Reilly Opelka has had numerous injuries in recent times and has not been able to play as regularly as he would have liked, although his 2025 began with a memorable feat against Novak Djokovic at the Brisbane International.
After the first tournament of the new season, the American ace had new physical problems and did not confirm the level he had shown against the 24-time Grand Slam champion.
However, Reilly has never been a trivial character off the court and has ended up in the spotlight for his very harsh words towards those who play doubles.
In particular, Opelka said that doubles was only included in the professional tour to give another chance to players who are not competitive enough in singles.
These statements by the American shocked the tennis world and he also received several criticisms from his compatriots, such as former world number 1 Andy Roddick.
Bob Bryan on Opelka’s comments
The last one who was questioned on this subject is Bob Bryan, a true legend of doubles having made history together with his brother Mike.
Bob said goodbye to professional tennis in 2020 and then became the U.S. Davis Cup captain, having also had Opelka on his team.
“You know, Reilly obviously brought doubles to the forefront a couple weeks ago. We love Reilly, he has played Davis Cup for the United States, he is very opinionated about doubles and he speaks his mind and I respect that,” Bob Bryan said on Tennis Channel.
“Do we agree with his doubles comments? No. Does the product need to be given a shot in the arm? Maybe. You know there’s some innovative twists that could be thrown in to make it exciting, a little more exciting.”
He continued: “Current doubles players they are playing a very brutal game of eye formation, they’re close to the net and the points are pretty short now.
Yeah, could there be a pickleball type rule where you back the guy off the net a little bit to get the point started? Maybe. Could you play lets? Probably.”
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