Drunk with blows by Reilly Opelka, a former Top 20 player who fell to 293rd place in the world, Novak Djokovic could only see the damage and lost in the quarter-finals in Brisbane against the flamboyant American.
Novak Djokovic is still looking for his 100th career title. Seeded No. 1 in the ATP 250 tournament in Brisbane, he therefore had a great opportunity to achieve this performance this week in Australia. And after two convincing first rounds, notably yesterday against Gaël Monfilshe seemed to be gaining strength.
But today he couldn’t do anything against Reilly Opelka. The American, formerly 17th in the world, returned to competition last summer after two years without almost playing. A great server, he rained down a veritable avalanche on the Serbian in front of the astonished Brisbane public.
16 aces, 77% first serves, and above all, he constantly maintained Djokovic under the snuffer. With a lot of winning forehands, he took the Serb to the tiebreak in the first set and won the bet by being uncompromising on the crucial points, concluding on his second set point, the first on his serve.
Then, after saving his only conceded break point, he took the opponent’s service and unfolded his faceoffs, ending with a shutout and a final ace for a victory 7-6 (6), 6-3. Of course, we know that he is better than his current 293rd place in the world, but it remains a sensation, and we would have to go back into the history books to see the Serbian lose against such a poorly ranked player. Opelka, he will face another aces machine, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricardin the semi-finals tomorrow.
