Reilly Opelka went nearly two years without playing a tour-level match after undergoing hip surgery and later multiple wrist surgeries. The American made a successful comeback last week in Newport, where he reached the semi-finals.
ATPTour.com caught up with Opelka’s longtime coach, former No. 7 in the PIF ATP Rankings Jay Berger, about what he past two years have been like behind the scenes, the 26-year-old’s comeback and what he is most proud of his charge for.
In addition to the challenges Reilly has faced, it hasn’t been an easy couple of years for you either. How nice is it for you after being there for him throughout the process to see his good start?
It’s been an incredibly long two years. We had a kid really rising in the ranks and doing incredibly well, has one surgery, turns into two surgeries, turns into three surgeries. There’s certainly a personal side for me, because at a young age, I was at the top of my game and had a surgery and ended up not being able to come back. So any surgery you have, there are no guarantees.
Mostly I’m just blown away by the commitment he’s had to search for answers along so many different lines and the effort he puts in. I don’t think people realise how dedicated he is, how committed he is, and how resilient and determined he was to get back. And I do have some experience in this because I have experienced it myself, and my point along the way is that whatever it takes, it’s going to be worth it in the end.
The one match he played [at an ATP Challenger Tour event last year] was probably more incredible for him to get out there. And then, to play here [it has been] how his body’s reacting more than anything, and then certainly the way he’s playing. I thought he was playing pretty well, but you never know until you get out there.
You mentioned the resilience. People associate him with his fashion and the art interests and they don’t see how much work he puts in. How would you describe the extent to which he pushed?
He literally went to any extent to get better, from traveling to doctors. His days were therapy at seven to what he was eating to how he was going about his day, everything was about getting better, and really, for a long time, he wasn’t. And then to do it kind of three different times — you do it once for your hip, and you get all the way back, and then it happens with your wrist and you start to come back, and then you have to have a second surgery.
There were a lot of ups and downs and three to four months ago, I was not very optimistic to be honest. So his determination to just to see it to the end and to do everything possible to get back on the court… I mean, he is one of the most dedicated athletes I’ve ever seen or been around.
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Was Newport more about how he feels and just getting back into the rhythm than his result?
Yeah, that certainly is a bonus. It’s always nice to see him doing well. First of all, it gives us a good idea of what he needs to work on in these events. We came into [Newport] with success being, ‘I can play next week, I can get through a match and play next week.’ That was literally what success looked like to us.
We’re pretty process-focused, always have been since we started working [together]. So [we are] constantly looking at things, how can you do things better? But yeah, I think so far it has been really best-case scenario, whether he wins or loses, that his body has actually really held up remarkably well and I think it’s really a tribute to the work he’s put in. The guy is in the gym seven days a week, it’s really been an all-encompassing thing for him to get back.
He was telling me about how the hip was less of an issue and how after the hip surgery with his service motion he had more ability to sit further into his leg. What have you noticed?
Certainly it helps in some ways, and I think right at the end, the last two to three months of him playing when his hip was kind of bothering him a little bit, he stopped serving as well as normal. After the surgery, he came back and found his motion again. So he’s been serving well.
Overall, you’ve known Reilly since he’s relatively young.
11, 12, yeah.
How proud are you of the perseverance he has shown?
We’ve spent a lot of time and I was kind of was overseeing his programme when he was young, but he had some great coaches and some great mentors in Tom Gullikson and Brian Gottfried and people like Jim Loehr and Michael Sell, Andy Brandi.
He had some really great mentors. He was brought up to really appreciate knowledge and take advantage of it. I’m probably happiest [about] the kind of person he is and I probably wouldn’t be around somebody that’s not like that. I’ve been doing this for a while and the reason I do it with him is I enjoy it, he’s a great kid. He listens and keeps trying to get better.
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