Alexei Popyrin

Alexei Popyrin (born 5 August 1999) is an Australian tennis player.

Popyrin has a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 87 achieved in July 2019. He also has a career-high ATP doubles ranking of No. 252 achieved in May 2019.

Popyrin was born in Sydney, Australia to Russian parents. He began playing tennis at the Kim Warwick Tennis Academy in Hornsby at the age of four and was in attendance for the historic 2008 Australian Open third round match between Lleyton Hewitt and Marcos Baghdatis. At the age of 8, Popyrin relocated to Dubai for two years due to his father's work commitments before moving in Alicante, Spain where fellow Australian Alex de Minaur was his neighbour. Popyrin also spends time training in Nice, France , Marbella, Spain and Dubai. Popyrin speaks Russian.

In 2011, Popyrin won the Australian u12s Grasscourt Championships and with Chase Ferguson, won the u12s National Claycourt Doubles Championships. In the same year he competed in the Tennis Europe u12 circuit, winning in Stork International 12 & Under in Oetwil Am See (SUI), Torneo U12 - Porto San Giorgio in Porto San Giorgio (ITA), Torneo Citta Di Padova in Padova (ITA). Popyrin lost in Semifinal at Eddie Herr International Junior Tennis Championships - IMG / Bollettieri Sports Academy Bradenton, FL (USA), Passagespoirs Le Passage (FRA), as well as Final of Campionati Internazionali BNL d'Italia U12 - Circolo Canottieri in Roma (ITA).

Popyrin started competing in ITF Junior circuit in 2013 and in 2017, reached the semifinals at the 2017 Australian Open in the junior doubles tournament. He then followed that up by winning 22 consecutive matches winning 4 consecutive tournaments : the Mediterranee Avenir - Club Olympic Casablancais Casablanca (MAR), Trofeo Bonfiglio - Tennis Club Milano Milan (ITA), the 2017 French Open junior singles title in May 2017 and his first ITF Professional tournament in Poland F4 Futures Mragowo (POL). While ranked number 2 in the juniors single rankings, Popyrin decided to focus on the professional circuit.

2017–2018: Start of pro circuit

Popyrin won his first professional ITF title in July 2017 at the Poland F4 in Mragowo, Poland. This victory broke Popyrin into the top 1000 for the first time. Popyrin played some more ITF and Challenger tournaments across 2017 and ended 2017 with a ranking of 622.

Popyrin started the 2018 season ranked No.622, achieving a career-high ranking 25 times over the course of the season peaking at No.147 in November. In January 2018, Popyrin qualified for an ATP World Tour tournament for the first time at the Sydney International beating Nicolas Mahut and Federico Delbonis. He lost in round 1 to John Millman. Later in January, Popyrin made his Grand Slam debut at the 2018 Australian Open after being awarded a wildcard. He lost in round 1 to Tim Smyczek. Popyrin spent the next six months in Europe playing in challenger tournaments, increasing his ranking.

In August 2018, Popyrin qualified for and won the Jinan Challenger in China beating James Ward in the final and becoming the third youngest teenager in 2018 to win a professional title. This was his first Challenger title. Later in August, Popyrin broke into the world's top 200. In October, Popyrin qualified for his second ATP World Tour main draw at the Stockholm Open, where he again lost to John Millman in round 1. The following week, Popyrin again qualified for a main draw, this time at Swiss Indoors beating Benoit Paire and Mackenzie McDonald. He defeated Matthew Ebden in round 1 for his first ATP World Tour win. Popyrin ended 2018 with a singles rank of 147.

2019: First Grand Slam win / ATP Top 100

Popyrin commenced 2019 with wild cards into the Brisbane International and Sydney International, losing in the first round in both. He also received a wild card in the Australian Open, and achieved his first Grand Slam win by defeating Mischa Zverev in straight sets. Popyrin followed this up by beating Dominic Thiem and lost in the third round to Lucas Pouille in closely contested five sets. During the first half of 2019 Popyrin qualified for the main draws of ATP250 in New York and Estoril, ATP500 in Acapulco, ATP1000 in Indian Wells and Monte Carlo. Following his success on the ATP tour, Popyrin was awarded a main draw wild card into French Open. In the first round Popyrin defeated France's Ugo Humbert in four sets winning his first Roland Garros men's main draw match. He lost to Laslo Djere in the second round. In July 2019 Popyrin qualified for the main draw of WimbledonPopyrin lost to Daniil Medvedev in the second round. This result broke Popyrin into ATP top 100 for the first time. In July, Popyrin received his first direct acceptance into ATP 250 tournament in Atlanta, where he lost in Quarter finals. 2019 was a breakout year for Popyrin. He played at least second round in all four Grand Slams - 3rd round of Australia Open, 2nd Round of Roland Garros, 2nd Round of Wimbledon and 3rd Round in US Open losing in 4 closely contested sets to Matteo Berrettini 4–6, 4–6, 7–6, 6–7. In 2019 Popyrin qualified for 10 Professional tournaments, which is more than any other player on ATP Tour.

Davis Cup

Popyrin made his Davis Cup debut for Australia in February 2019, at the age of 19, winning his first rubber against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Adelaide.

ATP Challengers and ITF Futures

Singles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

Boys' Singles

Singles

Current through the 2019 Western & Southern Open.

Popyrin's match record against those who have been ranked in the top 10, with those who have been No. 1 in boldface