Why is doubles still played on the ATP tour? In any case, Reilly Opelka no longer sees a reason for this.
von tennisnet.com
last edited: 03/18/2023, 1:00 p.m
Reilly Opelka has had to take a break since last summer. An injury forces the American to focus on other things at the moment. As you know, Opelka will not be bored, he is also known as a passionate art collector and lover. But the 2.11 meter man already has an eye on his profession.
And what Opelka has now increasingly demanded via social networks will not have brought him much applause from his colleagues: nothing less than the abolition of the double competitions on the ATP tour. And the developments at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Indian Wells also confirmed Opelka somewhere: Because many individual players who had also called for the doubles (and took a few starting places away from the specialists) withdrew during the event without greeting.
The double works with local heroes
When journalists take the fact that top singles players also compete in doubles as an example of how the pair competition works, then that only proves his argument, says Opelka. He himself only played two doubles games last year: in Rome alongside Tommy Paul. And at the beginning of the year at the Australian Open with Mackenzie McDonald.
The argument that doubles gets too little attention probably comes into play during the early rounds of most tournaments. However, most organizers have switched to playing the final in pairs before the one in singles. And the ranks are usually already well filled. As was seen in Austria with the triumphs of Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler in Kitzbühel at the Generali Open 2021 and in Vienna at the Erste Bank Open in autumn 2022. And Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies couldn’t complain about a lack of support when they won the final in Munich last spring.
