Reilly Opelka says he doesn’t really feed off the success of fellow Americans but adds he likes to hang out with them. The United States have eight players ranked inside the top-50 and the 17th-ranked Opelka is one of them.
“I don’t feed off it at all,” Opelka said, per Sportskeeda. “Why should I? It’s not a competition. It’s an international sport. I don’t feed off of what they’re doing. I don’t feed off of how many we have in the top 50.
It’s an individual international sport. I mean, it’s nice having them around just to hang out with. I feel as long as we have got them in the top hundred, top 50, just to have some friends on tour, that’s all I care about.
I don’t look at it any other way. They don’t push me more than Medvedev or Tsitsipas or one of those guys. It’s the same.”
Opelka confident he can break into the top-10
Opelka is currently enjoying a career-high ranking of No.
17 in the world. Opelka achieved his current career-high in late February and he was probably hoping to have a new career-high by this time around. However, he is still confident in his chances of breaking into the top-10.
“Yeah, I definitely think I have top 10 potential. I think I have top 10 potential. (But) it’s hard to predict. I think it’s actually almost impossible to predict a top 10 guy. A lot can happen. There’s a lot of different surfaces, a lot of different conditions throughout the year that factor that.”
Meanwhile, Opelka is set to compete at this week’s Citi Open in Washington. Opelka is the fourth seeded player in the draw and he has a first round bye at the tournament. After a first round bye, Opelka plays the winner of the match between Denis Kudla and Michael Mmoh.
