Technical and Anatomical Analysis of Reilly Opelka's Serve

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Reilly Opelka: one of the tallest servers in tennis with one of the biggest serves.

Reilly Opelka is one of the biggest servers on the ATP Tour--and he is also one of the biggest players, standing at 6' 11'' tall. I have followed his career closely since he was a junior and spent a week closely observing his game a few years back at a USTA training camp.

The tennis serve is a complex biomechanical movement utilizing both the upper and lower body. In this article, I will analyze the serve movements during three main phases of the motion: Start to Power Position (Setup), Power Position to Contact (Acceleration), and Contact to Landing (Deceleration).

These stages build on the research of Mark Kovacs and Todd Ellenbecker and their excellent study on the 8 Stage (3 Phase) Serve Model. I highly recommend this study for those who want to brush up on their serve biomechanics.

And you can see more high speed footage of Reilly from an amazing overhead view in the High Speed Archive. (Click Here.)

Chris Lewit is a leading high-performance coach, author, and educator. He is the author of the best-selling book Secrets of Spanish Tennis 2.0, which is now available, and a new technique book, Winning Pretty, which will be published by New Chapter Press in paperback in 2026. He is also a contributing editor for Tennisplayer.net magazine and a long-time member of the RSPA and PTR. As an educator, he has presented at several large conferences, including the PTR International Tennis Symposium. Chris studied religion and literature at Cornell, Harvard, and Columbia, and is currently pursuing a PhD in kinesiology and biomechanics.

As a player, Chris Lewit played No. 1 for Cornell University and competed on the USTA and ITF pro circuits. As a coach, he has recently worked with several No. 1 junior players in the US and has trained hundreds of nationally ranked juniors. He directs a boutique full-time academy for homeschool/online players and a high-performance summer camp program, as well as high-performance training for all ages and levels, all at his club in the beautiful green mountains of Manchester, Vermont.

Chris Lewit has a popular YouTube channel, Youtube.com/ChrisLewit, and you can follow his writing portfolio at https://medium.com/@ChrisLewit.

Chris Lewit Tennis
World-Class Technical Training
Expert in Spanish and European Training Methods
New York, New York and Londonderry, Vermont
914-462-2912

Contact Chris directly by phone/WhatsApp at 914-462-2912 or chris@chrislewit.com.

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