Reilly Opelka calls for more transparency on the professional tour if tennis is to move forward

Reilly Opelka has called for more transparency in professional tennis as he believes it is crucial for the business of tennis to move forward. Opelka, who recently also urged the ATP to "get rid of" doubles tennis, shed light on another big change he would like to see on the pro tour.

Opelka, a former singles World No. 17, has not played since August last season as he continues to recover from multiple injuries. He recently shared his views on the biggest improvements he would like to see in the operational and managerial aspects of the professional circuit.

"I would fight for transparency," Reilly Opelka said on a recent episode of The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast. "I would want transparency all around in this sport. That's how sports move forward, businesses move forward."

He also criticized the revenue-sharing deal between players and the ATP Masters 1000 events.

"Players have a split with net revenue. That's like the biggest suc*er deal in sports...Who does a net revenue deal? That's insane. That absolutely doesn't exist in other sports," Opelka added.

Opelka also defended his earlier call to scrap doubles tennis as another massive change he wishes to see, further stressing that the format does not bring in enough revenue to simply break-even.

The 25-year-old American also revealed his comeback plans. Opelka will resume training in two months as he is yet to recover from a wrist injury.

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"I thought it was horrible" - Reilly Opelka on tennis' Netflix documentary Break Point

Reilly Opelka competes during Indian Wells 2022.

Reilly Opelka also admitted that he did not like Break Point, the new Netflix show focusing on the professional tennis tour. Opelka felt it was "horrible" and "boring" right from the beginning and even compared it to the Formula One show Drive to Survive and the golf show Full Swing, which are also on Netflix. As per the American, both those shows were much better.

"I mean you look at the few sports that have done Netflix series now F1, golf, tennis. Tennis finished third by a mile," Opelka said on the same.

"It’s not a crazy radical thought that that was a boring show. I thought from the first episode I thought it was horrible," he added.

Opelka last won an ATP singles title in April last year in Houston, Texas. As his layoff approaches eight months, Opelka has dropped from a career-high singles ranking of No. 17 in August to No. 138 this week. He will drop a further 250 ranking points next week, which he earned by winning the 2022 Houston title.