"I wanted to be happier": Opelka embraces art and fashion during break from tennis after being fed up with tour life

American tennis player Reilly Opelka has demonstrated a love for fashion, as his social media posts often show him attending various fashion weeks in Europe.

On a recent episode of The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast, Opelka gave some detail on how his love for fashion developed over the years. He revealed it all began when he was a junior tennis player, touring different parts of Europe.

"I was so shocked. [I was] somewhat, a bit of an American kid, you could say. [Coming from] Small town in Florida, going to Europe for the first time at junior French Open and stuff,” he said. "However, once I got on tour, I hated it.

“I was so uncomfortable there. The hotel rooms were small, old. I was miserable. I just wanted to get away and want something to do away from tennis while I was in Europe and find a way to enjoy my time over there to help me play better tennis.”

The 25-year old stated remembered his first encounter with fashion, recalling it was a visit to the Prada Foundation in Milan following an early loss at the Rome Masters.

“I remember I had lost in Rome one year early on," he added. "Anyway, I went to the Prada foundation in Milan and obviously I liked fashion enough to like Prada enough and just want to go into their foundation and that’s where art started,.

“And I wanted to be happier. And I got so hooked on it. I started going to museums everywhere. I was arranging car service to take me an hour way to a museum in South of France, I just started going to museums all over the place.”