{"id":486861,"date":"2026-03-21T02:03:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T02:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/486861\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T02:03:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T02:03:09","slug":"has-craig-boynton-made-reilly-opelkas-serve-even-better-jack-draper-found-out-in-miami-atp-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/486861\/","title":{"rendered":"Has Craig Boynton made Reilly Opelka&#8217;s serve even better? Jack Draper found out in Miami&#8230; | ATP Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>        Match Report<br \/>\n    Has Boynton made Opelka&#8217;s serve even better? Draper found out in Miami&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Quinn beats Ruud, Paul advances<\/p>\n<p>March 20, 2026<\/p>\n<p>            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/boynton-opelka-2026-miami.jpg\" alt=\"Craig Boynton and Reilly Opelka have been working together since January.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>        Craig Boynton and Reilly Opelka have been working together since January.<br \/>\n        By Sam Jacot<\/p>\n<p>Surely <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/players\/reilly-opelka\/o522\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Reilly Opelka<\/a>\u2019s serve, already one of the most feared weapons in tennis, couldn\u2019t get much better. Yet this season, the American believes it has reached a new level, crediting his new coach, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/players\/craig-boynton\/b068\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Craig Boynton<\/a>, who has previously worked with two of the game\u2019s best servers, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/players\/john-isner\/i186\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">John Isner<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/players\/hubert-hurkacz\/hb71\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Hubert Hurkacz<\/a>, for the improvement.<\/p>\n<p>Opelka hit the second-most aces on Tour in 2025, behind only <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/players\/taylor-fritz\/fb98\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Taylor Fritz<\/a>, according to Infosys ATP Stats. He unleashed 790 unreturnable deliveries in 49 matches, averaging 16.1 aces per match. In 2026, the American has already fired 254 aces in just 10 matches, raising his average to 25.4 per match.<\/p>\n<p>Opelka joined forces with Boynton in January and heaped praise on the American coach following his second-round victory against British lefty <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/players\/jack-draper\/d0co\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jack Draper<\/a> on Friday at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/tournaments\/miami\/403\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Miami Open presented by Itau<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have made a few technical changes. We\u2019ve been working on my return, believe it or not. The stats don\u2019t show in terms of breaking, but if you look at my stats with balls in play, there are a lot of positive things happening,\u201d Opelka said after beating Draper 7-6(3), 7-6(0).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am serving really well. I am serving the best I have served. I am really happy with my motion and technique. We are still early on, but I could not have picked a better coach.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Opelka struck 27 aces against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/players\/nuno-borges\/bt72\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Nuno Borges<\/a> in his first-round match in Miami and then 25 aces against Draper, who was competing in just his third ATP Tour event back after a left arm injury. The 28-year-old American is now one win from advancing to the fourth round at an ATP Masters 1000 event for the first time since Indian Wells in 2022 and will next meet countryman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/players\/taylor-fritz\/fb98\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Taylor Fritz<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/players\/botic-van-de-zandschulp\/v812\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Botic van de Zandschulp<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/apps?utm_source=atp&amp;utm_medium=article&amp;utm_campaign=app_banner\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/news\/-\/media\/&#10;a888346995e24e4da5e94a23e5765cf1.ashx\" alt=\"The Official App Of Tennis | Download ATP WTA Live App\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In other action on Friday in Miami, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/players\/ethan-quinn\/q02l\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ethan Quinn<\/a> maintained his impressive run of form with a 6-4, 7-6(7) victory against 11th seed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/players\/casper-ruud\/rh16\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Casper Ruud<\/a>. Quinn won the title at the ATP Challenger event in Phoenix last week and defeated <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/players\/hubert-hurkacz\/hb71\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Hubert Hurkacz<\/a> in the first round in Miami. He saved seven set points in the second set against Ruud and will play <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/players\/jiri-lehecka\/l0bv\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jiri Lehecka<\/a> or #NextGenATP Frenchman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/players\/moise-kouame\/k0o4\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Moise Kouame<\/a> in the third round.<\/p>\n<p>In a good day for American stars, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/players\/tommy-paul\/pl56\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tommy Paul<\/a> bounced <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/players\/adrian-mannarino\/me82\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Adrian Mannarino<\/a> 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. Paul\u2019s best result this season came in Delray Beach, where he made the final. The 28-year-old will next face <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/players\/flavio-cobolli\/c0e9\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Flavio Cobolli<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/players\/raphael-collignon\/c0jp\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Raphael Collignon<\/a> in Miami.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/news\/atp-number-one-club\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768199891_139_atp-no-1-club-banner-article.jpg\" alt=\"\u201cATP\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Match Report Has Boynton made Opelka&#8217;s serve even better? Draper found out in Miami&#8230; Quinn beats Ruud, Paul&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486862,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-486861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}