There are interruptions to meetings that are more unusual than others. After the wee breaks and downtime due to the rain, Reilly Opelka and Maxime Cressy have experienced an unprecedented situation which seems to be a mix of the two. A bird relieved itself on Opelka’s cap as the two players were 4-4 in the first set of their round of 16 in Melbourne.
Until then the scene is ready to laugh, but the player found himself a little more bored when he wanted to change his cap. The 26th player in the world with long hair, he couldn’t continue playing without a headgear. But the one he wanted to replace the soiled cap had too big a logo according to the chair umpire. The latter who even advised the player to borrow his coach’s cap or to clean his own… The player wanted to wear one with one of his sponsors and did not understand the rigidity of the regulations he was asked to provide. apply. He finally agreed to wear the official tournament cap and was able to continue the game.
Reilly Opelka eventually bowed, defeating the belief that these kinds of events when they happen to us would bring us luck!
For the record, the hat soiled by the bird had a Belgian accent. Opelka is in fact used to wearing caps designed by Tim van Laere, a Belgian artist.
The American had already experienced some disappointments over the application of the regulations concerning logos at the US Open last September. He was fined 10,000 € for an oversized logo on his equipment bag deemed non-compliant by the American Federation (USTA). The regulations state that the logo of a brand must not exceed ten centimeters on a bag.
“ It’s a joke that this is happening at the US Open. 10,000 dollars for a pink bag? Go on ! The referee told me I should have measured it. My job is not to measure logos, but to win matches. I broke a racquet with my knee and didn’t pay a dollar. But for a pink bag, I’m fined $ 10,000 “, he lamented, even if the fine sanctioned the size of the logo rather than the color of the bag.