Reilly Opelka

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 record tallest-ever ATP-ranked player, and can serve in the low-140 mph range. He is a junior Wimbledon champion and Red Bull ambassador. He has won two ATP singles titles and reached his career-high ranking of No. 31 in October 2019.
Personal life.
Opelka moved from Michigan 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.
Junior career.
Opelka won the 2015 Junior Wimbledon tournament, defeating 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.
Professional career.
Early years.
Opelka made his ATP debut at the 2016 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship, where he lost in the first round to fifth seed Sam Querrey. In August, Opelka won his first three career ATP matches at the BB&T Atlanta Open to reach the semi-finals at just his 3rd 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.
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 2017 Memphis Open, he recorded his only ATP Tour level win of the year over fellow Next Gen American Jared Donaldson.
2018: Breakthrough.
2018 proved to be a breakthrough year for Opelka. He won three ATP Challenger titles in the season, the first American to achieve 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.
2019: First ATP title.
At the Australian Open, Opelka upset compatriot John Isner in the first round. This was the second top 10 win of his career. In February, Opelka again defeated Isner en route to his first ATP title, the New York Open. At Wimbledon in July, he achieved his best Grand Slam result to date, making it to 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. He finished the season ranked 36th in the world.
2020: Second ATP title, Masters 1000 quarterfinal.
In February, Opelka lifted his second career trophy, at the Delray Beach Open. 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.
2021: First Masters 1000 semifinal.
Opelka chose not to defend his Delray Beach title. He instead began the season at the Great Ocean Road Open as the 6th seed, but lost to Botic van de Zandschulp in the second round. At the Australian Open, he beat Yen-Hsun Lu before losing to 27th seed Taylor Fritz, despite holding match points in the fourth set.
In Rome, Opelka beat Richard Gasquet, Lorenzo Musetti, Aslan Karatsev and Federico Delbonis to reach his first Masters semifinal, where he lost to Rafael Nadal.
Performance timelines.
Singles.
"Current through the 2021 Geneva Open."
Record against other players.
Record against top 10 players.
Opelka's match record against players who have been ranked in the top 10. Only ATP Tour main draw and Davis Cup matches are considered. Players who have been No. 1 are in boldface.