‘Costs Roger More Money To Be There’- Spitting $3.34 Million Blunt Fact, Reilly Opelka Highlights the Dire State of Tennis

The American tennis player, Reilly Opelka, doesn’t really fear taking the fall. The tennis pro has a reputation for speaking up when necessary and bringing up the right issue. Recently, he looked up to the dying state of tennis, staging a Roger Federer example. Let’s take a look.

The 25-year-old American tennis player knows how to raise a concern on and off the tennis court. He might not have won great titles on the tennis court, but with his ability to fight over any concern, Opelka wishes to bring a change in the tennis circuit.

Reilly Opelka voices blunt tennis reality

The American tennis player was recently invited as a guest to the Craig Shapiro tennis podcast, where he talked about the Miami Open 2021 incident. At that time, the tennis star talked about the harsh tennis reality while talking about how the $3.34 million in prize money awarded at the 2021 Miami Open was not enough for tennis legends like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Additionally, we talked about the prize money concern by talking about how winners from 1996 were also getting the same prize money that winners of 2021 are awarded.

For context: Roger Federer won the 2021 Miami Open and was awarded $3.34 million as prize money.

When the host asked about the tennis star’s only meeting with the ATP chairman, Paul Gaudenze, Opelka recalled the time when he connected with him over the prize money concern. He said, “My concern was what was going on. The winner of the Miami Open in 2021 made the same amount of money as the winner in 1996. I mean, that’s a big concern. You know Roger, Rafa, Novak, they weren’t there. They are not going to go out and say it. I said it. I’ll take the fall for it whatever I don’t care. It cost Roger more money to be there at that time, even if he wins the thing.” 

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Further, he also highlighted that, with the passing of time, the living expenses of tennis legends like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were greater than the price of the tournament. Additionally, at the time, the tennis player connected with almost every ATP executive over the prize money issue.

Opelka even raised his voice to the ATP authorities

To economize, the tournament had to cut down the prize money to half compared to the prize money that was given in 2019. Nevertheless, every tennis player shared their frustration over the same concern. At that time, the 25-year-old tennis player took to his Twitter account to call out the ATP executives on the way they were dealing with the situation.

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He shared that almost 50% of the board members would be considered to have ‘conflicts of interest’ if they were a part of any other sport or company. He also added that the same board members are not even ready to take a salary cut to deal with the situation. Notably, he also raised concern about how these executives are not even seen attending tennis tournaments.