Brisbane International 2025: Novak Djokovic bundled out in Quarter-Finals by resurgent and rampant Reilly Opelka
ATP
Novak Djokovic will not play any further part in this year's Brisbane International as Reilly Opelka has sealed the biggest win (7-6 (6), 6-2) yet of his return to the sport after having most of the last 18 months on the sidelines injured.
Opelka who is now World No.293 has endured a real nightmare and is finally reaping the rewards and will now face Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in a match which will be loved by some and hated by others due to the nature of their serves.
It certainly won't include many breaks of serve and sees two of the so-called 'Servebots' who remain on the tour after the retirements of Isner and Karlovic go Head to Head. While for Djokovic who didn't have Andy Murray with him this week either, it is firmly back to the drawing board.
A tournament that is an ATP 250 so he was expected to win saw him beat Rinky Hijikata and a familiar foe in Gael Monfils - who he has a 20-0 record against now. But faced against adversity against Opelka, he couldn't produce albeit given the nature of the American's form this week it was likely a banana skin waiting to happen.
This was confounded as he fired down 14 aces in the opening set as the quick conditions suited his game with Mpetshi Perricard who now awaits in the semi-finals also benefiting from that this week in some real lights out tennis as he would just not relent and allow Djokovic to break his serve.
He sped into a 4-1 lead on the serve of Djokovic after previously breaking crushing in a 30th winner as Djokovic simply had no answers for the American. Djokovic held to make it 4-2 but despite exerting some pressure onto the Opelka serve, the American went one away.
Djokovic whilst he managed to get a hold of serve again, Opelka again crushed down a lights out hold to seal the win and dump out the 24-time Grand Slam champion in one of his biggest wins in years.
Reilly Opelka is UNCONSCIOUS right now 🔥 pic.twitter.com/EYrsbuiiTJ
— Bastien Fachan (@BastienFachan) January 3, 2025
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Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of TennisUpToDate.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces across the TennisUpToDate network, playing a central role in the daily operation and development of the site.
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