AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 10, 2025

Alexei Popyrin

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Alexei, home Grand Slam. Must be pretty excited to be back here in Melbourne.

ALEXEI POPYRIN: Yeah, it's always an exciting time for us Aussies to come back home. We don't get this opportunity much throughout the year. It's only three tournaments a year where we can play in front of our home crowd. We try to make the most of it.

The motivation and the extra energy and buzz that they give us is second to none. Yeah, really looking forward to getting started.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Obviously it's the first time you've been seeded here in Melbourne. What is your mindset going into this Grand Slam?

ALEXEI POPYRIN: Yeah, the mindset hasn't changed. I've made it to third rounds not being seeded before. It's definitely doing the same things and working the same way and just trying to get past that third-round hump. I've been in the third round a few times in AO already.

We're just trying to make it to the second week for the first time here. That's the main goal for the year.

Q. Obviously coming off one of the best years of your career, particularly back end. Was there a turning point during the year that sparked this career-best run of form? What can you use from that? What are your expectations for this year?

ALEXEI POPYRIN: Yeah, I don't think that was necessarily a turning point. I think it was just an accumulation of all the hard work we've been putting in over the last three years. It just all sort of clicked after the Olympics, starting from Montreal. It just kind of clicked and everything just felt great when we were out there on the court. I kind of knew what I was doing.

As I said, after Montreal, I think the top guys, when they find that sort of click and they find that sort of confidence that they have, they just continue with it for the rest of their career. That's what kind of makes them stay top and continuing the hard work behind the scenes. They just come out on the court with that sort of confidence.

I think that's something that I've got to try to stick with me. Towards the back end of last year, I felt like I sort of did that during a few matches. I've got to do it more consistently this year.

The second part was?

Q. What will you take from last year coming into this year?

ALEXEI POPYRIN: I think that's what we take, just trying to consistently play with that confidence and play the way we've been playing the back end of the year. We did some solid work in pre-season this year. So nothing really has changed in terms of mentality. It's just continuing doing the work that we've been doing.

I think the main goal for us this year is trying to make it further in slams, make second weeks of slams. I think that's where you get kind of the points, and the ranking goes up because of that. I think that's probably the main goal this year.

Q. Last year where did you feel like your ceiling might have been as a player? Did you have to update that given how well you did last year?

ALEXEI POPYRIN: No, I think me, myself and my team, we kind of knew what I'm capable of because I show it in practice every now and then. I've showed it in matches sporadically in the past. I've beaten top-10 players. I've had good wins. Also I've had losses that I shouldn't have had.

I keep saying that Montreal was a huge tournament, not only because it was a Masters 1000 and I won it, but because if I hadn't won a match in Montreal and Cincinnati, I would have been ranked 90 in the world. Not many people know that. I was defending a quarterfinal in Cincinnati, and if I didn't defend that, I would have dropped to 90 in the world.

That's kind of the pressure you play with in your head, the mentality that you try and have, is to kind of put that away and just focus on the current, on the present. We did that really well.

Q. On the men's side, Australian tennis is in a good place. What do you think of the women coming through?

ALEXEI POPYRIN: Yeah, I think there's a lot of good women. I think Liv is doing a good job. She had a great year last year. Ajla also, and Dasha, they've been coming back from injuries, but they've also been doing quite well.

We have a young girl, Emerson Jones, who kind of showed out last week in Adelaide. She did really well. No. 1 junior also.

I think women's tennis is also going up, trending up. I think it's in a good place. Hopefully it will continue getting better.

Q. Is there much mingling between the men and the women?

ALEXEI POPYRIN: Yeah, there's a little bit. We don't often get to see each other. We're different tours, WTA, ATP. But when the tournaments do interchange, we end up seeing each other sometimes here and there in the mixed events, the slams. Sometimes we're able to do that.

I think Olympics, we were able to spend more time together, because tennis players just kind of hung around with the tennis players most of the time. We definitely got to know the girls a little bit better also.

Q. What is it about Australia that brings the best out of you? In past years, Australia, you've had some of your best performances. Is it the crowd, atmosphere, environment?

ALEXEI POPYRIN: It's got to be that. It's got to be the crowd. For me, nothing beats playing in front of a home crowd, especially out on John Cain Arena. That's the epitome of tennis there, and a home crowd. That's as loud as home crowd can get.

I experienced that against Fritz a few years ago. That was just unbelievable. It's probably still to date the best memory and interaction I've had with the crowd. That is definitely what brings the best out of me, is trying to put on a show for the home crowd.

As I said, we don't get much opportunities to do that. That's just extra motivation for me to go out there and try to put on a show for them and make them proud.

Q. Speaking about the Fritz match, how the crowd was pumping you up, talk us through what it feels like. You were in your early 20s at that point. How does it feel to have the crowd around you?

ALEXEI POPYRIN: Yeah, it's an unbelievable feeling. Especially after the match, the crowd chanting your name, that was just goose bumps. I think, as you saw, it brought me to tears. For me, it's a memory that will live with me forever.

Like I said, in terms of interactions with the crowd, that's the best ever, best I've ever had. I don't think much will top that.

So for me, just also coming off the year that I had the year before, I was ranked 120 in the world, I needed a wild card to get into the Aussie Open, and I was lucky enough to get one. To put in a performance like that with the crowd there, for them to finally see me play my best tennis was something that I really wanted to show them, something I wasn't able to do in the past.

Q. Do you feel like you can win this tournament? What do you think Alex's prospects are like?

ALEXEI POPYRIN: For me, I'll speak on behalf of myself, I just focus one match at a time. That's kind of the mentality I've had throughout the last few years. It's something that's worked well for me.

I do the work behind the scenes, I let my game do the talking on the court when I'm out there. For me, I don't like to set goals. I don't like to set anything.

If you're asking me if I can win this tournament, I don't think I'll go out there thinking -- there's no point going out there and thinking I'm going to lose this match. You go out there thinking you can win every match. In terms of that, yeah. But it's not the goal. The goal is to practice hard and then day by day win a match and keep winning matches.

Demon is coming off the back of his best year last year, his most consistent year in terms of Grand Slam performances, tournament wins, solidified top-10 player, top-8 player. He had the tricky part in the middle of last year being injured and everything. He managed to fight his way through it.

To see him play in United Cup so well, to see that energy that he brings all the time, is incredible. I think he's definitely got a huge opportunity. I think he is one of the best players in the world. With every best player in the world, you think they can win the tournament.

Yeah, I definitely don't want to face him (smiling).