Reilly Opelka was born in Delray Beach, Florida, United States, on August 28, 1997, to Lynne and George Opelka. He started playing tennis at age six casually before taking up the sport seriously at 12 years old. At USTA in Boca Raton, Opelka was coached by former ATP player Tom Gullikson.
Opelka achieved success at the junior level, especially at the 2015 Wimbledon Boys' finals. Here, the American player reached the final and beat Mikael Ymer in straight sets. In addition, Opelka won the doubles event alongside Akira Santillan. In April of the following year, Opelka made his ATP Tour debut at the 2016 Houston Open. However, he was eliminated by Sam Querrey.
Opelka made a strong start on the ATP Tour later in the season and won three matches at the Atlanta Open and made the semi-finals. But John Isner beat Opelka in the final four. Late in 2016, Opelka also won his first Challenger title at the Charlottesville Men’s Pro Challenger.
Opelka carried his strong form into the 2017 season and reached his first-ever Grand Slam main draw at the Australian Open. However, 11th seed David Goffin eliminated Opelka in the first round. The remainder of 2017 was a struggle for Opelka as he won just once at ATP Tour level.
The American player then spent most of 2018 performing well at Challenger level. He won three titles at Bordeaux, Knoxville, and the JSM Challenger. At the end of the campaign, Opelka broke into the ATP Top 100 for the first time.
2019 was Opelka’s breakthrough season, and he won his first ATP title at the New York Open in February. He then reached the main draw of all four Grand Slams for the first time in his career. At Wimbledon, he also made it to the third round before losing to Milos Raonic. A strong season saw Opelka finish 2019 ranked 36th.
Although Opelka was less consistent in 2020, failing to progress past round one in any of the majors, he still achieved some big feats. Most notably, the American secured his second career title. At the Delray Beach Open, Opelka beat Raonic in the final. Later in the campaign, Opelka progressed to the Cincinnati Open quarter-finals.
In 2021, Opelka was back at the top of his game. During the clay season, the American reached a Masters 1000 semi-final for the first time at the Italian Open. He then produced a third-round run at the Roland Garros. Opelka took momentum late into the season and reached his first Masters 1000 final at the Canadian Open but lost to Daniil Medvedev.
To cap a decent 2021, Opelka made it to the US Open fourth round and ended the season inside the Top 20. More success followed in 2022 as Opelka notched further ATP titles at the Dallas Open and the Men's Clay Court Championships whilst also reaching the Delray Beach Open final.
Midway through the season, Opelka struggled for form and suffered a hip and wrist injury in August. This kept him out of action until October 2023. He returned to the Charlottesville Men's Pro Challenger after 15 months out.
