’s taken until now to become a reality with Kelly setting numerous other world records during that span.

Kelly and Hawthorne spent months preparing for their moment to shine on the Today Show.

“We have been practicing for the last four months in every spare moment we could,” he said.

It was one of his more difficult records to prepare for, with the constant barrage of tennis balls travelling at ridiculous speeds cannoning into Kelly’s body leaving him sore and sorry.

“My body was so battered,” he said.

“I just had so many bruises.

“I won’t be doing it again anytime soon.”

The circumstances the record was set in also made things challenging for Kelly and Hawthorne.

“We were originally promised 15-minutes, but they crossed two minutes before the news and said lets go,” Kelly said.

“It was all pretty rushed.”