Injury-stricken Reilly Opelka withdraws from 2023 Australian Open

World No. 38 Reilly Opelka's spell on the sidelines continues as the American star withdrew from the 2023 Australian Open.

The 25-year-old was last seen in action in August 2022, with injuries seeing him miss a major chunk of the season. This has also resulted in his drop in the ATP rankings.

While it looked like Opelka would return to action in Australia this month, that is not the case anymore. He has withdrawn from the Australian Open and has been replaced by World No. 99 Zhang Zhizhen, who will compete in the main draw of the Asia-Pacific Major for the first time in his career.

Opelka reached the third round of last year's Australian Open with wins over Kevin Anderson and Dominik Koepfer before losing 7-6(4), 4-6 6-3 6-4 to Denis Shapovalov. The towering American won two titles last season, in Dallas and Houston, before eventually competing in his final event of the year at the Citi Open in August.