"I didn't join Twitter to make fans" - Opelka resumes social media beef with tennis fans over comments about ATP player compensation

Reilly Opelka's criticism of the ATP for suppressing compensation to players has kicked off a war of words between him and tennis fans who felt Opelka's comments were out of line.

The towering American player started the debate a couple of days ago by showing his displeasure at the fact that his fellow Americans Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe were playing for lesser prize money in the Japan Open final last week as compared to the finalists of the same tournament back in 2018.

Many fans were not in agreement with Opelka. They highlighted that while the winner's prize money was lesser in the 2022 edition, the overall prize money pool had indeed gone up by a decent margin as opposed to the 2018 edition.

The back-and-forth between Reilly Opelka and fans is still ongoing and the American player hit back at some of the criticism he received. He sarcastically replied to a fan who urged him to "do his research" before commenting.

"I'm a dropout" - Opelka responded to the fan.

Another user asked Opelka to take action and go on strike instead of just tweeting about it, to which the American responded:

"Going on strike for the rest of the season because of you, Ed."

Earlier, Opelka replied to another comment and said that he brought up the issue because he felt it needed to be spoken about. He went on to add that he did not join social media to please people and earn more fans.

"I'm just keeping it real, someone's gotta do it otherwise players will continue to be taken advantage of. I didn't join twitter to make fans. If I did I would just tweet about wearing masks and being vaxxed and have all the tennis twitter love in the world," wrote the World No.37.