Bob Bryan reacts to Reilly Opelka’s comments on doubles and says what he thinks about him after captaining him at the Davis Cup

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One of the most successful ATP doubles teams in history have responded to compatriot Reilly Opelka’s recent controversial comments.

Opelka is often outspoken on a number of topics, with his recent comments on doubles particulalry catching attention.

After claiming that doubles is just for failed singles players, Opelka received a lot of criticism, but former world number one Andy Roddick showed support for Opelka.

Doubles has been a big topic of conversation in recent weeks for a number of reasons, with Taylor Fritz also being criticized.

Bob Bryan reacts to Reilly Opelka’s comments on doubles

Bob Bryan is one of the most successful doubles players in history, having won 23 major titles in both men’s and mixed events.

After retiring in 2020, Bryan has since become US Davis Cup captain and had Opelka on his team last year.

Bob Bryan spoke on the Tennis Channel alongside his doubles partner brother, Mike Bryan, and admitted that he respected Opelka, despite not necessarily agreeing with his comments.

Bob Bryan also suggested a potential doubles rule change that draws inspiration from pickleball.

“You know, Reilly obviously brought doubles to the forefront a couple weeks ago. We love Reilly, he has played Davis Cup for the United States, he is very opinionated about doubles and he speaks his mind and I respect that,” said Bob Bryan.

“Do we agree with his doubles comments? No. Does the product need to be given a shot in the arm? Maybe. You know there’s some innovative twists that could be thrown in to make it exciting, a little more exciting.

“The doubles players are playing a lot of eye formation, that’s probably the most efficient way to win a point now that the technology has evolved, game’s faster, more powerful. So, these doubles players they are playing a very brutal game of eye formation, they’re close to the net and the points are pretty short now.

“Yeah, could there be a pickleball type rule where you back the guy off the net a little bit to get the point started? Maybe. Could you play lets? Probably.

“There’s different ways to kind of engage the fans, but you know I think that these tournaments should have doubles qualifying. I mean you’ve seen what Evan King and Christian Harrison have done over the last month, they’re the hottest team on the tour and they would never have been given a shot if there wasn’t doubles qualifying at those 500 tournaments.

“So, yeh get more mobility in the rankings, get some younger blood in there, we have got some great athletes that are never seen at this level because they’re stuck down at the Challengers.”

Bob and Mike Bryan comment on the US Open changing mixed doubles

Opelka’s comments have been one of many big stories surrounding doubles in recent months, with the US Open also overhauling their mixed doubles event.

This received a huge reaction, including from the defending champions who slammed the US Open for their announcement.

Now Mike Bryan has had his say, suggesting that he does not feel as strongly in opposition to the decision, but hopes that doubles specialists are still offered places in the draw.

“Yeah, I mean obviously it hacked off some doubles players, that you know even the defending champions might not even get in,” said Mike Bryan. “We just want the most competitive doubles draw.

“I’ve seen the list of all the doubles stars that have agreed to play, so they’re going to be selling out Arthur Ashe Stadium, it’s going to raise a lot of notoriety.

“But, you want to have the doubles specialists coming in there with the volleys, you don’t want it to be too much of an exhibition. Yeah, maybe some wildcards for [Marcelo] Arevalo number one in the world from El Salvador, maybe the Italian’s who won last year, that would be cool to see.”

Bob Bryan followed up on this and admitted that the mixed doubles event might have needed something to change.

“You know, the mixed doubles is a complete revamp of the product, maybe it needed that, you know maybe it was dying a little bit in the minds of the fans,” said Bob Bryan. :This might bring it back to the fronts of their minds and put it on national television which will make it more popular, but you don’t want it to feel like an exhibition.

“Maybe go to 32 teams, there are only four game sets, so it’s going to be very fast. You just don’t want all the teams that have won it in years past to feel like they’re getting cheated.”

The US Open mixed doubles event will take place on August 19 and 20, and is set to be reduced down to just 16 teams.