US OPEN

September 2, 2024

Alexei Popyrin

Press Conference

F. TIAFOE/A. Popyrin

6-4, 7-6, 2-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Alexei, if you would, your thoughts on the match.

ALEXEI POPYRIN: It was a good match. High-level match, like we expected. Two players high on confidence. I felt like the first two sets, I came out, and I felt a little bit flat. I tried to pump myself up. Managed to do it.

I'm not taking anything away from him. He played some ridiculous tennis. I think he was the better player no matter how close it was. I think he stepped up on the bigger points.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Do you feel as though it was a bit of an opportunity lost or...

ALEXEI POPYRIN: Yeah, it was a bit of both, I would say. Look, I'm telling everybody now, if you would have told me at the start of the summer I would have been 23 in the world with a Masters title and second week of a slam for the first time, I probably would have taken it considering the position I was in.

If I hadn't won a match in Montreal or Cincy, I probably would have dropped to outside 90 in the world. So considering all that, I think it was a very successful summer.

It definitely does feel like a little opportunity lost. I think this match, you know, it was changed by I think one, two, or three points. I think he won three more points than I did all match, and he won three sets. That just shows you how close it was.

Q. Obviously tennis is a measure of the finest margins. You had some really tight wins in Montreal. Is that how you balance it out?

ALEXEI POPYRIN: Yeah, I think so. I think today was just luck wasn't really on my side. I think that last game showed it all. I had a forehand in the middle of the court to break him, and I just missed it. Slipped a little bit there on the way there, but I hit the net tape, and it didn't go over.

So, yeah, I think it's a little bit of that, but honestly, I'm not taking anything away from him. He's playing some scary tennis. If he continues it, he has a really good chance.

Q. You do walk away top 25 in the world. Do you carry that into the Australian summer firmly believing that you can contend there again?

ALEXEI POPYRIN: Australian summer? I haven't even thought about that yet (laughing). We've got Davis Cup, Asian swing, indoor swing. We still have a lot of tennis left to play.

I think in the position that I'm in I think I'll be seeded in Australia for the first time because I don't have many points to defend. Look, it's going to be really fun playing the Australian summer, like it always is, and I think now that I'm seeded, it looks like a good opportunity for me.

Like I said, we've still got a lot of tennis left to play this year. I'm going to take some time off I think now. I'm quite knackered.

Q. What do you think you did in the third set to help you be successful?

ALEXEI POPYRIN: I changed the game up a little bit. I managed to neutralize his backhand. He was kind of -- I think he has one of the best backhands in the world, honestly.

Just by practicing with him, you don't really see it. When you get into a match him, you can see how good his backhand is. I think I neutralized it well with the slice and gave him different looks on the return and managed to get a few more returns into play.

I found it really hard reading his serve in the first two sets, and he was serving quite well. But I put some pressure on his second serves, and that's what I did in the third set and tried to continue in the fourth set, but I think the level of tennis in that fourth set was really high, and it could have gone either way.

Q. They were kind of saying on TV how in the second set the crowd was really getting into it. You were playing from ahead. When you didn't put it away at 5-3 there, sort of did you kind of feel like things were going to swing there a little bit?

ALEXEI POPYRIN: Yeah, definitely a lost opportunity. I've been saying all week that I think against these top players you have to take your chances when you have them. Obviously 5-3, 40-Love up serving, it's a really big choke from my end.

I think, yeah, from then it's bound to happen. A momentum swing is bound to happen to his side. I think I did a good job at 5-All to hold my serve and take it to a tiebreak, but he had momentum in that tiebreak, and that's just the way it went.

But, yeah, that 5-3 game was an opportunity lost, and I think if it was one set all, considering how the third set went and how I found a way to kind of neutralize his really good play, I think it could have been a little bit different.

Q. I'm paraphrasing Nick, but I think he was suggesting that this should, could be a launchpad. Do you see it exactly that way as well?

ALEXEI POPYRIN: Yeah. Why not? I think that's the way you guys, like media, phrases things as a launchpad. It's not kind of the way how we look at it or how my team and I look at it.

I think it's just progression over the course of a lot of hard work and a lot of years of hard work. Yeah, it's definitely going in the right track.

I think I have confidence now going into the Asian swing and stuff. I hope it is a launchpad, but I think we're going to go by a day-to-day basis and not think about that stuff and just try and focus on the next tournament that's coming up and the work that we have ahead.

Q. You haven't talked about the Aussie summer obviously, but the Davis Cup is coming up. How important is that to you?

ALEXEI POPYRIN: It's very important. I think the last two years we've become finalists, and we really want to win one. It's top of our priority all year long, so we've always made ourselves available. Nothing is going to change now that I had played more matches than I think anybody would have imagined this summer.

I think I'm going to take a few days off and then fly up to Valencia and get with the team. Look, it's a huge opportunity for us to test ourselves against the best teams in the world, best countries in the world.

I think we're back-to-back finalists in Davis Cup, so we've got to hold ourselves up and show what we're made of there.