A Twitter war has broken out between big-serving American Reilly Opelka and a fan handle of current World Number 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas over the former’s post, complaining about the random testing protocol ahead of the Australian Open.
Opelka tweet on players arriving for Covid tests touched off feud
It all started after Opelka shared pictures of players, including Tsitsipas, arriving for tests on his Twitter handle, tagging with a one-word message, ‘MOOD’.
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MOOD @TommyPaul1 https://t.co/8gaDYjCuGZ
— Reilly Opelka (@ReillyOpelka) February 4, 2021
The random tests followed after all Melbourne matches scheduled on Thursday were canceled in the wake of a tournament guard testing positive for COVID-19.
The post drew censure from a tennis fan, who replied, “Go home Reilly, no one is forcing you to participate.”
Go home Reilly, no one is forcing you to participate 🙄 https://t.co/JRuwZq47ON
— val (@valdeff) February 4, 2021
Opelka responded, saying he didn’t want to pack up and leave after all that he had to go through, adding that he realized that it didn’t make sense to travel to the Australian Open after setting foot in Melbourne.
Making his displeasure over the strict quarantine rules plain, the American added, “Never fun being somewhere you aren’t welcome.”
Tsitsipas fans call Reilly Opelka “selfish” for questioning quarantine rules
The fire spread as Tsitsipas fans got into the fight and defended the quarantine rules, saying that the organizers had gone to great lengths to make the tournament happen this year.
The fan page further pointed out that the players only had to hunker down in their hotel rooms while many Australians were being barred from entering Victoria because of the strict border protocols in place.
Well im not going to go home after all this. I didn’t realize how it didn’t make sense for us to be in Australia in the first place, till after I got here. Never fun being somewhere you aren’t welcome. https://t.co/r4yQ9RKB9G
— Reilly Opelka (@ReillyOpelka) February 4, 2021
The fans said Opelka should be grateful that he has “a job to go to” and “pretend to be decent”.
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Things got a bit touchy and personal thereafter as Opelka tweeted back, “…I guess I keep it too real for 2021, not into pretending to avoid being cancelled by grown-ups who have nothing better to do than tweet 5k times per month.”
Hahaha nah I have no problem quarantining tbh. And Australia has done an incredible job handling the virus, you are putting words into my mouth. Seems to be the common theme amongst people who tweet all day everyday https://t.co/azKXlmifS1
— Reilly Opelka (@ReillyOpelka) February 4, 2021
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Tsitsipas fans responded with equal haughtiness of tone, saying it was “SO selfish” of the American to be “whining” about his days under quarantine when the Australian Open organizers had done everything they could to make the players feel at home even amidst the challenging circumstances.