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American tennis players Reilly Opelka and Taylor Fritz upped their social media banter as they engaged in a conversation over the former's tweet asking people to vote during elections.
Opelka's tweet expressing his opinion on voting during the US mid-term elections drew a lot of flak from fans and others on social media, with many criticizing the tennis player for his armchair comments.
A fan sarcastically commented that the American should be concentrating on his game rather than tweeting about elections and said the tennis player hasn't got anything intelligent to tweet and asked him to "sit down and shut up."
"@ReillyOpelka can’t play tennis and he apparently hasn’t got anything intelligent to tweet while he’s sitting. But here’s a tip. Sit down and shut up. You should be working on your tennis instead. @atptour and @TennisChannel don’t actually need you right now," the fan tweeted.
Opelka's compatriot and tennis player Taylor Fritz joined the banter and said he agreed with the comments, sarcastically.
"I agree @ReillyOpelka," Fritz said, in reply.
Reilly Opelka, ranked No. 38 in the ATP rankings, took note of his compatriot's tweet and decided to put an end to the comments before joining the banter. He replied to Fritz's tweet by wishing him good luck in the upcoming ATP World Tour Finals and added an apology to anyone who might have been offended by his tweet.
"Good luck this week bro! Sorry for whoever that may have offended," Opelka tweeted.
Taylor Fritz will lock horns with Rafael Nadal in his first match at the ATP World Tour Finals on November 13.
Vocal Reilly Opelka faces backlash on social media
Reilly Opelka has been vocal on social media and has been on the receiving end of criticism many times in the past.
Before his controversial voting comments, he mocked mask regulations in the USA after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) renewed its recommendation that individuals aged two years and older wear masks when on public transportation and at transportation hubs, even though the nationwide mask rule is not currently in effect.
Opelka tweeted a picture of him sitting at a tennis stadium without a mask on. He later went on to edit the picture, adding a mask to his face, and then shared it, making fun of the American Mask regulations in the process.
He landed himself in hot water when he recently stated that he has come to hate tradition, which is a very important aspect of tennis. The American player referenced Wimbledon as an example and stated, in an interview with GQ, that he prefers not to follow such traditions.
"I’ve come to hate tradition. And, obviously, tennis is all tradition. Look at Wimbledon—that’s what it is. And it’s not for me. The more I’ve gotten into fashion and art, the more I’ve come to despise some things about tennis," he had said.
