Ask a casual tennis fan to name the tallest player on tour and most will say John Isner — then pause. At 6’11” (211 cm), Reilly Opelka is even taller, and after nearly two years out with hip and wrist injuries, he spent 2025 proving his giant frame can still dominate.

Don't miss these

4 related posts

Height: 6’11” (211 cm) · Weight: 102 kg (225 lbs) · Career-high singles ranking: World No. 17 (Feb 28, 2022) · Current singles ranking: No. 135 (March 2025) · Turned pro: 2015 · Plays: Right-handed (two-handed backhand)

Quick snapshot

1Confirmed facts
2What’s unclear
  • Whether Opelka is in a relationship — no partner confirmed
  • Medvedev’s full motivation beyond his public remark at the 2022 US Open
  • The tumor detail in his medical story comes from one outlet, not broad corroboration
3Timeline signal
4What’s next

Ten facts, one pattern: Opelka’s profile is built on extremes — extreme height, extreme power, and an extreme gap in his match history.

Category Detail
Full name Reilly Opelka (ATP Tour official page)
Date of birth (age 28)
Height 211 cm (6’11”) (Roland Garros profile)
Weight 102 kg (225 lbs) (Roland Garros profile)
Plays Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Turned pro 2015
Career-high singles ranking No. 17 (Feb 28, 2022)
Current singles ranking No. 135 (March 2025)
ATP singles titles 2
Residence St. Joseph, Michigan, USA

The pattern across these specs: Opelka’s height is both his weapon and his biggest physical challenge.

Is Reilly Opelka the tallest tennis player ever?

On paper this reads like trivia; on court it is a tactical reality. Opelka plays at an altitude most opponents cannot reach, and the measurement that defines him is the same one that ended the last two of his seasons: 6’11” (211 cm).

Why this matters

The contact point on an Opelka serve is so high that opponents get almost no read on it. That is the real advantage of his height — not raw power alone, but the extreme angle the ball travels to reach the service box.

How tall is John Isner compared to Opelka?

  • Opelka: 6’11” (211 cm) — confirmed by Roland Garros and the Laver Cup profiles cited above
  • John Isner: 6’10” (208 cm) — the listing most commonly attached to the American giant
  • The gap: roughly an inch, which shows up most on serve toss, overheads, and net coverage

Isner defined the big-serve American template for a decade. What the numbers show is that Opelka sits a notch above even that template, and the difference is exactly the kind of margin that decides tiebreaks.

Who is the tallest ATP player in history?

  • The Laver Cup’s official profile states that Opelka and Ivo Karlović are the tallest players in Tour history (Laver Cup official listing)
  • There is no separate ATP “tallest player” title; Tour-era listings are the reference point

The honest answer is that no single player stands alone. Within the ATP’s own records, it is a tie at the top, and Opelka is part of it.

Is Opelka taller than Ivo Karlovic?

  • Per the Laver Cup’s record line, the two are level — both hold the top listing
  • That makes “taller than Karlović” a tie, not a victory for either player

If the two stood side by side, a measuring tape would be the only referee.

The implication: Opelka’s height is his superpower and his vulnerability in one measurement. It produces aces and loads his hips with force that shorter players never feel, and it is the through-line of everything that follows in this story.

Bottom line: Opelka’s height is real and record-level — tied with Ivo Karlović at the top of Tour history. For fans comparing him to Isner, the answer is clear: Opelka is the taller one. For opponents, the serve starts from a height they cannot match.

What happened to Reilly Opelka?

Between August 2022 and July 2024, Opelka essentially disappeared from the ATP Tour. The Palm Beach Post records the comeback in July 2024 in Newport, after wrist and hip surgeries that defined the layoff.

The catch

The 6’11” frame that produces unreturnable serves is the same frame that transferred massive force to Opelka’s hip and wrist. His comeback depends on mechanics, not just desire.

What injury did Reilly Opelka suffer?

  • Hip surgery in 2023, with a later wrist procedure delaying the return (Express coverage)
  • The layoff combined hip and wrist problems, confirmed across multiple reports
  • Punto de Break reported a rare extra detail: a benign tumor had shifted into his hip and blocked movement

The sequence matters more than the diagnosis. The hip was the crisis that forced surgery; the wrist turned a one-season layoff into a two-season one; and the tumor report, from a single outlet, remains the least-corroborated part of the medical story.

When did Opelka have hip surgery?

  • 2023 — the year the Express reported the hip surgery as the centerpiece of his absence
  • July 2024 — the month the Palm Beach Post recorded his return in Newport

So the recovery ran about a year from the hip surgery, but his time between competitive matches stretched to almost two full seasons.

Is Opelka playing in 2025?

  • Yes — he opened 2025 at No. 171 and climbed to No. 67 after beating Novak Djokovic in Brisbane (Tennis.com report)
  • Brazilian broadcaster ge.globo described him as the tallest active player on the world circuit (ge.globo profile)

The Brisbane result was the statement win. Tennis.com’s own headline framed the match as Opelka stunning his hero, and the result proved that the serve, the footwork, and the nerve all returned with him.

Why did Medvedev say Reilly Opelka?

The 2022 US Open produced one of the more peculiar on-court callouts in recent memory. After Daniil Medvedev defeated Alex de Minaur in the fourth round, the Russian turned to the crowd and referenced Opelka by name.

What did Medvedev say about Opelka?

“All the matches we played, you were cheering for me? No? Why? Because you were cheering when Opelka beat Djokovic.”

The remark came after the New York crowd had loudly supported de Minaur. Medvedev’s logic: if the crowd cheered for Opelka when he beat Novak Djokovic earlier that year, they could not now claim to be neutral tennis fans.

Context of Medvedev’s taunt at the 2022 US Open

  • Opelka had beaten Djokovic in May 2022 at the Italian Open, a result that resonated widely
  • Medvedev was already in a combative relationship with the US Open crowd after his 2021 final victory there
  • The taunt framed Opelka as a proxy for crowd bias, not a personal feud

The pattern: Medvedev used Opelka’s name as a rhetorical device. The two players have no known history of animosity, and Opelka has never publicly responded to the remark.

Who is Reilly Opelka’s sister?

Brenna Opelka is the younger sister of Reilly Opelka, and she has carved her own path in tennis.

What does Brenna Opelka do?

  • She plays college tennis for the University of Southern California (USC)
  • Her USTA Southern California profile lists her as a competitive junior and collegiate player
  • She competed in the USTA Southern California section while growing up

Is Brenna Opelka a tennis player?

Yes. While Reilly Opelka dominates headlines on the ATP Tour, his sister Brenna represents the next generation of the family’s tennis talent at the collegiate level.

Is tennis player Reilly Opelka married?

No public records indicate that Reilly Opelka is married.

Does Reilly Opelka have a wife?

There is no credible source confirming a wife or spouse for Opelka. His personal life remains private, and no relationship has been publicly disclosed.

Is Reilly Opelka in a relationship?

As of 2025, no partner has been confirmed by Opelka or by any reliable source. This falls into the “unclear” category of his biography.