Mastered by Lorenzo Musetti, 6'11" American Reilly Opelka put on a show in US Open return

NEW YORK—In 2021, Reilly Opelka played Lorenzo Musetti on Court 17 at the US Open. At the time, he was a 24-year-old American on the rise, and he put on a nearly flawless performance that made the home crowd happy. He would win that match in straight sets, then win his next match to make the fourth round at a Grand Slam event for the first time.

The Floridian even made it into the Big Apple tabloids, when he was fined $10,000 for carrying a pink bag onto the court that was a few inches too long for the tournament’s liking. It wasn’t the traditional way of earning a bad-boy reputation in tennis, but it seemed to work for him. A few months later, Opelka hit a career-high No. 17 and became the top-ranked U.S. man.

And that’s where his wave crested. It would have been hard to believe at the time, but Opelka has never been back to the fourth round at a major, and he hadn’t played the Open again before today.

On Monday, three years after he straight-setted Musetti here, Opelka faced the Italian again at Flushing Meadows. This time it was a first-round encounter, on slightly smaller Court 7, and it’s Musetti—semifinalist at Wimbledon, bronze medalist at the Olympics—who owns the Top 20 ranking now.

Where has Opelka been? According to him, searching high and low for someone who could fix his injured wrist. “I saw a bad surgeon,” he said of the doctor who originally operated on it. He had a cast on for five months, and flew to Germany, Belgium, Atlanta, L.A. and Las Vegas in search of someone who could solve the problem.

“I went all over the world trying tirelessly to see anyone and everyone that could try to help,” Opelka told ATPTour.com in July.

Finally, after a false start at a Challenger last fall that left him in more pain, Opelka returned in Newport last month. He made the semis out of the gate on grass, then won a round in D.C. and Atlanta. On Monday, he looked unchanged on Court 7: Same Bunyan beard, same baseball hat pulled low, same 6’11’’ frame. If anything, he seemed to loom larger than ever, and the racquet in his hand looked smaller than ever. But then, with his twin tower John Isner retired, we don’t see anyone quite that long in tennis these days.

Opelka played much the same way, too. How can a self-proclaimed servebot do anything else? He had 23 aces and 55 winners over four sets. He charged the net 51 times, though it only won him 23 points. Opelka ran away with the second set 6-1, and looked ready to run away with the fourth, when he broke Musetti, went up 4-1, and reached 40-0—triple set point—at 5-3.

The crowd had cheered for Opelka throughout, and now they sensed—knew—that he was going to take it to a fifth. How could that serve possibly be broken from 40-0 up? Opelka would eventually have five set points, but he would lose them all—with two backhand errors, a double fault, a netted volley and a forehand long. Musetti broke, broke again at 5-5, and held at love for a 7-6 (3), 1-6, 6-1, 7-5 victory.

Opelka, it seems, was ready to compete with a Top 20 opponent, but not quite ready to beat him. He got to the edge of a fifth set, then couldn’t find the shot that would put him over it. Still, as far as comeback performances after more than two years away, that must feel promising.

In their three previous meetings, Musetti hadn’t taken so much as a set from the American. His one-handed backhand and finesse style were no match for the Opelka ace cannon. But Musetti has remade himself in 2024. He’s a sturdier competitor, and a harder hitter from the forehand side. Rather than rely on style and spin, he’s improved his attacking serve-plus-one. He made the semis at Wimbledon and the final at Queen’s on grass, then made the semis at the Olympics on clay.

The next step for Musetti would seem to be improving his hard-court game. He has never been past the third round at the US Open or the second round at the Australian Open. With 15th seed Holger Rune losing on Monday, Musetti’s draw has opened up a bit. He could find himself in a fourth-round match against a player he beat at the Games, Alexander Zverev.

But that’s all in the future. For now, beating Opelka for the first time, and hanging tough through five set points to do it, makes for a promising start of his own.