There are players you recognize at first glance, and Reilly Opelka is one of them. With his 2.11 meters, 102 kilos, and nonchalant demeanor, the American born on August 28, 1997, in Saint-Joseph, Michigan, never goes unnoticed. But beyond his appearance of a basketball player lost on a tennis court, Opelka fascinates. Between his raw power, his disarming interest in contemporary art, and his taste for cutting-edge fashion, he reinvents, in his own way, the stereotype of the American colossus.
A Giant with a Meteoric Rise
While his junior beginnings promised a bright career, Reilly Opelka did not settle for just the promise. In 2015, he won Wimbledon Junior, already showcasing a serve as unstoppable as it is intimidating. In 2019, he claimed his first ATP title in New York, hitting 156 aces in five matches, enough to make Ivo Karlović‘s statistics seem almost modest.
The colossus doesn’t stop there. In 2020, he triumphed at Delray Beach before a hip surgery in 2023 slowed his momentum. No matter: in 2025, he made a strong comeback with a notable victory against Novak Djokovic, the man with a thousand lives, at the ATP 250 in Brisbane. A performance that serves as a reminder: Opelka is a survivor, and better yet, a disruptive outsider.
A Monolithic Game, an Assumed Critique
Reilly Opelka is, above all, a style. His serve, a weapon of mass destruction, often flirts with 225 km/h, all with a precise mix of spin and lift. His strategy, minimalist but formidable, is reminiscent of his illustrious predecessors John Isner or Goran Ivanišević. Purists sometimes grit their teeth at his lack of variety in long rallies. But the main person involved finds it amusing. “I don’t play to please everyone,” he says, half-serious, half-provocative.
The Arty Player We Didn’t Expect
Where Opelka surprises more is off the courts. Passionate about contemporary art, he collects works with the eye of a discerning aesthete. In a recent interview, he cited Jean-Michel Basquiat and Mark Rothko, a rare boldness in the world of athletes. Fashion, another of his passions, leads him to attend fashion shows. His eclectic tastes – he has appeared in oversized jackets with Japanese inspiration – challenge the classic image of the tennis player in a white polo.
This mix of quiet confidence and uniqueness intrigues as much as it seduces. Reilly Opelka is the antithesis of calibrated speeches. With him, naturalness takes over: he speaks frankly, sometimes too much, but never gives in to conventions. This makes him a standout figure in a sport where propriety is often elevated to a dogma.
A Comeback Marked by Resilience
Even after a prolonged absence, Opelka remains a player never to be underestimated. His ability to defeat big names like Stanislas Wawrinka or Roberto Bautista-Agut earns him respect on the circuit. In Brisbane, he is now expected in the semi-final against another heavy hitter, the Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. A duel where the shots are likely to shake the stands.
A Modern Hero, Between Power and Poetry
Reilly Opelka embodies another vision of tennis: one where the game doesn’t stop at the court’s boundaries. At 27, he is as much a performer as a storyteller, oscillating between thunderous aces and arty confessions. Some may see it as a stance, others, a raw authenticity that contrasts with the prevailing uniformity. Whatever one may say, Opelka is unique, and in the hushed world of global tennis, that’s already an achievement in itself.
