Alexei Popyrin’s recent win at the National Bank Open in Montreal was the latest victory from one of the rising stars in the world of tennis. The Australian beat the No. 6-ranked Andrey Rublev in straight sets during the final match, needing less than 90 minutes to win it. However, that win did more than add to Popyrin’s reputation as a giant killer. His win in Montreal achieved something that hasn’t been done in more than two decades.
By beating Rublev in Montreal, Popyrin became the first Australian to win a Masters 1000 event in over 20 years. The last time an Aussie was victorious in such a high-profile tournament was Lleyton Hewitt in 2003. Hewitt, who was ranked No. 1 in the world at the time, won Indian Wells in 2003–doing so for the second straight year. That’s a long drought for Australian tennis players and a drought that Popyrin was happy to end.
“It means so much; it means the world,” Popyrin said. “All the hard work that I’ve put in over the last few years. All the sacrifices that I’ve made, not just me but my family, my girlfriend, my team, everybody around me. They’ve just sacrificed their lives for me and for me to win this for them is just amazing.”
His win in Montreal figures to raise Popyrin’s profile as one of the top rising stars in the game and arguably the best Australian player on the circuit. It will also raise expectations for Popyrin at the upcoming U.S. Open. That tournament also has a long drought with regard to Australian winners. The last Aussie to triumph in Flushing in men’s singles was Hewitt, who won the 2001 U.S. Open.
At that time, Hewitt made it three victories in five years for Australians thanks to Patrick Rafter’s back-to-back wins in 1997 and 1998. Popyrin now has a chance to put Australian tennis back on the map with a strong showing in New York. The good news is that Popyrin’s win in Montreal moved him up to No. 23 in the world and secured a seed for him at the U.S. Open, a first for his career. Of course, only time will tell if Popyrin can carry over his momentum from Montreal to New York and continue to make history.
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big for Pop
Now that he has that taste, you never know what could happen. It’s up to him how far he wants to go and how much he is willing to improve his game etc over the next 10 years and remove any weaknesses from his game. Is the Pop a perfectionist? We will see.
Tennis can be crazy sometimes. No way would anyone could have predicted Popyrin getting out of that game against Hurkacz down 0-40. Next game Hurkacz would have served the match out. Especially when you take into account the meltdown vs. Saffuilin earlier this year. Also, have to take into account all of the rain, but this years ATP 1000 and WTA 1000 in Canada, dare I saw wasn’t as good as some 500 and even 250 events this year. And that is an honest objective observation. Players simply were not playing. I feel as if Canada should reconsider those wildcards and give them to ranked 40-60 players, we would have seen better competition.