(VIDEO) "Worst umpire on tour" – Riley Opelka blasts Greg Allensworth after Dallas Open incident
ATP
Rilley Opelka booked his place in the third round of the Dallas Open after a hard-fought victory over Britain's Cameron Norrie.
The match was highly competitive, lasting over two and a half hours, with both players showing strong serving games. The contest was filled with long rallies and momentum swings, making it a battle that could have gone either way.
Norrie started strong, taking the first set 6-4, but Opelka fought back in the second set, forcing a tie-break and edging it 7-6(5). In the decisive third set, Opelka held his nerve to break his opponent and close the match 6-4.
With this gritty win, Opelka now moves on to face Tommy Paul in the next round. However, the match is being talked about more for his heated confrontation with chair umpire Greg Allensworth.
The controversial incident
During the match, a spectator disrupted Opelka while he was serving, shouting loudly, which caused a visible reaction from the American. Frustrated by the repeated interruptions, he lashed out at the fan:
"You doing it on fu*ng purpose or what? Go the fk inside, buddy."
The chair umpire, Greg Allensworth, issued a penalty to Opelka for the outburst, which sparked a heated exchangebetween the two. Opelka argued his case, insisting the umpire had failed to control the crowd properly, but Allensworth stood firm on his decision.
After the match, Opelka did not hold back in his criticism of the umpire.
"Greg Allensworth was the worst ref in the institute, as we were talking about in the locker room with all the players. It's a coincidence, like literally two days ago. Definitely like the worst umpire on tour. He almost changed the outcome of that match just because he doesn't know what he's doing."
Opelka accuses Allensworth of failing to do his job
Opelka continued to vent his frustrations, accusing the umpire of letting the situation escalate unnecessarily.
"He got emotional when we were arguing, and he got intense and frantic. He couldn't give me an answer. 'You didn't tell that guy to shut up. He was doing it for like three points.' He didn't do his job, so I had to tell him to get out of here.
"The guy was being quite rude; I'm all for whatever, but if you want to come here to be an a**hole, then I'm gonna be one back. And then if the ref isn't doing his job and he penalises me, not a good look."
Opelka believes Allensworth’s actions could have impacted the match's outcome, stating that his lack of control over the crowd and poor decision-making were unacceptable.
What’s next for Opelka?
Despite the controversy, Opelka remains one of the standout performers in the tournament, showing his dominant service game and strong mental resilience.
A fan was bothering Reilly Opelka during his service motion, Opelka responded and was given a point violation…
— Barstool Tennis (@StoolTennis) February 7, 2025
He’d end up holding and winning the match but this feels like a very poor job of umpiring pic.twitter.com/s05wSstKJ0
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mandoist07-02-2025 - Ouch!!mandoist07-02-2025
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- This is just getting beyond ridiculous!! Not to mention unsportsmanlike and unfair to serious up & coming contenders.mandoist06-02-2025
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- It sounds seriously absurd that in Davis Cup, (unlike Grand Slams such as the Aus Open), medical time outs off court with the medical staff are not allowed?? I mean, if this was an Aus Open match, and the same thing happened to Gurin then, he would have been able to go off court for official medical time out and make an informed decision whether to resume the match or retire. How come such conditions do not apply in Davis Cup?? I mean, there with Davis Cup, it is even more like a soccer match or basketball game in that teams are playing. And so as with those, it ought to be the case in tennis that if a player needs serious medical time out, then one of the other team mates ought to substitute and each team needs to have stand-ins or understudies in case substitution is needed which will be rare but as we can see here, this kind of circumstance fits. But even if the teams do not go down the road of subbing other team mates in, in case of a health issue like the one which played out here, at least, as in the Aus Open and other Grand Slams, there ought to be time-outs with the health professionals and at the conclusion of these time-outs, the particular decision that has been reached between them and the player needs to be taken on board by the umpire. PERIOD.
Sueiyin04-02-2025 - "If Novak did this, he would be defaulted for life. WTF." 🤣 WTF sounds like What Tennis Fury?! What Tennis Flurry??! I mean, se-rious-ly, it was actually the unfairness of the silly umpire's decision that is the issue here! Further, how come it was Gurin & his team who got disqualified? If this kind of thing happens in soccer, it would be the other guy getting the yellow or red card! Because after all, it was the Belgian who's foul it was so why then penalize the opponents for something they didn't instigate? Fouls in both basketball and soccer are read as a hinderance that has been caused by the player who INITIALLY instigated the hinderance. In this case, okay, it is tennis, but while the precise rules are different to either soccer or basketball, the same type of recognition as to whoever instigates a hinderance should apply, and in this case, it was the Belgian player.Sueiyin04-02-2025
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