WATCH: Controversial scenes as Reilly Opelka gets penalized for dropping F-bomb at crucial moment in Dallas Open

Controversy erupted at the Dallas Open as Reilly Opelka received a point penalty from umpire Greg Allensworth for an audible obscenity. The call, made while Opelka was serving for the match, left the American visibly furious.

On Friday, February 7, Opelka took on Cameron Norrie in the second round of the Dallas Open. The American came off the back of an impressive straight-sets win over Alexander Shevchenko.

Norrie began the match on the front foot, bagging the first set 6-4. However, Opelka managed to force a decider by winning the second set via tiebreaker. In the third set, when the American led 5-4, 30-30, he was apparently being distracted by someone in the crowd while serving. Opelka said to them:

"You doing it on fu***ng purpose or what? Go the f**k inside buddy"

This led to the chair umpire Gregory Allensworth penalising Opelka and giving Norrie a point. The 27-year-old then argued with the umpire but to no avail as his penalty stood. However, Opelka did not fluster and closed out the match in the same game winning 4-6, 7-6, 6-4.

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Reilly Opelka expresses his frustration after Dallas Open controversy, calls Greg Allensworth the "worst ref"

Reilly Opelka at the ATP 500 Dallas Open 2025 - Source: Getty

During his post-match interview after defeating Cameron Norrie, Reilly Opelka did not hold back. He tore into chair umpire Greg Allensworth and claimed that the players were recently talking about him being the worst umpire.

"Greg Allensworth was the worst ref in the institute like we were talking about in the locker room all the players. It's a coincidence like literally two days ago. Definitely, like the worst umpire on tour. He almost changed the outcome of that match just because he doesn't really know what he's doing," Reilly Opelka said.

Further, the American claimed that the umpire did not do his job of removing the crowd member distracting him, so he had to take matters into his own hands.

"He got emotional when we were arguing, he got very intense and frantic. He couldn't give me an answer. 'You didn't tell that guy to shut up. He was doing it for like three points.' He didn't do his job so I had to tell him to get out of here. The guy was being quite rude, I'm all for whatever but if you want to come here to be an a**hole then I'm gonna be one back. And then if the ref isn't doing his job and he penalizes me, not a good look," he added.

In the next round, Opelka is set to take on fellow American Tommy Paul.