Reilly Opelka made waves earlier this year at the Brisbane International when he pulled off one of the biggest wins of his career. The 6’11” American stunned top seed Novak Djokovic in what was a major breakthrough after two injury-ridden years. What made it even more special? The fact that it came against a 24-time Grand Slam champion. “He’s the greatest tennis player the sport has ever seen,” Opelka said, clearly emotional. He even called Djokovic his “hero” at the net. But even though Djokovic might be a hero in Opelka’s eyes, there’s someone else who holds an even more special place in his heart—Roger Federer.

Opelka has always admired the Swiss Maestro. Back in 2021, at the Laver Cup, he was left in awe when Federer entered the room. Speaking of that moment, he said, “Another highlight was definitely seeing Roger for the first time. When they turned the camera to him, the whole place just went nuts. Crazy the power one guy in the room can have and just change the mood of everyone in there. Only a couple of guys in the world who can do that, and Roger is one of them.”

Naturally, when someone admires Federer that much, they want a piece of him to hold on to. For Opelka, that came in the form of a white RF hat. Recently on the Nothing Major podcast, hosted by Sam Querrey, Jack Sock, and John Isner, Opelka shared the story of how his beloved RF hat got ruined. The culprit? Querrey himself. “I got this sick, white, beautiful RF hat right when the RF logo kind of came out. It was gold, and I got an RF logo that Captain Gully bought for me at Cincinnati and then I didn’t ask Sam to sign it at all because I didn’t want anyone to sign it. It was brand new. Sam signed it,” Opelka recalled.

Querrey, laughing, replied, “What are you talking about? You just walked by and I signed your hat?” Opelka wasn’t having it. “Yeah. Gully was there. We met in the players lounge and then the guy kind of assumed I wanted him to sign my hat.”

John Isner didn’t let it go. “Sam you just ruined that,” he said, with a laugh. Querrey shrugged and said, “My bad, sorry.” When Isner asked if he still had the hat, Opelka simply replied, “No.”

That RF logo isn’t just a random set of letters. It’s part of Federer’s legacy. Designed by his wife Mirka for a fragrance line in 2003, the logo was later picked up by Nike and became a staple in Federer’s brand identity in 2006. When Federer left Nike for Uniqlo in 2018 under a $300 million deal, he couldn’t use the logo for two years because Nike still owned it. Fans waited, and in 2020, Federer finally regained the rights. He marked the moment by launching a new line of RF caps through Uniqlo in eight colors.

But Opelka’s podcast chat wasn’t just about ruined hats. The American was also asked to give his verdict on who qualifies as a “servebot” in the tennis world.

Reilly Opelka declares who is a servebot in tennis

Known for his massive serve—Reilly Opelka averages 17.9 aces per match, according to Infosys ATP Stats- it made sense to get his take. For comparison, John Isner, the all-time aces leader, averages 18.7.

When asked about Alexander Zverev, Opelka didn’t hesitate. “Total bot,” he said. “One of the best competitors I have ever seen. But I don’t know if he wasn’t number two in the world if he was 12 in the world, is he selling as many tickets?”

Next up was Ben Shelton. The 27-year-old declared, “Bot.” Then came Nick Kyrgios, and that’s when things got interesting. “Him and Ben, with them there needs to be a separate category,” Opelka said. “They’re like a bootleg bot, but in a good way.“

And what about Daniil Medvedev? Opelka said, “Not a bot.” He explained, “When Med was number one in the world, he was a bot; that was what made [Daniil] Medvedev so brutal. He would hold serve just as fast as me, John [Isner] or Nick [Kyrgios], but his return games, he could drag them out against me. I would feel like I was holding serve in 10 minutes, if I was even holding, and he was holding in 60 seconds.”

Servebots—players who breeze through their service games and rack up aces—have become a category of their own. Zverev, with 5,573 aces, ranks 27th on the ATP all-time list. Medvedev is 50th with 4,278. Opelka? He sits at 75th with 3,560.

After his return to form in Brisbane, Opelka is now headed to Europe for the clay court swing. He’ll be using his Protected Ranking to compete in Spain at both the Barcelona and Madrid Opens. First up is Barcelona, where play begins on April 14. Will Opelka turn this comeback into a full-time revival on tour?