Opelka Fined Heavily After Complaining About Lighting at Indian Wells: "I'm Playing for Free This Week"
During his first-round loss to Roman Safiullin two weeks ago at Indian Wells, Reilly Opelka expressed frustration to the chair umpire about poor visibility due to inadequate lighting.
The American, who refused to continue playing until the issue was resolved, even requested a medical timeout to make his point.
During his match yesterday against Holger Rune in Miami, another lighting issue arose when the lights turned on in the middle of a point. After the incident and his subsequent victory, Opelka revealed the hefty fine he received from the ATP:
"Rune's complaint was valid. If he says the lights bothered him during the point, I don’t think he made it up.
If it had been me, I probably would have been fined $80,000, like what happened at Indian Wells.
They couldn’t get the court lights to work. I just asked them about it. And then, I get hit with a nice fine. So, I’m playing for free this week."
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