Oozing with confidence, Popyrin beating Djokovic “was something that I kind of thought I could do”

Alexei Popyrin’s 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 upset of Novak Djokovic at the U.S. Open on Friday night was one of the most shocking results of the 2024 tennis season.

Don’t count Popyrin among those who were surprised.

For multiple reasons, the 25-year-old went into that third-round showdown armed with confidence. It goes back to two other Grand Slam meetings with Djokovic from earlier this year. Popyrin took sets at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon, even pushing the 24-time major champion to a fourth-set tiebreaker at the All-England Club. 

“I think in my past I have always had the one-off result of beating a top player,” the world No. 28 explained. “I think the last two matches against Novak really gave me the confidence to come out here today and win. It’s something that I believed that I have the game to be able to beat these top players. For me to be able to do it and back it up is a big thing for me.”

Popyrin is also backing up the best tournament of his career, which came in the form of an improbable Masters 1000 title earlier this summer in Montreal. He beat three top-10 opponents en route to the trophy and a whopping five in the top 18.

It was a result he ranks even higher than Friday’s victory over Djokovic.

“For me, winning Montreal was way bigger than today,” Popyrin said. “Just because it’s a title–and it’s a Masters 1000 title. That felt unbelievable. [Beating Djokovic] 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.

“It’s given me a lot of confidence. I said earlier this week that for me the most important part was to take that confidence from Montreal and bring it into this week, but not only this week but hopefully for years to come. All these top-10 players, top-5 players, they play on this confidence all the time, and they steadily build on it.”

So far this fortnight, however, it’s lower-ranked players who have been making headlines. In addition to Popyrin’s upset of Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz was ousted by world No. 74 Botic van de Zandschulp on Thursday night. Hubert Hurkacz, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Holger Rune have also exited stage left, winning a combined one match between them.

Alcaraz’s shocking loss was a result that did not go unnoticed by Popyrin.

“I was asleep at 10:30, so I actually didn’t see any of the match,” the Aussie reflected. “Yeah, I woke up and showed my girlfriend straightaway in shock. It was crazy.

“Results like that happen. I thought to myself, ‘why not me?'”

The very next night, it was him.

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