Vibe serves Wimbledon craving with ace tennis tutor Jason Goatley

Folk – often drunk folk - have decided I bear a passing resemblance to tennis hero Andy Murray, and aren’t afraid to point it out.

With Wimbledon coming up and Vibe seeking to get you inspired to get your shorts on and head to a court, who better than a look-a-like to learn the ropes.

My tutor Jason Goatley is the go-to guy for tennis in Bromley. A decent tennis player, he was working on the Stock Exchange when he bought the lease to South Hill Tennis Club in June 1994.

By September 1995, he was focussing on tennis full-time and he is now in charge of four big clubs across the borough and has a cabal of coaches under the banner of Jason’s Totally Tennis.

Walking awkwardly onto the court at South Hill with the work experience lad in tow – he didn’t bring his PE kit and we couldn’t force him to play in vest and pants so he didn’t play – I was expecting to be a little intimidated by Jason’s coaching prowess.

It was a relief when he greeted me with a friendly smile and outstretched hand – he obviously wasn’t going to be one of those shouty disciplinarian coaches.

In fact, over the course of the next hour, I would say I gave Jason’s patience a very stiff test and he came through with flying colours.

For the purposes of a guide I intended to write for Vibe’s print edition (see below), I asked Jason to teach me the serve.

He agreed, but was keen to point out that it is not normally item number one on the rookie player lesson list.

Unfortunately, in my head, I’m a great tennis player – I’m pretty ace at cricket and other sports too – it is just the message doesn’t seem to get down to my limbs.

It was clear from the warm-up that my goal of smashing the serves like Sampras after the first session may have been a tad lofty.

We began by Jason gently hitting some balls over the net, some of which I hit back and a few even went in bit of court.

After a few tips about moving my feet, the follow-through and weight distribution (put your weight on your right foot for the forehand) my success rate improved dramatically.

Maybe I was a secret tennis prodigy after all.

Once I had whacked all of the balls to different parts of the ground, we picked them up and got started on the serve.

Over the course of about 45 minutes, Jason gave me a masterclass, from how and where to throw the ball, which way my feet should be facing, where to bring the racket back, bending the knees and even the highly-skilled pronation when you hit the ball.

Despite not being a natural, I felt I made decent progress. And Jason was brilliant – he had plenty of tips but remained happy and unforceful.

His easy small-talk made the hour fly by.

Luckily for people like me, Jason said he tends to focus more on casual players so they can enjoy fun days in the sun rather than training up elite performers – which he leaves to his other skilled coaches.

Jason’s Totally Tennis offers a free group taster session for adults or children interested in learning the ropes. Go to jasonstotallytennis.com.

JASON’S TOP TIPS

PREPARE your best Sharapova grunt because Vibe sought out tennis coach Jason Goatley give us a volley of ace tips for the perfect tennis serve.

• Stance – stand perpendicular to the net with your feet a comfortable distance apart. The ball and racket should be held together a comfortable distance in front of you.

• Backswing - Move both arms down towards the front leg. The arms then separate and move upwards. The left arm is fully extended during the movement upwards and the ball is realised when in line with player's eye level.

• Ball toss – this is not a throw. The ball is release slightly in front of the body in a line directly forwards of the front foot. Your left shoulder should be higher than the right so the racquet moves quicker.

• Contact point and follow through - the right arm is fully extended at the elbow and the hip, trunk and shoulders rotate forwards to a position generally parallel to the net. In most cases the player lands on the left leg.