16
Reilly Opelka is the No. 1 ranked American
2 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles
Reilly Opelka started off 2021 with mediocre, inconsistent results but this summer the towering American has found his form.
Last week in Montreal the 23 year old defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in three sets and reached the final of the Toronto Masters 1000 tournament where he lost to World no. 2 Daniil Medvedev 63 64.
Opelka is now ranked 23 in the world, surpassing the other Toronto semifnalist and recent champion of Atlanta John Isner, who is currently ranked 26.
Opelka has a 15-15 record in 2021, He started the year off 2-2 and then lost first round five tournaments in a row (to Fucsovics, Agut, Nishikori, Popyrin and Koepfer). In Rome Opelka righted the ship and reached the semis where he lost to Rafael Nadal 64 64.
Last week in Toronto, Opelka defeated Kyrgios, Harris, Agut, Dimitrov and Tsitsipas.
The third highest ranked American after Opelka and Isner is Taylor Fritz ranked 42. No. 4 for America is Sebastian Korda ranked 45.
Florida · Reilly Opelka · US Open · USA Tennis
2 comments
<< Billie Jean King Claims Ashe Reversed Stance On Equal Pay, But There Is No Proof
Bill McGill · August 17, 2021 at 12:07 pm
I think Reilly Opelka has a Kevin Anderson-like career in front of him. He moves better than the other servebots, but he doesn’t really hit his spots serving the way Isner, Karlovic and Raonic can.
Korda is the most complete American player out there and I think he’s going to show it next year.
Scoop Malinowski · August 17, 2021 at 5:40 pm
Bill McGill, I see Opelka as far better than Anderson and Isner. At 23 Opelka is the top American ranked player and 23 in the world. Anderson and Isner at 23 were fresh out of college and totally unknown, low ranked, irrelevant players. So Opelka is far more advanced at this age and with more experience he will for sure achieve more than Anderson and Isner. Fully agree on Korda too, but I would not rule out him winning something BIG this summer or fall.