Reilly Opelka facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Reilly Opelka

Opelka in 2024
Country (sports)	United States
Residence	Delray Beach, Florida, US
Born	(1997-08-28) August 28, 1997 (age 27) St. Joseph, Michigan, US
Height	2.11 m (6 ft 11 in)
Turned pro	2015
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Coach	Jay Berger Denis Kudla (2025-)
Prize money	US $ 5,153,322
Singles
Career record	114–106
Career titles	4
Highest ranking	No. 17 (28 February 2022)
Current ranking	No. 70 (30 June 2025)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	3R (2022)
French Open	3R (2021)
Wimbledon	3R (2019)
US Open	4R (2021)
Doubles
Career record	21–24
Career titles	1
Highest ranking	No. 89 (2 August 2021)
Grand Slam doubles results
French Open	1R (2019)
US Open	2R (2017)
Team competitions
Davis Cup	QF (2024)

Reilly Opelka (born August 28, 1997) is an American professional tennis player. He is very tall, standing at 6 feet 11 inches (2.11 meters). This makes him one of the tallest players ever ranked by the ATP. He can hit serves that go over 140 miles per hour!

Reilly has been ranked as high as world No. 17 in singles. He reached this high ranking on February 28, 2022. In doubles, his highest rank was world No. 89 on August 2, 2021. He has won four ATP singles titles and one doubles title. He also won the junior Wimbledon championship in 2015.

About Reilly Opelka

Reilly Opelka was born in St. Joseph, Michigan. When he was 4 years old, his family moved to Palm Coast, Florida. He started playing tennis regularly at age 12. He trained with the USTA in Boca Raton. He gives a lot of credit to Tom Gullikson for helping him learn tennis early on. Reilly is good friends with fellow tennis player Taylor Fritz. He was even the best man at Fritz's wedding!

Reilly is a big fan of sports teams from Chicago. He supports the Chicago Bulls (basketball), the Chicago Bears (American football), and the Chicago Blackhawks (ice hockey). He also likes the Italian soccer team Lazio.

Junior Tennis Career

Reilly Opelka had a great junior career. In 2015, he won the Junior Wimbledon tournament. He beat the top-ranked junior player, Taylor Fritz, on his way to the final. In the final match, he defeated Mikael Ymer. He also made it to the finals of the Boys' Doubles event at Wimbledon that same year. He played with his partner Akira Santillan.

Professional Tennis Journey

Starting Out in Tennis

Reilly Opelka at the 2016 Citi Open.

Reilly Opelka played his first ATP match in 2016 at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships. Later that year, he had a great run at the Atlanta Open. He won his first three ATP matches and reached the semifinals. This was only his third ATP tournament! He even beat Kevin Anderson, a very tall player, saving two match points. He continued to play well, winning matches at other tournaments and moving into the top 300 rankings. He also won his first ATP Challenger title in Charlottesville.

In 2017, Reilly played in the Australian Open for the first time. He had a tough five-set match against the No. 11 seed, David Goffin. He also got a win at the Memphis Open against Jared Donaldson.

Breaking into the Top 100

The year 2018 was a big one for Reilly. He won three ATP Challenger titles, which helped him a lot. He won titles in Bordeaux, Knoxville, and Champaign–Urbana. He also reached the quarterfinals at the Delray Beach Open. There, he earned his first win against a top 10 player, beating world No. 8 Jack Sock. Because of his strong play, Reilly finished 2018 ranked in the top 100 for the first time, at world No. 99.

First ATP Title and Top 50

At the Australian Open in 2019, Reilly surprised everyone by beating his fellow American and ninth seed, John Isner. This was his second win against a top 10 player. In February, Reilly won his first ATP title at the New York Open. He beat John Isner again in a very close match, saving six match points!

At Wimbledon in July, he reached the third round, which was his best result at a Grand Slam tournament at that time. He also beat Stan Wawrinka there. He continued to do well, reaching semifinals in Atlanta, Tokyo, and Basel. He finished 2019 ranked 36th in the world.

