American tennis star Reilly Opelka says the French Open is now the best Grand Slam tournament in the world as he believes it’s the only Major which hasn’t “gone political.” The 2022 season started by Djokovic being banned from competing at the Australian Open because of his vaccination status.
At Wimbledon, Russian and Belarusian players were banned from competing but unvaccinated players weren’t. At the upcoming US Open, Russian and Belarusian players will be allowed to compete but not unvaccinated foreigners like Djokovic.
“I’ve loved all of them [the Grand Slams] at different times, but right now, the French Open is the best by far,” Opelka told the Red Bull website. “It’s my least favorite surface, but I love Paris, and it’s the only Grand Slam that has done it right in recent years.
All of the others have gone so political. Australia didn’t allow Novak Djokovic to play [because of his COVID vaccine status], but I think they’re going to allow the Russians to play. The French allowed everyone to play, Wimbledon are banning the Russians but allowing Djokovic and the US Open is banning Djokovic but not the Russians.
So the French Open is hands-down the best Grand Slam. For me, it’s the only true Grand Slam now”.
Opelka didn’t make it far at ‘the best Grand Slam’
At this year’s French Open, Opelka suffered a straight-set defeat in the first round to Filip Krajinovic.
Now, Opelka reveals he ate some bad chicken before the match and got real sick. “I ate some chicken onsite right before the match,” Opelka revealed. “The next thing you know, I was as sick as could be. I played the first set of my match fine and then it hit me.
I started to get shivers and aches. I was miserable—I just wanted to get out of there. I finished the match but I could barely shower. I laid down at the hotel and had a sharp pain in my stomach”.
