Opelka Forced To Withdraw From His First Tournament In 15 Months After One Match

| by Sebastian Dahlman

Reilly Opelka returned with a win at the ATP Challenger in Charlottesville in the United States, but he's already out after pulling out due to an arm injury.

Reilly Opelka has not played in over a year as the American struggled with a couple of injuries. It's been a very long process of recovery for the American, but he finally returned a couple of days ago.

The tall American actually won his first match at the event, which he entered as a wild card because he lost his ranking due to a prolonged injury hiatus. It was a good match for Opelka, who announced his comeback in the day leading up to the event.

The idea was to play a couple of challengers at the end of the year to get his feet wet before a proper comeback next year, where the 26-year-old will likely attempt a comeback at the first Grand Slam of the season, the 2024 Australian Open.

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Despite starting off with a win in Charlottesville, Opelka won't play a second match this week as he pulled out from his match due to an apparent arm injury. That's not particularly good news for Opelka fans because another injury is not what fans are hoping for.

In his second match, Opelka was supposed to play fellow compatriot Aidan Mayo, but with his withdrawal, the 20-year-old advanced to the quarterfinals where he'll take on Switzerland's Alexander Ritschard.

We don't know the true extent of the injury because he hasn't spoken about it, but another setback would be a major problem for Opelka, especially since he has only played one match so far.

We'll see whether Opelka plays next week or whether he calls it quits for 2023 to recover and possibly get ready for the Australian summer swing next year.

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