There is a new American man atop his country’s ATP rankings, and–for the first time–it’s Reilly Opelka.
John Isner and Taylor Fritz had been taking turns in the top spot this season, but Opelka climbed to a career-high mark of No. 22 by making a run to last week’s National Bank Open final. The 23-year-old is now three places ahead of Isner; Fritz, meanwhile, has fallen just outside the top 40.
“I’m confident,” Opelka assured. “Obviously I’ve won matches. I’ll have some expectation of myself, but I’m not going to be riding this [week] for too long.
“I think this week was a great example of using that optimistic mindset as much as possible. I think it can extend some weeks, even if it’s just one tournament per year–maybe two a year. I mean, look what this does for my ranking. That’s all it takes.”
The 6’11” American would have climbed into the top 20 by winning the Toronto title, but he had no answers for Daniil Medvedev on Sunday. Medvedev, who had already erased Isner 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals, cruised past Opelka 6-4, 6-3.
“It’s hard to disrupt him; hard to hurt him; hard to really hurt him,” Opelka said of the world No. 2. “Medvedev is top three best returners in the world, you could say. I’d say especially for a big guy, maybe he’s No. 2 behind Novak (Djokovic) for like a server like myself–because he’s long.
“He can afford to stand far back, because he’s lanky. He has like a really long reach. He’s got a good wingspan…. Yeah, and he’s fast. He’s a good athlete…. As fast as he is he’s able to get out of the corners quick, he’s able to play deep back in the corner to me. Yeah, it’s tough. There [are] not many answers when he’s on like he was today.”
Medvedev opens in Cincinnati against another American, Mackenzie McDonald, on Wednesday. Opelka faces Corentin Moutet on Tuesday.
nice one, Reilly
Opelka played great last week….he moves really well for a big man.
I knew Opelka was good about 6 years ago. He got some big wins in his first year on tour.
He’s the new Ivo, unkempt look as if he slept rough all week.