By Marc McGowan
Alexei Popyrin claimed an exclusive spot in Australian tennis history by becoming a Masters 1000 champion in Montreal on Tuesday, only two years after facing a career crossroads.
Popyrin crunched 31 winners past Russia’s Andrey Rublev to post a stunning 6-2, 6-4 boilover in the Canadian Open final that puts him alongside Lleyton Hewitt, Mark Philippoussis and Pat Rafter as the only Australian men to win a Masters 1000 title.
The rare accomplishment follows Popyrin – the 2017 Roland-Garros junior champion, who was born in Sydney to Russian parents – emerging from a dreadful 2022 season that he now believes was a blessing in disguise.
This is a major moment in a momentous year for Australian tennis, including Popyrin’s junior peer Alex de Minaur reaching back-to-back major quarter-finals and climbing to No. 6 in the world, as well as Jordan Thompson claiming his maiden ATP singles title in Mexico in February.
All three Australians could be seeded in a 24-year first at this month’s US Open, with Popyrin to rise to a career-high No. 23 in the ATP rankings.
“It means so much, it means the world,” an emotional Popyrin said.
Alexei Popyrin’s ranking climbs to No.23 in the world following his win in Montreal.Credit: AP
“All the hard work that I’ve put in over the last few years, [and] all the sacrifices I’ve made – not just me, but my family, my girlfriend [Amy], my team, everybody around me. They’ve just sacrificed their whole lives for me, and for me to win this for them is just amazing.”
Hewitt’s win at Indian Wells in 2003 was the most-recent Masters 1000 triumph by an Australian until Popyrin’s breakthrough, although de Minaur did feature in the final at this tournament last year when it was held in Toronto.
Popyrin slayed five consecutive top-20 opponents to clinch the Montreal title, including three inside the top 10: Grigor Dimitrov, Hubert Hurkacz and Rublev, whose combustible self was on show from the first game.
He also beat US Open semi-finalist Ben Shelton and last week’s Washington winner, Sebastian Korda. The Hurkacz and Korda quarter- and semi-final triumphs were on the same day, after the remnants of Tropical Storm Debby wreaked havoc with the schedule.
The 25-year-old saved three match points in the second set of his third-round upset over Dimitrov in a sliding doors moment.
“I think I always had the ability to have a one-off [great] match and ... beat a top-10 player, and I’ve shown that in the past – but I couldn’t back it up,” Popyrin said from Montreal.
“This week, I managed to find a way to back up top-10 wins and top-15 wins and top-20 wins, and just continue that level that I brought in throughout the whole tournament against these guys.
“For me, that’s the biggest achievement by far. It’s bigger than winning the title. Looking ahead, if I can continue building on these performances and keep backing up these big wins, then I’ll be really happy.”
Popyrin lets the ball kids bask in his Montreal glory.Credit: Getty Images
Crossroads moment
Back in 2022, Popyrin’s career was at a crossroads. He parted ways with Australian coach Craig O’Shannessy amid a nightmare season in which he won only five of 22 matches and watched his ranking spiral from a then-career-best No. 59 to 131.
Popyrin said in January last year in a raw interview that cockiness was partly to blame for his downfall after he won his maiden ATP title in Singapore in 2021.
“I learnt so much last year – in my personal life, and also my professional life. I think I’ve matured so, so much, and it’s a really big deal for me to just stay grounded,” Popyrin said at the time.
“Last year, coming off probably the best year I had on tour, coming off an ATP title, I probably got a little bit of a big head, got a little bit of cockiness, and last year just kind of put me [back] down to earth and kept me grounded.”
Popyrin’s trajectory changed the moment he teamed up with Belgium’s 2002 Wimbledon semi-finalist, Xavier Malisse, in October 2022. Neville Godwin also coaches him these days, but it was Malisse in his box for the biggest win of his career on Tuesday.
Malisse prioritises positivity, which has worked wonders for his Australian charge, whose biggest pre-Montreal scalps included Jannik Sinner, Dominic Thiem, Taylor Fritz, Dimitrov, Karen Khachanov and Felix Auger-Aliassime.
“I think I wouldn’t have this achievement if I didn’t go through what I went through in 2022,” Popyrin said.
Andrey Rublev’s ever-present rage threatened to boil over as he spiralled to a quickfire loss to Alexei Popyrin.Credit: AP
“I learned so much about myself, so much about what I have to do, so much about the sport in general. Now I look back on 2022, I think it was a blessing in disguise.
“As tough as it was ... it was a year when I think I matured the most in my life, and understood what I really needed to do to compete and win matches on tour.”
Globetrotting journey
The Popyrin family, including parents Alex and Elena and siblings Anthony, Sonia and Anna, left Sydney for Dubai when Popyrin was only eight years old for Alex’s work.
Popyrin’s father is a successful businessman who went on to be a co-founder with famous French coach Patrick Mouratoglou of the Ultimate Tennis Showdown – tennis’s answer to cricket’s Twenty20 format – but he originally knew very little about the sport.
It was an imperious performance from Alexei Popyrin.Credit: Getty Images
Popyrin showed significant promise as a tennis player, and his family decided to relocate to Spain to chase his dream after he made the quarter-finals of a prestigious international under-10s tournament in Croatia.
His parents began tutoring him at home as he started taking tennis more seriously, with Elena serving as his coach and travelling confidante, while Alex worked long hours to pay the bills.
“Honestly, I wouldn’t be here without them because they sacrificed everything,” Popyrin said.
“To pick up and leave and put all your money that you’ve earned on a 10-year-old [Popyrin] and a nine-year-old [brother Anthony] and kind of bite the bullet – it’s like roulette [because] you don’t know what to expect.”
Popyrin’s journey took him across “the whole bloody world”, but there were challenging periods as a junior prodigy, to the point he considered quitting and later contemplated signing up for college tennis in the United States while fearing he was not good enough to play professionally.
“The first two, three years, it was really fun, and then there comes a point [where it is not],” he said.
“I remember I was around 13, 14, and I didn’t want to play tennis any more. I wasn’t winning many matches, and I kept losing … and I was about to throw the racquet and say, ‘I don’t want to lose any more; it’s too hard to lose by myself, I’d rather go play a team sport’.
“[But] the fact I had so many people believing in me [from family to sponsors] … I told myself to look at reality and say, ‘If these people believe in you, then you can make it, so there’s no point to quit now’.”
A decade on, after many more bumps along the road and countries stamped on his passport, Popyrin is finally realising his immense potential.
But as he said, the hard work won’t stop now. The US Open begins in two weeks, but first he has to hustle across to Cincinnati for another Masters tournament this week, where he starts against Frenchman Gael Monfils.
If he defeats Monfils, four-time grand slam champion Carlos Alcaraz awaits him.
“It’ll be fun being seeded for the first time in a slam. My mum actually told me that yesterday, just after my semi-final [and] I was like, ‘I don’t want you to tell me that stuff,’ ” Popyrin said.
“But it’s a good feeling. There’ll be pressure, and there’ll be expectations now [but] I feel like I can deal with it. I just have to put my head down and continue working.”
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