US OPEN

September 2, 2021

Reilly Opelka

Press Conference

R. OPELKA/L. Musetti

7-6, 7-5, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Would you please give us a little perspective on your match today and your thoughts on the match and how you're playing at this particular point.

REILLY OPELKA: Yeah, I thought, actually didn't think I played great, and that's what I loved about it. I won the match not playing great.

I picked up my level, made some nice adjustments on my return. But it started off ugly. I was clutching in the breaker. Stayed tough, I put pressure on him, and that's what I think good players start to do is they win when they are not playing well.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Can you describe how you used the first point of the breaker, how big was that in the match?

REILLY OPELKA: Yeah, that was a turning point, that really was. I think that could have, the match could have changed completely. If I'm down 1-0, he hits two big serves, 3-0, not playing well, the next thing I'm down a set. That's how crazy our sport is. One little point like that, one shot.

It was kind of lucky. I guessed right twice. Yeah, that changed everything. It turned things around. Picked up my energy, and I got a mini break, hit two aces, 4-1, and the match was completely changed, the whole dynamic of it went a whole different route.

Q. What you said in your opening statement, you're learning to play when you're not playing your best. How much of that comes from confidence? Having wins under your belt, places like Canada. Feels like more perspective in some good way you'll go out there and be able to win.

REILLY OPELKA: Yeah, for sure. Part of it is confidence and part is just like experience and just learning how to approach some points. Yeah, there is such, like, small, little details. Sometimes you make an adjustment and you don't get rewarded right away, because they hit an ace, you change your turn position, and they hit an ace the next point.

Then whatever. You do one thing, you kind of get lucky and things start clicking. But I think the key is to just constantly like, for me, to keep calm. That way my mind can start thinking about what I need to do different.

As soon as I open my mouth once, it's a slippery slope, and then I'll be complaining for two hours straight. So I know to bite my tongue whenever I feel that urge and my mind starts working different. It starts looking for solutions.

Q. (Question off microphone.)

REILLY OPELKA: 100%, yeah. Right away, as soon as my mouth opens, like I talk for 10, 15 seconds, playing the next point, and when I'm not talking I'm thinking about -- I have 15 seconds to think about something else to try, a different adjustment to make or maybe something he's doing, something he's picking up that I'm doing. Those add up, those 15 seconds between each point, whatever, they add up.

Q. Is there a point, whether in warmup or as the match starts, that you sort of know yourself, Oh, today is a good day or today could be a harder day for me?

REILLY OPELKA: I mean, in warmup today it was cold and windy and it wasn't actually once we got on the match court. I was ready for some adversity.

But, no, I mean, I started off -- it all depends, he started off serving well. I wasn't comfortable. I know that things can change, you know, and that's what good players do. Back in the day, yeah, if I didn't start off well probably meant I didn't end the match well, and that's why I was 200 in the world.

If I don't start a match off well, you rarely see me like ending playing the same way when I started. My level tends to increase as the match goes on, as every kind of good player does.

That's what kind of separates guys from the rest of the pack, I think. You know, they make the right adjustments and they come up with the goods on the big points.

Q. You're the highest-seeded American left. Did you feel the support from the crowd today? What's that mean to you today?

REILLY OPELKA: Yeah, it was great. I love that court, Court 17 is awesome. It's very intimate. Yeah, I thought the crowd was great. Musetti had some great support, as well. I think that's more fun that way too when -- you know, it's cool an Italian kid, and even when I played Soonwoo, played a Korean kid, one Korean guy in the main draw from a far, far part of the world from here, and he had a nice fan base there as well.

That's what makes the US Open fun. It's not like so crazy all on one guy. Sometimes when you do that, like when I played in other places, it's sometimes can cross a line of disrespect, but I think the U.S. crowd does a pretty good job. Obviously I felt a lot of love today, but I think so did Musetti. I think that's fun.

Q. Can you talk about what it's like to go through life as such a tall man, how that affects you. Is it a plus? Downside?

REILLY OPELKA: Yeah, the only fun side is hitting an ace on a big point. Yeah, it's something I've learned to live with. I don't know anything else, to be honest. I don't really remember, because I got tall pretty early. I was 15, 16, and maybe even 14, and I was already over 6 foot. It's not like I know any other way. If I woke up like this, then I'd be a lot more, I'd have more negative comments to tell you about it.

