“I’m good at making the best of situations,” Reilly Opelka said of his persistent injury struggles recently. Over the last two years, the American player’s absence on the tennis courts has raised questions about his comeback. However, when he did return, Opelka drove past like a storm on-court, wiping off the nightmarish memories of his hip and wrist surgeries. But bits and pieces of the horror still remain inside him, as he recounted the horrors of a surgical slip up of his wrist.

Reilly Opelka’s perilous path to a resurgence in tennis is a story of terror and inspiration at the same time. The 26-year-old, who stands at nearly seven feet tall, went through almost two years of injury experience, first with his hip, then again with his wrist. Opelka once even entertained the idea of retiring after a tumor developed in his hip. Although surgery fixed it in 2022, the player, who can serve at over 140 mph, faced another hurdle with his wrist later on.

Naturally, the Michigan-born player opted for surgery on his wrist. Unfortunately, this time, the outcome was not what he wanted. “I saw a bad surgeon. She messed up on the first one. It got infected. I was in excruciating pain, I couldn’t sleep at night, had pain down my arm and hand. I needed a second surgery, and that caused problems after a cast on my arm led to nerve issues,” Reilly Opelka told the Palm Beach Post.

However, his resilience and patience kept him going and he soon overpowered all the difficulties. And after playing a challenger Tour event in 2023, Reilly Opelka is back this season in the Hall of Fame Open, and is already in the quarterfinals, preparing to take on Mackenzie McDonald in the next match. Currently, his goal is “to stay healthy,” as he further added, “We all know what I’m capable of when I stay healthy.”

A junior Wimbledon champion, Opelka produced his best career results in 2022, wherein he reached the No. 17 position with ease. Not only that, he also clinched his career’s third and fourth singles titles in the Dallas Open and U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships, and then the injuries struck him down. Almost two years have passed since then, but Opelka’s dream has remained the same.

After enduring and eventually overcoming multiple surgeries in the past, he now wants to bring back the same enthusiasm to court once again. “I want to complete an entire season like a couple of years ago. That’s the main goal now,” he said in the same interview. This might be his aim for now, but when it comes to his future, Reilly Opelka has another ambition in mind.

Reilly Opelka’s cautious yet optimistic approach towards recovery

“Its hard to say. French (Open) I’m out. Wrist, arm, elbow, once you shut that thing down for a couple of months, you just never know. You never know what bumps could come in the road, how things can flare up,” Reilly Opelka confessed after withdrawing from the event in 2023. But he did not break down. Rather, he took it as a challenge. For him, the process of recovery is just a part of his adventurous journey in tennis. 

The former World No. 89 in doubles, who started playing tennis at 12, wants to continue acing the game in the future. “Like I said, I just want to make sure that I’m playing my best tennis when I’m 30 years old,” he further added. However, following his comeback to tennis, his future plan seems quite possible for him to achieve. As he returns to action, hopefully we will not only see him play in his current tournament but also in the upcoming U.S. Open too!