GOING FOR IT
Opelka seizes chance in upset of Wawrinka
WIMBLEDON, England — Reilly Opelka is still adjusting to some aspects of visiting Britain.
For example, the undersized bed frame — for the 6-foot-11 American, anyway — at his lodging for a Wimbledon tuneup tournament. Then there’s the lack of air conditioning compared to back home in Florida. As for the grass-court tennis? Opelka is increasingly comfortable with that, as demonstrated by a 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 8-6 victory over threetime major champion Stan Wawrinka on Wednesday in the second round at the All England Club.
“Every year I come here, and, like, ‘Why is there no AC?’ They’re, like, ‘Oh, it’s never hot here.’ Every year, it’s over 80 degrees!” Opelka said.
He is ranked 63rd and is unseeded for his main-draw debut at Wimbledon, where he won a junior title four years ago.
However, against a far more experienced and far more accomplished player, he pounded eight of his 23 aces and saved both break points he faced in the last set Wednesday, fending off 10 of Wawrinka’s 12 break chances in all. At 6-all in the fifth, Opelka erased a break chance with a 140 mph service winner, then followed with two more serves the 34-year-old Swiss star failed to put in play, at 133 mph and 137 mph.
It was Opelka’s ability to adjust his style, serve-and-volleying only three times in the final set, and to persevere on longer exchanges that made this upset possible.
“I’ve always been a pretty good mover. Underrated, actually,” said the 21-year-old Opelka, participating in only his fourth major tournament. “I think sometimes when I play guys for the first time, they don’t expect it. It helps me win so many points, being able to (track) down some extra balls, especially in the key moments.”
It was the 22nd-seeded Wawrinka’s groundstrokes that failed him, with four errors that helped Opelka earn the only service break of the fifth set in the last game. When it ended, Opelka yelled, “Come on!” and then pounded his chest.
“At the end, he went for it,” Wawrinka said. “He went bigger than me, and he deserved to win.”
So maybe it’s time for Opelka to stop downplaying his chances this
fortnight. Before facing Wawrinka, Opelka called it a “brutal matchup.” Afterward, Opelka referred to Wawrinka as “the main attraction.”
On Friday, in his first appearance in the third round of any Grand Slam tournament, Opelka will face someone else he labeled “the favorite” — 2016 Wimbledon runner-up Milos Raonic, who is seeded 15th and has an idea of what he might be in for against the American.
“He plays aggressive. He goes for it. He tries to keep you off balance,” said Raonic, who beat Robin Haase in straight sets Wednesday. “He’s hard to get a rhythm on, because not only does he finish things off pretty quickly with his serve and getting ahead that way, but he’s constantly swinging for his other shots.
“He doesn’t really hold back. It’s hard to sort of work yourself into the points.”
Opelka isn’t the only young man whose star rising at this tournament.
Felix Auger-Aliassime, an 18-year-old Canadian who is seeded 19th and never had won so much as one Grand Slam match until this week, reached the third round of his Wimbledon debut with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over French qualifier Corentin Moutet.
One more victory and the kid known to many by his initials, “FAA,” could be taking on 2018 men’s singles champion Novak Djokovic, who beat Denis Kudla of the United States 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.
Not that Auger-Aliassime — the first player born in the 2000s to win a men’s match at a major — is worrying about that just yet.
“I can recall being 10 years old and playing (for) the first time away from home and being very nervous. Since (I was) very young, you kind of learn how to deal with this pressure, with the stress,” he said. “But at different stages of your career, you face different times. Now it’s Grand Slams.”
Tennis has been waiting for quite some time to discover a worthy successor to the Big Three of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic, who have won the past 10 major titles and 53 of the past 64. So there is a bit of irrational exuberance whenever some youngster comes along with the sort of talent and poise Auger-Aliassime seems to possess in abundance.
As of Wednesday evening, British bookmakers were listing Auger-Aliassime at 25-1 odds to lift the Wimbledon trophy, behind only the top three seeds: No. 1 Djokovic, No. 2 Federer and No. 3 Nadal. The Montreal native had never been ranked above 108th until this season, making his increasing odds remarkable, but then who else is there to rate right behind the game’s dominant figures?
Just three days into the fortnight, the guys ranked Nos. 4-6 — Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas, who are all in their 20s and touted as up-and-comers — are gone.
“I understand that people want to see a new winner of a Grand Slam. They don’t want to see three of us dominating the Slam titles. Eventually it’s going to come,” Djokovic said, then waited a comedic beat before adding with a smile: “in about 25 years.”
Djokovic will face 22-year-old Hubert Hurkacz of Poland on Friday, when Auger-Aliassime takes on 21-year-old Ugo Humbert of France.
“I know if I win, I could play Novak. But then there is a match to play,” Auger-Aliassime said. “Once the match gets going, you’re already in enough trouble in the court. You don’t really think of what could happen (next).”