This article details Alexei Popyrin's shocking victory against Novak Djokovic at the US Open, highlighting his strategy, the crowd's impact, and his journey to becoming a formidable force in tennis.
Alexei Popyrin tends to shut out the world as big moments approach. Warming up, he likes to listen to music. If he’s playing a higher-ranked opponent, however, the headphones stay on as he enters the court to mask any difference between his reception and the other guy’s. That sound presumably marks the gap between Popyrin’s place in the tennis world at any moment and the one he aspires to. It’s a gap that’s narrowed dramatically in recent months. But when he emerged to play then world No.
2 Novak Djokovic at the US Open on the last day of August last year, the headphones remained firmly – almost defensively – in place. It meant the Australian missed the buzz as he walked onto Arthur Ashe Stadium for the biggest game of his life; only realised as he hit his groove that the crowd, packed into the biggest arena in US tennis, was solidly – often wildly – on his side. “The underdog always gets the crowd support and that’s what I was playing to,” says Popyrin, who entered August ranked 62 in the world. “I knew Novak didn’t really like that, so I was really pumping up the crowd and using their energy at the right times.” One of that US Open’s more eye-catching moments,denied the defending champion his 25th grand slam, making 2024 Djokovic’s first season in seven years without a major title and pushing him to No. 7. It also signalled Popyrin’s emergence as a dangerous disruptor. But if it looked like a bolt out of the blue, it wasn’t: Popyrin knew going in that he could do it after losses to Djokovic earlier this year. “I had my chances but was never able to capitalise on them,” he says of the Australian Open in January and Wimbledon in July, when he forced Djokovic to a fourth-set tiebreaker. “I knew I would have to take my chances if I had them in that US Open match, and that’s what I di
Tennis US Open Novak Djokovic Alexei Popyrin Upset Crowd Support
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