Reilly Opelka doesn’t have much empathy for those complaining about the US Open mixed doubles news as the American took a shot at the competition by suggesting it has never been a real competition anyway.
After the US Open revealed their plans to completely revamp the mixed doubles event and format, players who are mainly focused on the dubs competition were left absolutely furious.
Pretty much, the majority of them agree that the organizers of the last Grand Slam of the year made that move to lure top singles players to play.
And with that being said, they believe it was “a disrespectful” move to doubles players but also tennis tradition.
One of the first to react were reigning US Open mixed dubs champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, who accused the tournament of making the mixed event “a pseudo-exhibition.”
“In the last few weeks we received the news that the US Open mixed tournament will be completely turned upside down, canceled and replaced with a pseudo-exhibition focused only on entertainment and show,” they wrote in an Instagram post.
Opelka sarcastically reacts: Wait… It wasn’t always an exhibition?
“Wait..mixed dubs wasn’t always an exhibition” the American commented on Instagram.
Meanwhile, Opelka ripping doubles isn’t anything new.
“Dubs players are the most overpaid athletes in the world,” he wrote on X in 2022.
At the time, the 27-year-old also pretty much said that doubles was a boring competition without top singles players competing.
“They don’t sell a single ticket outside of the UK, unless its singles players playing doubles. For example, Indian Wells,” the former world No. 17 also wrote at the time.
That same year, Opelka was asked during a Q&A session on Instagram what change he’d make to tennis.
“Get rid of doubles, only time people watch are when it’s singles players or the bry bros (Bob and Mike Bryan),” he responded.
Tennis World USA