You just get used to it. You get used to ducking and, you know, having your legs crammed in a car. Just, I don't know, there are some things like that. And you get used to some comments like people make all the time or just some stupid little comments, that people ask me all the time how tall I am.

You know, quite frankly, it happens 10 times a day. You would think people would understand, Oh, he probably gets asked that all the time, I'm not going to be that guy. For the most part I'm pretty nice when I answer. Sometimes I'm not so nice (smiling). Just depends on my mood.

When I'm in the States I'll put on a French accent, Oh, 211 centimeter, and then they don't know what that is. That just makes me feel good. When I'm in France, Yeah, I'm 7 foot. They don't know what it is. That's kind of been my new one.

Q. Building on the question you just answered, how about the effect on you as a tennis player of your height? How much do you appreciate that effect? What are the downsides, if any?

REILLY OPELKA: Yeah, just like anything, I serve well, other aspects of my game are tougher. Low ball. Just the basic things.

But I've learned to live with it. I don't know the other side, you know. So it's hard for me to know as much of the downsides. I can't say maybe I wouldn't be as good of a player, I wouldn't be where I'm at if I wasn't 7 foot. I don't want to complain. But maybe I'd be better. I don't know. Maybe I would be like Rublev. Probably not.

It's all I know is this. I've learned to live with it, and I don't think it's going to change, you know. So I hope it doesn't change.

Q. What goes through your mind when you see Schwartzman play?

REILLY OPELKA: He's one of my favorites. He's different. He hits the hell out of the ball. He's super-aggressive. But, yeah, when I see Schwartzman or Yoshi, Yoshi, I'm like, This guy has to get up every day and just grind.

Like it's crazy to me that every single point, you know, he's running side to side, scrapping for every single point. That happens to me like two, three times a match and I'm dead, I'm gassed. He's doing it every single point. Makes me respect those guys even more, Yoshi and Schwartzman.

I'm a fan of tennis, I really am. I like watching these guys play. I like watching different styles. I enjoy, quite frankly, just enjoy watching them, as many other people do.

Q. I'm even more impressed how you manage to fit your hair into your hat. How does that work? Have you thought about going more a headband, the Tsitsipas route? What do you think?

REILLY OPELKA: I look like an idiot with a headband on. I've tried that, experimented with that.

But the hat, I definitely had to go, it's a snap back, definitely worked its way back a few notches. When I get to -- right now I have two showing, when it gets to three that means it's time for a haircut. That's been my, like my telltale for when I need a haircut.

It's tough, like some days I wake up, man, it is tight today. I have to loosen it one more and then it starts off as just one snap and now I'm at two. I think the third one is coming soon. That's when it's time to do something about it.

Q. Is this like quarantine hair or a more recent choice?

REILLY OPELKA: Kind of a choice. Yeah, I'm staying right across from a really nice salon. I could easily just go in. But, yeah, I have kind of embraced it. I actually kind of like the look a little bit. I think it's hilarious. Do you know Happy Gilmore's caddie? When I wear the hat with the hair showing, I'm definitely going as him for Halloween, the Subway hat. We have already planned the whole thing. That's going to be my Halloween costume.

Q. You spent most of your career as one of the younger guys. Now you play a kid like Musetti and you're the experienced guy. Can you talk about how much that helps in a situation like that tiebreaker, key moments where suddenly you're the guy with more experience than your opponents?

REILLY OPELKA: Yeah, for sure. I mean, that's why some of these older guys are still so good. You know, their actual tennis level has gone down. They may be half a step slower, five miles per hour less on their serve but they have so much more knowledge and so much more experience that are keeping them where they're at.

Like, you know, Feliciano Lopez, obviously the obvious ones, Roger, Rafa, Novak, Murray, and you have some, Bautista Agut, some veterans that I think the average age of the top 100 has gotten a lot higher in past years, mainly because of guys relying on their experience.

I think that goes for everything: Scheduling, practice, they know how to get things done and they are more efficient. Isner is another great example.