“Stupid rule!” Andy Roddick slams ATP for reprimanding Reilly Opelka for silly reason

Tall, tenacious, and terrific, are the adjectives often used to describe American tennis star Reilly Opelka. The American stands at a whopping 6ft 11 inches, being one of the tallest players currently in the ATP circuit.

Opelka has had a bright start to the new season. The tall American reached the third round of the Australian Open 2022, where he lost to Denis Shapovalov. However, he then moved on to win the ATP Dallas Open defeating Jenson Brooksby in the final, winning his 4^th ATP title.

Andy Roddick deems recent Reilly Opelka reprimand as stupid

Reilly Opelka enjoyed a great start to his year by already securing his first title in Dallas. However, post the match, Opelka was fined by the ATP for a seemingly unbelievable reason. The offense that the American did was that he had worn a cap during the prize presentation ceremony. Alongside the fans, the tennis star also was left bewildered by the decision and chose to put up a sarcastic post on Twitter to show it to the public.

Among others who found the punishment as stupid, former Grand Slam champion Andy Roddick has come to the support of Opelka, deeming the rule as ‘painfully stupid.’ The American wore his cap while collecting his trophy on Sunday and it did not go down well with tennis chiefs. As well as being handed his Dallas Open trophy, Opelka was also handed a sanction by the ATP for keeping his hat on during the presentation.

Andy Roddick also has a personal connection with this issue as the American had himself worn a hat to many trophy presentations but never got sanctioned or punished for it. Talking about the decision by the ATP, the 39-year-old deemed the rule as stupid and revealed that he didn’t even know that such a rule existed.

“It’s a terribly stupid policy of the ATP. I have never received a fine for this. I didn’t even know that was a rule. Maybe it’s changed since I quit but it’s a really stupid/unnecessary rule,” the American said. 

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