ATP Tour

Sweeny on viral Opelka handshake: 'I told the boys I would do the Dudi Sela!'

Sixteen inches separate Reilly Opelka and Dane Sweeny, but Sweeny did not seem to mind Tuesday at the Brisbane International presented by ANZ.

After Opelka defeated the Australian 6-3, 7-5 at the ATP 250 event, the 5’7” Sweeny grabbed a chair to step on to embrace the American. They shared a viral moment at the net.

"I'm just trying to not be overly serious with my tennis,” Sweeny told ATPTour.com. “And I told the boys, my friends, that at the end of the match, I would do the Dudi Sela. Dudi Sela did it to Karlovic a while ago. So I thought that was pretty iconic and he's 16 inches taller and I thought it'd be pretty funny.”

Sweeny was referring to 2014 in Bogota, where Dudi Sela did the same thing after losing his sixth consecutive Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting against Ivo Karlovic. That embrace remains a fans’ favourite.

“I think it's emblematic of the mindset I'm trying to take into this year,” Sweeny said. “I’m just trying to have fun with it as a whole."

Watch the full video below.