New York (AFP) – Alexei Popyrin insisted that his shock US Open triumph over defending champion Novak Djokovic was “not unbelievable” and that winning his maiden Masters title in Montreal on the eve of the tournament “was way bigger”. The 28th-ranked Australian stunned the 24-time Grand Slam title winner and four-time US Open champion 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 to reach the last 16 of a Slam for the first time. The victory also condemned former world number one Djokovic to his earliest exit in New York since 2006 when he fell to another Australian, Lleyton Hewitt.
“For me, winning Montreal was way bigger than today, just because it’s a title, and it’s a Masters 1000 title. That felt unbelievable,” said 25-year-old Popyrin. “Today was something that I kind of thought I could do, you know? Winning a Masters 1000 was not something that kind of crossed my head.” Popyrin had lost all three of his previous meetings with Djokovic, including at this year’s Australian Open and Wimbledon. Both of those stretched to four sets.
Related news
“Those experiences gave me the confidence to go out there tonight and believe that I could win and actually do it and believe it. So when I did it, it kind of felt that kind of proved me right, proved what I was thinking right. It wasn’t something that, you know, was unbelievable like Montreal, for example.”
Despite a lacklustre tournament for Djokovic in which he admitted he played “his worst tennis ever”, Popyrin was wary of the Serb mounting one of his trademark comebacks. The Serb had already come back from two sets down on eight occasions in his career. “He wasn’t playing his best tennis. I was waiting for him to kind of step up. I felt like he did in the third set. But my level went down. I didn’t make too many first serves,” added the Australian after making the last 16 of a major for the first time.
“Also there are countless times when he’s come back from two sets to love down, and I didn’t want to be one of those moments where Novak kind of stepped up and came back from two sets to love down. That was going through my head. It was kind of extra motivation for me not to do that and to win that fourth set. Kind of had to pump myself up, swear at myself a few times to get back into the mood of winning.”
Next up for Popyrin is a last 16 clash with US crowd-pleaser Frances Tiafoe who was a semi-finalist in 2022 and made the last eight in 2023. “Playing Frances will be quite an experience because there has been a few times where I have kind of lost the round before having to play Frances, and he’s always telling me, Man, why do you keep losing before we play each other,” he said.
© 2024 AFP
