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DELRAY BEACH. Opelka excited while Murray may be out following Evans, Nishikori

While Reilly Opelka is elated with playing the Delray Beach Open, the organization may have lost the participation of Murray after the defections of Evans and Nishikori.

Alex Boyden

31 December 2020

The Delray Beach Open is about to start next week to kick start the new ATP season. The organization was quite swift in rearranging its schedules. Originally, the tournament had to be played in February, but the postponement of the Australian Open of 3 weeks made things complicated. Eventually, the ATP250 in Florida was anticipated to the first week of January.

Reilly Opelka is the defending champion, and he was elated with the fast response of the organization to comment:

“The tournament did an incredible job. I know they had to resurface their courts … they had to get the bubble situation figured out. Tickets. Fans. In only, what, two and a half, three weeks?

It’s really nice that it’s in my back yard. I get a nice warm-up for Australia. I haven’t played in a couple of months so it’s perfect.”

The draw: will Andy Murray play?

The ATP250 was proud of having Andy Murray on board. However, many noticed that his practice session (Friday the 8th) was canceled. The tournament has a rather good line-up, even if it has recently lost Daniel Evans and Kei Nishikori.

https://twitter.com/MichalSamulski/status/1344434918475104264?s=20

Reilly Opelka in 2020

Ranked no.39, Opelka played his last match on the 21^st of October when he capitulated to Taylor Fritz 7-6⁵ 6-1 in the 1^st round in Antwerp (draw).

This year the American owns an overall 12-8 record. The American has won 1 title in Delray Beach.

Andy Murray in 2020

Ranked world no.122, the Brit played his last match on the 13^th of October when he capitulated to Fernando Verdasco 6-4 6-4 in the 1^st round in Cologne (draw).

This year Andy has managed to achieve a composed 3-4 record.

Reilly Opelka and Andy Murray have never faced off.

Daniel Evans in 2020

Currently the world no.32, the Brit played his last match on the 3^rd of November when he lost to Stan Wawrinka 6-3 7-6³ in the 1^st round in Paris (draw).

At present, during this year, Evans has a 19-14 win-loss record. Daniel Evans’s most significant performance of the present year was getting to the semifinal in Dubai, Antwerp and Vienna.

Kei Nishikori in 2020

Now ranked no.41, Kei played his last match on the 30^th of September when he was defeated by Stefano Travaglia 6-4 2-6 7-6⁷ 4-6 6-2 in the 2^nd round of the French Open (draw).

Until now, during this year Kei has a 2-4 win-loss record.

Daniel Evans and Kei Nishikori played each other 4 times. The head to head is 3-1 for Nishikori. The last time they competed against each other, Kei Nishikori won 1-6 6-1 7-6³ 1-6 6-4 in the 1^st round in Paris (French Open) on the 27^th of September 2020.