TENNIS

Reilly Opelka, U.S. Davis Cup team open play in Italy

Craig Dolch
Special to The Post
Reilly Opelka, reaching for a shot during his match against Taro Daniel during the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells last month, will be making his second appearance in the Davis Cup.

Reilly Opelka is happy with what he sees in his rear-view mirror. He made it to the fourth round of the U.S. Open this year, his best showing in a major, and he cracked the top 20 in the ATP world rankings for the first time.

But he is focused on the road ahead. The West Palm Beach resident is part of the U.S. Davis Cup team that plays its first-round match Thursday in Italy.

“Playing for your country is a different atmosphere,” Opelka said at a recent tennis event at The Club at Ibis, where he trains. “It brings more pressure, which is better. All my best friends will be there. You have teammates in the Davis Cup, which doesn’t happen often in tennis.”

This will be Opelka’s second appearance in the Davis Cup, and the 24-year-old 7-footer said he is still getting used to the team environment. Tennis is obviously a singular sport, and everyone prepares differently.

Fortunately for Opelka, he played in the Laver Cup in London in September, which pits the top six Europeans against the top six players from the rest of the world. Even though Europe won, Opelka said the experience will help him in Italy. He learned what’s best for him is what’s best for the team.

“There’s a fine line between being a good teammate and also making sure you do what you have to do to play your best,” he said. “It was hard for me at first to draw the line. You have to be selfish. Being a good teammate is being selfish. You have to prepare the way you need to perform to the best of your abilities.”

Whatever Opelka has been doing recently, it’s working. With one of the most powerful serves in tennis – it routinely reaches the low-140 mph range -- Opelka continues to make large strides in his career.

Reilly Opelka

Not only did he make it to the fourth round of the U.S. Open, enabling him to move to a career-best No. 19 in the world rankings, Opelka beat world No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas to reach the finals of the Canada Masters. Opelka lost to world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev in the finals, but it was another breakthrough week.

“It was a good progression,” Opelka said. “Making the fourth round of the Open was great, but I really want to go farther. The Grand Slams are where I want to make my runs.

“I really hope next year can be bigger. There are things I know I can improve on, which is exciting. I’m hoping one of these next majors will be a big run for me.”

Jay Berger, Opelka’s coach and the director of athletics at The Club at Ibis, said the Davis Cup is very important to Opelka because players get few opportunities to represent their country.

Berger should know: He played and coached in the Davis Cup and also coached the U.S. Olympics team. Moreover, his son, Daniel, has played in the most recent Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup.

“The Davis Cup means a lot to Reilly,” Berger said. “He really thinks a lot of (captain) Mardy Fish, as well as (teammates) John Isner and Taylor Fritz. They are extremely close.”

And Opelka is close to moving into the elite level of tennis players in the world. When his serve is on, he’s virtually unbeatable.

It hasn’t been easy to be a tennis professional who travels the world the last two years due to COVID-19 protocols. There were very few tournaments in 2020 and a lot of restrictions this year.

“It was a nice building year in a tough environment,” Berger said. “Reilly has been in a lot of bubbles. It’s not much fun to be eating dinner in your hotel room every night. There was a lot more stress he had to deal with.”

Opelka was his usual calm, collected self at the recent Ibis outing. When an Ibis member asked him when he was going to cut his large curly hair that flows under his hat and shave his beard, he laughed and shook his head.

He’s very comfortable in his own skin – and at Ibis.

“It’s a great place for me to call home,” he said. “It has everything I need … a great facility, a great gym, great pool. I use all of it and the members are OK with me taking up some space.

“When I lie down in the gym to stretch and work out, I take up a lot of space.”