Reilly Opelka was penalized in a match against Cameron Norrie at the Dallas Open 2025 on Friday night. Opelka, however, still won the match with 4-6, 7-6 and 6-4, but he lost his cool after umpire Greg Allensworth gave him a penalty for using obscene language.
He was struggling during the first round of the match, though he made an impressive comeback after he forced a win in the second round through a tiebreaker. Apparently, in the third round, he was being distracted by a spectator.
He was coughing deliberately to interrupt his serve, Opelka claimed. After the ref did not stop the fan, Reilly took the matter into his own hands which led to an outburst. He stopped mid-serve and told the fan, “You doing it on fu***ng purpose or what? Go the f**k inside buddy”.
The umpire, Greg Allensworth then gave the point to his opponent Norrie which made Opelka frustrated and during his post-match interview, he did not hold back on the umpire. He claimed that the players were talking about him recently in the locker room about him being the worst ref and said,
“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,”.
He also claimed the umpire was not doing his job and that he that he’s not a punching bag, “He didn’t tell that guy to shut up, he was doing it for three points. He didn’t do his job, so I had to tell him, Get out of here.”
“It shouldn’t be one-sided traffic. If you want to be disrespectful to me, I can’t just be a punching bag. If the ref isn’t doing his job, then he penalizes me — not a good look.”
Reilly is set to face Tommy Paul in the next round and he hopes the ATP would penalize the umpire and not let him be a part of the next few matches. He is also fined $5,000 for each violation. Regarding the dispute, the ATP said, “Audible obscenities directed at members of the public constitute a clear violation of ATP rules,”.
“In such instances, the chair umpire has a responsibility to take appropriate action, regardless of the match score. The ATP will review Mr. Opelka’s post-match comments as part of its standard disciplinary process.”
Reportedly, this isn’t the first time Greg Allensworth has frustrated a player. In May, for the Geneva Open, Andy Murray seemingly got angry at the umpire after he insisted on his first-round tie but Murray said, “It’s basically snowing out here”.
He was also a part of the Alcaraz controversy last year in August where he ruled out a match point in Draper’s favor though Alcaraz argued that the ball had hit the opponent’s racket frame.
Also Read: Dallas Open 2025: How Much Each Player Will Earn, Check Prize Money
