ACADEMY
4 Many players in this position have their chest pointed more upwards, with the back slightly more bent to allow this, but Reilly’s action still looks good. Given how high his right elbow is at this stage of the serve, it is a perfect position. As with all good serves, it is vitally important that the head stays up throughout the motion
5 Though Reilly has enormous drive from his legs, he does not get that high off the ground. However, it is essential to get high enough so that both legs get straight in the air, which he achieves. The angle of the racket face, coming across the ball, and the fact that his racket is not totally straight above his arm show this is a slice serve
6 Reilly differs slightly frommost servers in that he finishes in quite an upright position, indicating a fairly stiff body, though he remains tall. I would be interested to see what would happen to his service speed if he was able to generate more acceleration through the speed of his swing, causing the body to bend a little more from the waist
David has more than 30 years’ experience coaching pros to career- high rankings, many of whom have represented their countries in the Davis Cup and at the Olympics. David, who became an official ATP coach in 2014, regularly contributes to the UK’s tennis media, including BBC Radio 5 Live, The Times newspaper and Sky Sports. In 2014, he released a psychology and coaching book – Locker Room Power: Building an Athlete’s Mind . www.lockerroompower.com MEET YOUR COACH: David Sammel
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