“No One Wants to Play Him”- Not Taylor Fritz or Frances Tiafoe, but This 7-Foot American ATP Star Could Shake up Melbourne

The USA is fostering main hopes in tennis for 2025. On one aspect, America’s Taylor Fritz seems because the nation’s large contender for the Australian Open, whereas Frances Tiafoe’s constant progress continues to impress the fraternity. Amidst this rising wave of expertise, one other American participant is shining brightly, the 2020 Delray Seashore Champion Reilly Opelka. His unbelievable efficiency in Brisbane shocked everybody and obtained excessive reward from tennis legend Andy Roddick, who raised hope Opelka’s type along with his nice comment.

America’s Reilly Opelka began his 2025 season in type after overpowering none apart from Novak Djokovic within the Brisbane Worldwide’s quarterfinals. Provided that Opelka’s historical past highlights his steady bodily setbacks within the final two seasons, his current efficiency shocked the fraternity together with former American participant Andy Roddick. In his current dialogue, Roddick defined Opelka’s scenario highlighting how he seems as a possible menace for Melbourne.

In his ‘Served‘ podcast, Roddick was requested by Jon Wertheim if he had confronted an identical scenario like Opelka the place his bodily accidents pressured him to consider retirement. In his response, Roddick first confessed that his scenario wasn’t like Opelka’s. Nevertheless, he needed to withdraw from the Italian Open’s semifinals as soon as due to a problem with the entrance of his shoulder. Roddick then revealed that this drawback wasn’t solved by way of surgical procedure and he misplaced 10% of his serve’s fastball and adjusted his forehand’s swing path. In a nutshell, the legend defined how exhausting it was for him to return to a successful place from that setback. Reflecting on this, Roddick praised Opelka and spoke about his potential on this season.

“I promise you man nobody desires to play him, nobody wished to play him and nobody desires to play him now, he’s thrilling. No, not not a single particular person. He’s most likely the most important primary factor the place high participant goes, ‘no don’t need him any a part of him the primary 3 rounds of the Australian Open’. Now that being mentioned we haven’t examined health and better of 5 if he will get to our 4th set that’s loads totally different the wind goes to be totally different in Melbourne,” said Roddick.

Sep 2, 2021; Flushing, NY, USA; Reilly Opelka of the USA returns a shot in opposition to Lorenzo Musetti of Italy in a second spherical match on day 4 of the 2021 U.S. Open tennis match at USTA Billie Jean King Nationwide Tennis Heart. Necessary Credit score: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports activities

Sadly, Opelka’s final two seasons had been all about his struggles with wrist and hip accidents. Regardless of reaching a career-high rating of 17 in 2022, Opelka realized how insufferable his hip drawback was solely six months after the milestone. On the 2022 US Open‘s opening day, this American participant went by way of surgical procedure to take away a benign tumor and a wrist surgical procedure afterward that dismantled his hope to return to tour in 2023 with the Delray Seashore Championship. Amongst two of his surgical procedures, the primary one didn’t go nicely and Opelka confirmed how a “unhealthy surgeon” carried out poorly leaving him with extra nerve-related issues and ache.

Regardless of setbacks, Opelka returned to the courtroom and impressed everybody with a victory in opposition to the previous ATP primary. Serena Williams’ former coach Rennae Stubbs praised him. He additionally reached the match’s finals earlier than shedding the title to Jiri Lehecka following a walkover as a result of his again damage. His current efficiency hypes up his recreation highlighting him as a participant who might shake issues up for top-ranked gamers within the Australian Open this season.

Reilly Opelka may dominate the 2025 Australian Open

Curiously, Reilly Opelka carried out nice all through Brisbane Worldwide. He defeated Matteo Arnaldi by 7(11)- 6(9) and seven(7)- 6(4) within the Spherical of 16. This American ATP star defeated the Serb by 7(8)-6(6), and 6-3 in a one-hour thirty-nine minutes conflict within the Pat Rafter Enviornment. After that, he overpowered Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard within the semifinals with a ravishing rating of 6-3 and seven(7)-6(4).  However regardless of reaching the finals he couldn’t battle in opposition to Jiri Lehecka correctly as a result of his again damage.

Regardless of current setbacks, Opelka’s top presents him an awesome profit. As a 6ft 11 inches tall, he beat fellow 6 footer John Isner in a 24-22 second-set tiebreaker within the 2022 Dallas Open. Opelka gained the 46 level tie-breaker – the longest within the ATP historical past and reached the match’s finals. BBC wrote, “Opelka, who stands 6ft 11in, lastly transformed his eighth match level after a run of 26 straight factors on serve,” highlighting how his unbelievable stature helped him get leverage in service.

Reilly Opelka may need walkd out of the courtroom in ache in Brisbane however that doesn’t imply he isn’t a possible menace for the opposite gamers this season. His unbelievable performances in opposition to Novak Djokovic, and Matteo Arnaldi within the Brisbane Worldwide highlights what a talented participant he’s. Now it’s time to see if he can proceed to carry out the identical magic within the upcoming tournaments.