Reilly Opelka: Got to serve better if I want to stand chance against top players

American tennis player Reilly Opelka admitted he didn't have his best serving day on Monday but he was happy that he managed to progress into the French Open second round.

Opelka, ranked at No. 35 in the world, handed 6-3 6-2 6-4 loss to Slovak Andrej Martin in the French Open first round. 

Opelka, one of the best servers on the Tour, dropped his serve three times during the match but claimed seven breaks to make it past Martin in three sets. 

"I didn't have my best serving day. I was starting to find it a little bit as the match went on, but I was kind of resting my arm leading up to it. I didn't get the same amount of reps that I would like to on my serve. But I definitely wasn't hitting my spots, so a lot of balls came back and I had to play a lot of tennis today," Opelka said, as quoted on the ATP website. "I'm very, very happy that I was able to stay aggressive. A lot of times it's easy to lose the aggressive mindset when your biggest weapon is not firing."

Opelka plays next either Jaume Munar or Jordan Thompson  

"It definitely helps my confidence. Andrej Martin is a tough player, but I think it does cap out at a certain level, unfortunately. A guy like Jannik Sinner or a guy like Felix [Auger-Aliassime], it would have been a different scenario. It's not something I want to rely on," said Opelka, who is in second seed Daniil Medvedev's section of the draw. "To beat a guy like Jannik here, I have to be serving well and playing well from the back and volleying well.

"I do like that the things that usually are on weren't today and I still won and the things that usually I struggle with, it wasn't the case today."

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3z0pqn5