Second ATP Title and Masters Quarterfinal

In February 2020, Reilly won his second ATP title at the Delray Beach Open. He saved a match point in the semifinals before winning the tournament. After a break due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Reilly reached his first ATP Tour Masters quarterfinal at the Cincinnati Masters. He defeated Matteo Berrettini there, which was his fifth win against a top 10 player.

Reaching a Masters Final and Top 20

In 2021, Reilly had a fantastic year. At the Italian Open in Rome, he reached his first Masters semifinal. He beat several tough players before losing to the legendary Rafael Nadal.

At the French Open, he reached the third round, which was his best result at that Grand Slam. He also won his first doubles title at the Atlanta Open with his partner Jannik Sinner. This helped him enter the top 100 in doubles.

Reilly had an amazing run at the Canada Masters in Toronto. He reached his second Masters 1000 semifinal. He then upset the world No. 3, Stefanos Tsitsipas, to reach his first ever ATP Masters 1000 final! This was his first win against a top 5 player. He lost to Daniil Medvedev in the final. After this great performance, he entered the top 25 in singles rankings for the first time.

At the US Open, Reilly reached the fourth round of a Major tournament for the first time. After this, he broke into the top 20 in the ATP singles rankings, reaching world No. 19.

More Titles and a Break

At the 2022 Australian Open, Reilly reached the third round. He then won his third singles title at the first-ever Dallas Open. In the semifinals there, he played a very long tiebreak against John Isner, which was the longest in ATP Tour history! He reached another final at the 2022 Delray Beach Open, but lost to Cameron Norrie. These results helped him reach a new career-high ranking of world No. 17.

Reilly won his fourth career title at the 2022 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships. He beat John Isner again in the final. This match was the tallest ATP Tour final ever! After this, Reilly took a break from tennis due to a wrist injury.

Return to Tennis and Recent Success

Reilly returned to playing tennis in late 2023 after being away for about a year and a half. He started playing on the ATP Challenger Tour. After another break, he came back to the main ATP Tour in July 2024 at the 2024 Hall of Fame Open. He won his first match at that level in two years! He continued to play well, reaching the semifinals. This helped his ranking jump up by more than 750 spots.

In January 2025, Reilly reached his first final since 2022 at the 2025 Brisbane International. He had a big upset win over top seed Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals, which was his eighth win against a top 10 player. He then won his 100th career match in the semifinals. He had to stop playing in the final due to a back issue.

Despite some injury concerns, he started the 2025 Australian Open with a win. He also reached the semifinals at the 2025 Libéma Open, where he defeated Daniil Medvedev.

Wins Over Top 10 Players

Reilly Opelka has won 8 matches against players who were ranked in the top 10 at the time they played.

#	Player	Rank	Event	Surface	Rd	Score	ROR
2018
1.	Jack Sock	8	Delray Beach Open, United States	Hard	2R	4–6, 7–5, 6–3	228
2019
2.	John Isner	10	Australian Open, Australia	Hard	1R	7–6(7–4), 7–6(8–6), 6–7(4–7), 7–6(7–5)	97
3.	John Isner	9	New York Open, United States	Hard (i)	SF	6–7(8–10), 7–6(16–14), 7–6(7–4)	89
4.	Roberto Bautista Agut	10	Swiss Indoors, Switzerland	Hard (i)	QF	6–3, 3–6, 6–3	37
2020
5.	Matteo Berrettini	8	Cincinnati Open, United States	Hard	3R	6–3, 7–6(7–4)	39
6.	Daniil Medvedev	6	St. Petersburg Open, Russia	Hard (i)	2R	2–6, 7–5, 6–4	36
2021
7.	Stefanos Tsitsipas	3	Canadian Open, Canada	Hard	SF	6–7(2–7), 7–6(7–4), 6–4	32
2025
8.	Novak Djokovic	7	Brisbane International, Australia	Hard	QF	7–6(8–6), 6–3	293

See also

In Spanish: Reilly Opelka para niños