American tennis star
Reilly Opelka recently gave the world a glimpse of his mentality.
Despite his limited time on tour, Opelka has been quite impressive in the 2022 season, winning two ATP singles titles in Dallas and Houston. He even made history in the semifinals of the Dallas Open, recording the longest tie-break in ATP Tour history with his opponent John Isner.
The towering American, who fell from within the top 20 of the ATP singles rankings to finish the season at No. 38, is known to have a bold mentality and has always been outspoken.
He recently sat down for a podcast interview with the ATP and gave fans an insight into his mentality. He stated that he is "analytical" and that this is how he has "always been weird."
"My mentality is, I would say analytical, for better words, that's just kinda how I have always been wired," revealed Opelka. "Finding the right balance where do you caught for lying to be too analytical to where it becomes detrimental, so it's just a matter how am I gonna find the right balance to manage it better."
The 25-year-old added that you have to be okay with appearing silly on the court at times. He gave an example where he occasionally shoots some high-risk shots that could look silly, but he does it regardless.
"I mean, it sounds funny, but you have to be comfortable looking stupid out there sometimes and at my size, playing what I play," he added. "If I get a ball that I like, I am gonna take a high-risk shot and go for something crazy. It leads to some misses that look a silly out there, but that's just the nature of it. It's just what it is, it's just the reality,"