Opelka & his 'tennis geniuses': former Isner coach Boynton joins team
For more than three years, Craig Boynton coached John Isner, the former No. 8 player in the PIF ATP Rankings. Now, the American is working with the player most commonly compared to Isner: 6’11” Reilly Opelka.
Opelka has long learned from former World No. 7 Jay Berger, who remains a key part of his team. But he will now travel with Boynton, who most recently developed Hubert Hurkacz into a Top-10 player.
“He’s one of the best coaches in the world and I think between him and Jay Berger, I’m incredibly lucky,” Opelka told ATPTour.com. “These are just great guys, great people, smart, tennis geniuses, tennis experts.”
It is important to note that despite both Isner and Opelka ranking among the very best servers in history, they are not clones. Perhaps their greatest similarity is that they jokingly refer to themselves as “servebots”.
“They’re two different people. Ultimately, every tennis player here has the same goal and everybody has different skill sets,” Boynton said. “Obviously, people are going to look at the similarities between Reilly and John, but they are different players.
“Yes, they have some similarities, but they’re different in just about every way. They’re just different people, they’re different players, ultimately trying to do the same thing, but doing it in different ways.”
[NO 1 CLUB]Last week in his first tournament of the season, Opelka obliterated 44 aces, the most he has ever hit in a three-set match on the ATP Tour. The problem was that the 28-year-old lost a final-set tie-break to Kamil Majchrzak.
That made his victory Monday against Alexei Popyrin at the Adelaide International even sweeter. The four-time ATP Tour titlist, who missed nearly two years after hip and wrist surgeries, is excited to kickstart his year.
“Especially after last week I had a really, really rough loss that could linger,” Opelka said. “[That is] something you don’t get over quickly. Maybe 10 years it takes to get over one of those. So, happy that I got a win.”