“A full schedule in China” Reilly Opelka angry with ATP for its cowardice stand
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Reilly Opelka and ATP Chief Andrea Gaudenzi
World No. 17 and American No. 1 Reilly Opelka has been one of the most straightforward players on the Tour currently not afraid to speak his mind out. The American has once again spoken against the functioning of the ATP Tour after the tennis governing body for the men’s side released its full calendar for the 2022 season having earlier released only for the first half.
The schedule sees the ATP Tour headed to China in September. As per the calendar, in the week after the 2022 Laver Cup, three simultaneous events will be played of which one is the Sofia Open in Bulgaria while the other two are Chengdu Open and the Zhuhai Championships in China, all ATP-250 events.
The month of October begins with the ATP-500 China Open in Beijing followed by the Shanghai Masters in the immediate next week. This schedule becomes a topic of discussion as WTA Tour continues with its suspension of all tournaments in China and Hong Kong ever since the case of Peng Shuai came up and despite all efforts of China and its friends at the International Olympic Committee, WTA remains firm that unless they are able to speak with Peng, they will continue to suspend all events in China.
WTA’s decision was later adopted by the ITF as well. ATP had however maintained its silence then and continue to hold it now as they try to sneak in the schedule while the tennis fraternity shifted its focus on the Novak Djokovic vaccine case, Alexander Zverev‘s racquet abuse at Acapulco and the Ukraine-Russia War. It is however interesting to note that the 2022 Kremlin Cup in Moscow remains suspended on the ATP Tour scheduled for the month of October.
Opelka took a note of the schedule and took a dig at Andrea Gaudenzi, the chief of ATP Tour since 2020 over his recent statements about unifying ITF, ATP, WTA and all 4 Grand Slams into 1 body. Opelka expressed his disapproval of ATP’s stand to play a full schedule in China with the entire episode of Peng Shuai bringing shocking details in the past few months.
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Opelka’s dispute with ATP increased after the American was fined for wearing a hat during the trophy presentation ceremony at the 2022 Dallas Open. The same governing body has however been easy on Alexander Zverev who assaulted the chair umpire narrowly missing his legs when he hit his racquet at the base of the chair umpire’s stand. Zverev is on probation for a year and fined an amount less than what a loser in the 1st round of a Grand Slam event would take home.
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Sarthak Shitole
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