Reilly Opelka

Player

Birthday August 28, 1997

Birth Sign Virgo

Birthplace St. Joseph, Michigan, U.S.

Age 26 years old

Nationality United States

Height 6ft 11in

Weight 102 kg

#32970 Most Popular

1927

At the Australian Open, he beat Lu Yen-hsun before losing to 27th seed Taylor Fritz, despite holding match points in the fourth set.

1936

He finished the season ranked 36th in the world.

In February, Opelka lifted his second career trophy at the Delray Beach Open after saving a match point in the semifinals against Milos Raonic.

After an extended break due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, play resumed and Opelka reached his first ATP Tour Masters level quarterfinal at the Cincinnati Masters.

En route he earned his fifth career top 10 win, defeating Matteo Berrettini.

Opelka chose not to defend his Delray Beach title.

He instead began the season at the Great Ocean Road Open as the sixth seed, but lost to Botic van de Zandschulp in the second round.

1997

Reilly Opelka (born August 28, 1997) is an American professional tennis player.

At 6 feet 11 inches tall, he is tied (with Ivo Karlović) for the tallest-ever ATP-ranked player, and can produce serves that measure over 140 mph. He has been ranked as high as world No. 17 in singles by the ATP, which he achieved on February 28, 2022, and in doubles as world No. 89 on August 2, 2021.

He has won four ATP singles titles and one doubles title.

He is a junior Wimbledon champion.

Opelka was born in St. Joseph, Michigan and moved to Palm Coast, Florida at age 4.

He didn't start playing tennis regularly until he began training through USTA in Boca Raton at 12 years old.

He credits Tom Gullikson, whom his father knew from playing golf, for much of his early development as a tennis player.

Opelka is close friends with Taylor Fritz and was the best man at Fritz's wedding.

His uncle is radio talk show host Mike Opelka.

Opelka is an avid sportsperson supporting every team that has the word Chicago in it - namely the Chicago Bulls (NBA), the Chicago Bears (NFL) and the Chicago Blackhawks (NHL) - and serie A team Lazio.

2014

He won three ATP Challenger titles in the season, the first American to do so since Bradley Klahn in 2014.

He won his first title of the season at the Bordeaux Challenger in May.

In November, he won back to back titles at the Knoxville Challenger and the JSM Challenger.

He also finished as a runner-up at Cary Challenger and Oracle Challenger.

On the ATP World Tour, he reached the quarterfinals at the Delray Beach Open, picking up his first top 10 win of his burgeoning career, defeating world No. 8, Jack Sock, in the second round.

His solid performance on the ATP Challenger Tour earned him his first top-100 year-end finish in singles, ending the season at world No. 99.

At the Australian Open, Opelka upset compatriot and ninth seed John Isner in the first round.

This was the second top 10 win of his career.

In February, Opelka again defeated Isner, saving six match points, en route to his first ATP title at the New York Open.

At Wimbledon in July, he achieved his best Grand Slam result to date, reaching the tournament's third round and defeating Stan Wawrinka in the process.

Over the summer and fall, he reached the semifinals of tournaments in Atlanta, Tokyo, and Basel.

In November, he participated in the Davis Cup Finals for the United States, ultimately losing both his rubbers.

2015

Opelka won the 2015 Junior Wimbledon tournament, defeating Junior world No. 1 Taylor Fritz en route to beating Mikael Ymer in the final and reached the finals of the Boys' Doubles event (with Akira Santillan) at the 2015 Wimbledon Championships.

2016

Opelka made his ATP debut at the 2016 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, where he lost in the first round to fifth seed Sam Querrey.

In August, Opelka won his first three career ATP matches at the Atlanta Open to reach the semifinals at just his third career ATP event.

This included a victory over 203 cm player No. 27 Kevin Anderson in which he saved two match points on Anderson's serve.

He lost in the semi-finals to top seed John Isner.

He continued his momentum with first round wins at the Los Cabos Open and the Cincinnati Masters where he defeated Sergiy Stakhovsky and Jérémy Chardy respectively to move into the top 300 of the ATP rankings.

After struggling with a foot injury towards the end of the summer, Opelka returned to the USTA Pro Circuit for the indoor season and won his first ATP Challenger title in Charlottesville to finish the year just outside the top 200.

2017

In 2017, Opelka got off to a good start to the season by qualifying for the Australian Open.

He played No. 11 seed David Goffin in the first round and pushed him to five sets before taking the loss.

At the Memphis Open, he recorded his only ATP Tour level win of the year over fellow Next Gen American Jared Donaldson.

2018

2018 proved to be a breakthrough year for Opelka.