Alexei Popyrin Press Conference | 2024 US Open Round 3

great shot making big serves assess your performance for us tonight yeah it was a pretty solid performance from my side um yeah honestly I said before the match that the last two matches that I had I didn't take my chances and and today I managed to take my chances well done congratulations questions hands Willie of all the matches you played in your career how would you compare the way you played this evening against everything else um I would say level-wise it probably wasn't like the highest level um you know I think because I've had some matches where I've played and and you know I felt way better than I felt out there today but I think the way I composed myself and the way I um tactically played the match that was up there with one of the best matches that I've played but the level yeah it was it was high but it was n honestly like I've had matches where I've won like one and one and I've played a match where I've hit 50 winners and 15 unforced errors you know so it was it was kind of like that Alexi Rich Jones from the mirror um yeah there was some amazing passages in that match especially lateer on you know you hitting some great winners Novak hitting some winners um crowd really really getting into it just talk me through what's going through your mind at that moment you know you're R the lights it's late at night and rth rash there was some incredible atmosphere out there just tell me what was going through your mind when you were hitting some of those winners yeah it was amazing um I stepped out on Arthur rash about 20 minutes before the actual match and that was the first time I've ever been on arur rash um just to kind of get a gauge of how the stadium looked and how it was how big it was um and yeah and honestly the crowd was amazing um they kind of stepped up and when I hit those passing shots it was quite quite amazing to feel the crowd on my side and I managed to kind of win them over towards the end of the match which was amazing also right Lei congratulations Matt F for the athletic what is going through your mind because you're playing when you're playing Novak who's clearly not having a great night partly because you're playing really well but also he's just you know hitting a lot of double faults things like that but at the same time you're looking at a player who's won 24 Grand Slam titles who's come back so many times from two sets down how are you sort of squaring those things and staying calm and thinking your way through to the Finish Line yeah honestly all of the things that you mentioned were in my head um you know 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 um but my level went down I didn't make too many first serves um yeah and also there's countless times when he's come back from two sets to love down and I didn't just want to be one of those one of those moments where you know novette kind of stamped up and and came back from two sets to love down and that was going through my head and I it's kind of extra motivation for me not to not to not to do that and to win that full set um kind of had to pump myself up SAR at myself a few times um to kind of yeah to kind of get back into the mood of of winning um and I managed to do that and and that was amazing Alexi what time do you reckon you'll get to bed tonight like with your adrenaline and your recovery and yeah imagine that's a focused yeah I just did ice bath like literally 2 minutes ago so I'm a bit cold right now but um I think uh I I struggle to sleep after matches like this I I tend to tend to go down probably four 4 5 hours after the match so probably around 4:00 a.m. 4:30 I'll probably be asleep what plan for the recovery to make sure you're ready for that yeah I'll sleep in as long as I can um so far this week I've been waking up quite early so um hopefully I can sleep a little bit um and then yeah we'll do some uh kind of recovery um and and honestly I think we'll do some Fitness in the morning and then and then uh and then go on the court for half an hour and then and then do some more recovery so yeah greaty um have you ever come anywhere near experiencing the emotions you felt on that match point before and and has it totally sunk in yet for me um winning Montreal was way bigger than than today um just cuz it's a title and and it's a Master 1000 title and that that felt unbelievable today was it was something that I kind of thought I could do you know winning a master thousand was was not something that you know kind of crossed my head but my two experiences against him earlier this year in Australian Open and Wimbledon kind of gave me the confidence to go out there tonight and believe that I could win and actually do it and believe it um so yeah when I did it it kind of felt that kind of proved me right prove my what I was thinking um right and yeah it wasn't it wasn't something that you know was unbelievable like like like Montreal for example sort of feel like a situation where this is just one step the the job hasn't been completed as yet um yeah for sure um like I said in Montreal um for me the biggest part about Montreal was that I was able to back up big wins and for me that's something that I've really had to work on I've had the capability of winning a big match but not being able to back it up and this week and Montreal I was able to do that and hopefully I can continue it this week because you know this is probably the biggest win of my career so far uh ranking wise and um yeah it's uh hopefully I can back that up from sporo congratulations um did you follow the bodic Carlos match last night um what what were your thoughts when you saw that result and impct I I I was asleep at 10:30 so I actually didn't see any any of the match so um yeah I woke up this morning and and showed my girlfriend straight away in shock kind of like it was it was it was crazy and and um you know results like that happen and and I thought to myself why not me today so yeah Willie your next play Francis tifo somebody you haven't played before but from what you know of his game what you've seen how would you describe him and the matchup between the two of you yeah um he's actually a really good friend of mine so we get along really well off the court and and it'll be interesting to to play against him we've practiced a bunch of times and and yeah he's a very tricky player and and one probably's got one of the best hands on tour and comes into the net a lot and and likes to mix it up so that's going to be the tough part um and and I'm just going to have to kind of you know play my game serve serve well um today I felt like I didn't really serve that well um considering you know the percentages and stuff so for me um I got to have to improve on that um but honestly playing Francis will be will be quite an experience because there's been a few times where where I've kind of lost the round before having to play Francis and he's always telling me man why do you keep losing before we play each other so um yeah luckily this time I was able to do it and hope and hopefully be it'll be a good match with alarz and jokovic out how would you describe the opportunity you and others have for me I'm not thinking that far you know I I I'm going to give you the clich answer that I always give is it's always the next match for me um I focus on the next match and and that's it so my focus is on Francis if I get past that then we'll focus on the next one got a couple more can can we say that the week the winning week in Montreal has changed at all uh regarding your game your confidence and the mtal part yeah definitely it's given me a lot of confidence um and 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 because all these top 10 players top five players they they play on this confidence all the time and and they steadily build on it and that's what I kind of want to do and hopefully I can we'll take two more Craig you'll have the last questioni you've talked a lot on the fact that you had that real belief that you could beat Novak after meeting him twice in Grand Slam just wondering is that belief and confidence in yourself something that's sort of always been there or is it built up over the last few months or years or I think you know in in my past I've always had the one-off result of beating a top player and I think the last two matches against Novak really gave me the confidence to come out here today and win um and it's something that I believe that I have the game to be able to beat these top players um and for me to be able to do it and back it up is is a big thing for me Craig last question do stats mean anything to you and what I wanted to say in case you hadn't heard that um you're only the second Australian to beat jovic at a major and the last one was hu in 2006 um do those sort of things have mean anything to you yeah just the fifth Australian to beat him yeah for sure I think um you know to be mentioned in the same name as Leighton you know one of our greats is is always unbelievable but yeah it's a it's it's a great feeling um I think I was the first Aussie to win um a Master 1000 since Lon also so that's also a a great feeling um so hopefully I can continue that Trend and and do some more things that Leon has done in the past okay thank you everyone