A Twitter war has broken out between big-serving American Reilly Opelka and a fan handle of current World Number 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas over the former’s post, complaining about the random testing protocol ahead of the Australian Open.

Opelka tweet on players arriving for Covid tests touched off feud

It all started after Opelka shared pictures of players, including Tsitsipas, arriving for tests on his Twitter handle, tagging with a one-word message, ‘MOOD’.

The random tests followed after all Melbourne matches scheduled on Thursday were canceled in the wake of a tournament guard testing positive for COVID-19.

The post drew censure from a tennis fan, who replied, “Go home Reilly, no one is forcing you to participate.”

Opelka responded, saying he didn’t want to pack up and leave after all that he had to go through, adding that he realized that it didn’t make sense to travel to the Australian Open after setting foot in Melbourne.

Making his displeasure over the strict quarantine rules plain, the American added, “Never fun being somewhere you aren’t welcome.”

Top Stories

Rafael Nadal Faces New Injury Blow Only a Year After His Emotional Tennis Exit

Roger Federer Sparks Comeback Frenzy After Huge Australian Open Announcement

Aryna Sabalenka Breaks Silence on Nationality Switch After Belarus Representation Ban

Taylor Townsend Makes Unexpected Coaching Call After Career-Defining Success

Coco Gauff’s Vision Pays Off as Two Tennis Influencers Achieve Major Breakthrough

Tsitsipas fans call Reilly Opelka “selfish” for questioning quarantine rules

The fire spread as Tsitsipas fans got into the fight and defended the quarantine rules, saying that the organizers had gone to great lengths to make the tournament happen this year.

The fan page further pointed out that the players only had to hunker down in their hotel rooms while many Australians were being barred from entering Victoria because of the strict border protocols in place.

The fans said Opelka should be grateful that he has “a job to go to” and “pretend to be decent”.

Things got a bit touchy and personal thereafter as Opelka tweeted back, “…I guess I keep it too real for 2021, not into pretending to avoid being cancelled by grown-ups who have nothing better to do than tweet 5k times per month.”

Read More: “He Cares about the Sport”: Reilly Opelka Expresses Unhappiness over Novak Djokovic Getting “Negative Press”

Tsitsipas fans responded with equal haughtiness of tone, saying it was “SO selfish” of the American to be “whining” about his days under quarantine when the Australian Open organizers had done everything they could to make the players feel at home even amidst the challenging circumstances.