Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul are two young Americans who have been tearing up the ATP ranks, with both qualifying for the Acapulco 500 event this week. Both were junior Grand Slam champions last season, but there was a third American who took a junior Grand Slam in 2015, Reilly Opelka.
Opelka won the Wimbledon Boys Singles last year, defeating Fritz on the way to the final, where he beat Mikael Ymer, the younger brother of Elias Ymer. But whilst Fritz,Paul, and recently Noah Rubin, have all been climbing the professional rank things have not been quite so easy for Opelka.
The 6’10 eighteen year-old suffered a foot injury shortly after his Wimbledon triumph, and played with it undiagnosed through the US Open Boys Singles, and a bunch of American Challengers as he tried to kick-start his professional career. The pain remained however, and eventually Opelka visited a specialist, who diagnosed a stress fracture. “It kept getting worse after that, and it really got bad during the [US] Open” Opelka on the injury.
Opelka made his first tournament appearance of 2016 at a Futures event in Florida last week, winning a match before bowing out in the second round.
The ATP website lists Opelka at 6’10 or 208cm, just short of the tallest player in tennis Ivo Karlovic, whom the ATP lists as 6’11 and 211cm. Opelka is close friends with Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz, having trained with and teamed up with both as double partners in Challenger events.
