US OPEN, NEW YORK

[22] Reilly Opelka and twenty-year-old [99] Jenson Brooksby are the two American men left in the singles draw of the 2021 US Open. If you had picked these two to be left standing in the second week of this major, then kudos to you. Some of you may be more familiar with Opelka; however, neither player can boast much about their performance at the majors. After this run though, they both will be able to hold their heads up high.

Reilly Opelka Quietly Doing His Thing

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At twenty four years, Reilly Opelka is the veteran of the two. He turned professional in 2015 and has two singles titles to his name. Opelka came pretty close to winning his biggest tournament recently at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Canada. Perhaps that effort is the impetus behind his performance currently. Whatever the cause, the American has yet to drop a set.  He will battle Lloyd Harris in the next  round, which is a huge opportunity for both players to get to their first major quarterfinals. These two met recently and it was a tightly contested affair with Opelka squeaking out the victory with two tiebreaks to win in three.

Jenson Brooksby Has The Confidence Of Youth

He walks with confidence and plays with confidence; however, does he truly believe he can upset the number one ranked player in the world? You bet he does, and why not? Anything is possible if you truly believe. He achieved his highest ranking in August and after this he will be ranked even higher; however, somehow I do not think he is concerned about that at the moment. Right now he will face the biggest challenge of his young career, upset a dominant number by the name of Novak Djokovic.

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Brooksby has had to battle his way through this tournament and came pretty close to losing to [21] Aslan Karatsev in the previous round. Perhaps that’s a good omen for the American because Karatsev has defeated Djokovic before. Whatever, Brooksby will bring the fearlessness of youth and have the US crowd behind him, will those be enough? Let’s wait and see!

ALL IMAGES: Getty Images