In the era where most players are careful about what they say in case it lands them in some kind of trouble, Reilly Opelka is one who is not afraid to speak his mind.
The 24-year-old is currently the highest ranked American player on the ATP Tour at 20th in the world. Since turning pro in 2015 he has played in the main draw of 12 Grand Slam tournaments and has won two Tour titles on the hardcourts. Earlier this year he scored the biggest win of his career in Toronto after beating world No.3 Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Opelka leads the charge in trying to bring American men’s tennis back to the limelight during a time where he and his compatriots are constantly compared to the likes of tennis greats such as Pete Sampras or Andre Agassi. During the recent Laver Cup, which Europe won 13-1, questions were raised about the disparity in levels between the two continents. A situation Opelka believes is made to look worse than it is due to what he describes as bad journalism from some.
“These guys are terrible – there are some bad journalists. You have some guys that just criticize. They look to be super negative. Guys that know nothing about tennis. I think we have the worst media of any sport, quite frankly,” he told Inside Tennis.
One example he refers to is a tweet from Chris Fowler who is a sports broadcaster that works for ESPN in America. During the US Open Fowler made a comment about Carlos Alcaraz’s retirement from his quarter-final match, accusing the Spaniard of ‘tapping out’ early because he was losing. Alcaraz later revealed that he had suffered a fibrillar tear in his vastus medialis and lateral quadriceps as well as an elongation in his adductor.
“This guy is on ESPN, he does college football, he shouldn’t work another tennis match,” a bluntly speaking Opelka commented. “It hurts the sport because ESPN has a lot of guys who are following football or don’t know Carlos Alcaraz…and don’t know anything about tennis and they’re like, “This young kid just completely just walked off the court, what an idiot, what a jackass.” That just can’t happen. If I’m commissioner of tennis, that’s one offense too much.”
Opelka’s frustration with media also resulted in a direct swipe at the mixed doubles discipline which he believes should be abolished due to its inability to generate ticket sales in major events. He says one unnamed journalist allegedly claimed that the 2020 French Open shouldn’t be considered a slam because there wasn’t a mixed doubles event.
“There shouldn’t even be mixed doubles. They should get rid of it completely. It doesn’t sell a ticket. No one cares about it, no one watches or wants it to be there. Just get rid of it and throw all that money into the women’s and men’s qualifying. Take care of your people that actually have potential to sell tickets. It just shocks me. The media is awful in our sport. It holds our sport back, it really does.”
Each of the four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles won this season was by a team featuring at least one American player.
Opelka is currently playing in Indian Wells which he describes as ‘his least favourite tournament.’ He will play Grigor Dimitrov in the third round on Sunday after seeing off Japan’s Taro Daniel in straight sets. As one of the most promising male players from his country, he has a direct message to those covering his and his peers’ matches.
“Find something other than Sampras and Agassi, like, get over it. Quit blowing on that s–t. It’s over. Times have changed. It is 2021, we are not in the eighties and nineties, move on.” He concludes.
