First Australian to win a masters1000 since Hewitt back in 2003... During the past years people thought it would be Tomic Kyrgios, or de Minaur nowadays, but Popyrin came out of nowhere.
Popyrin's game has been on my radar for a couple years now. Thought he might have missed his chance for a breakthrough as I have been expecting a result like this for a while now.
Exceptional hitting from popyrin. Bro took out 3 top 10 players in 3 days. Never seen him like this before. Scorching winners all over the place.. will be a tough competition for alcaraz in Cinci..
@@hmdofficiel nice! but he was 2x against hubi not 8... and no, both will not be outsiders of the us open. seems you only had luck and dont understand betting or tennis. better take out the money as you will lose it again.
Popyrin always had the potential with his big serve and FH but he can be very inconsitent in rallies...never knew he has the ability to win 6 straight matches against Top 50 opponents (with rain delays with that) so this is an extraordinary run from him that I hope builds him up for the future!
Even tho Popyrin won, I do wanna give props to Rublev for actually NOT FULLY go crazy this whole match. He had a little outburst in the beginning of the first set, but I think as the match progressed, he realized Popyrin was just too good today. Instead of acting out like the crazy lunatic he is, he stayed cool and played through this match as best as he could without breaking down. Good job to both!
I feel a bit gutted for Rublev not taking the title when he's made so much progress but overall he should be very happy with his results this tournament. He is definitely a different player now and he worked hard to get here.
Andrey was awful, woeful in fact. If Jannik had not been sick then it would have been one hell of a final between him and Popyrin. Rublev gets zero credit at all, awful stuff from him, again.
He couldn't resist kicking the towel stand late in the match. But overall, he was quieter than. I like watching Rublev play, but I don't like how he commands the ball kids to shuttle the balls to one or the other when he's serving.
Rublev may be making progress but he’s still too inconsistent if he wants to get back to his prior ranking, Same with Putintseva and Ostapenko on the women’s side. They’ve made progress but still need a lot more to be made to get where they want to be.
I've been eyeing Poppy for a few years now. He has always had the weapons, but now he's way more Patient like the Joker. I'm stoked to see him win! He's very dangerous now.
I still remember the first time I saw Alexei back in 2021 at the Citi Open. He was playing Nakashima and it was one of the hardest hitting matches I’ve ever seen aside from Sinner beating Millman that same year and winning. Have been a supporter of his since. Hopefully this inspires De Minaur, Thanasai and Kyrgios to accomplish the same.
Been watching Alexei since he started out its been a long time coming but he is finally living up to the touted talent we have come to know‼️🙏🏽 Massive Congrats to him🏆🙌🏽
if he ceased performing well then he'll still be way less accomplished than these two... You dont say Fognini is better than Berrettini just because Fognini has a masters1000 and Berrettini doesn't...
@@anseinueseima408 it's still an accomplishment that cannot be erased or forgotten. nobody remembers 2nd, 3rd or 4th round exits. people remember champions. it's just the way it is
@@leangroundbeef2322 True, but Berettini has been in Wimbledon final and SF for other slams, people will still rather remember that more than a one master wonder I think. Same goes for Kyrgios.
Congrats to Popyrin. You just can't be mad at this guy, he played like a beast and deserved the title. Well done to Rublev, too. I am sad that he didn't get to win it all, but getting into the final after all those weeks of losing is a great feat. He will win another Masters for sure. Big things are ahead of him. 💙
Popyrin completely deserved the title especially for the way he is performing in 2024. He gave a tough fight to the goat in AO and Wimbledon and many good performances throughout the year. Defeating machac , Shelton, Dimitrov, hubi , korda and rublev is a commendable achievement. Not that he beat a Carlos or a sinner or a Novak but beating these many top 10/top 15 players is a huge achievement in the CV of popyrin. The only Australian to win a M1000 tournament since 2003. A well deserved masters 1000 title
consistency is key in tennis specially, all are professional top rated player who can defeat anyone on their day but how consistent one perform makes a big difference
You've just witnessed a young man achieve a payoff for literally YEARS of sacrifice, of himself, his family, and friends. Everyone around him. He can now secure his life, and move forwards knowing he will be okay for the rest of his life, as long as he's smart about it. Really great result for a young man that has worked so hard.
It's mostly about the glory of winning a big title in his profession rather than anything else. I mean sure, it's a big payday! Biggest of his life! But he had already made more than 4 times the amount (a lil over 1 mil) he won in Canada. Not like he won 10-15 mil. If 4,6 mil wasn't enough to set him for life, i don't see how 1 more million does that. And 4,6 was only from tournaments. He's made more from sponsors, ads etc. I agree about the rest! It's probably one of the happiest days of his life, if not the happiest! Finally proved himself in the big leagues
@@jay_kulina this win is probably worth over the next 5 years double or triple the prize money in increased sponsor contracts and bonuses in existing contracts too. so near on doubling his total career earnings in one tournament.
I watched popyrin play opelka at the dallas open last year, and he showed a lot of character. Hes a great player, and showed his fair share of frustration as well. Good to see popryin making progress, he's wiping the floor with people like korda. His next challenge is getting past someone like zverev or tommy paul.
@@cryptomike590 lol the Fedal copers really scraping the barrel after Djokovic's legendary Olympics final performance to complete tennis. Both Federer anywhere and Nadal off clay have precisely ZERO slam match wins against Djokovic in more than the last decade (12 years in the case of Federer when he was still only 30, and a month shy of 11 in the case of Nadal). Except for Nadal on clay Fedal WERE THE WEAK ERA for Djokovic for many many years.
@guaybique4210 winning as many GS In your 30s is a worrying stat for any tennis player. No one aged 10 years younger than Nole with over 1 GS, says it all
Popy! Congrats mate! A LOT of salt about this win, but that’s alright. We Aussies love our meals well seasoned. A statement performance from Alexei, and a long time between drinks for us Aussies! 🇦🇺hopefully this gives our boy the confidence he needs to keep climbing the ranks!
Before today, I remember seeing someone say Alexei was somehow hitting returns like prime Djokovic -- I laughed it off. Then I watched today's match, and it threw me back ~13 years to 2011. The service returning was literally like watching a 25 y/o Novak -- except with a bigger, better serve and stronger FH. As insane as it would sound before this tournament, I fully believe Popyrin could be a top-10 player by the end of the year, and if he goes on a Sinner-esque run, could be top-5 at some point next year. He looks better than EVERYONE on tour except Carlos, pre-injury Sinner, and Olympics Novak. True dark horse for the USO and, if Sinner's not 100%, the likeliest challenger to Carlos in Cincy (that match could be fireworks). On this form, he's going to be a massive threat to the unlucky higher seeds that he's drawn with. Wow. Still early, but if he keeps it up, he'll be possibly the most exciting story in tennis in the past 2+ years, aside from Alcaraz and Sinner's ascension and Novak's Olympic gold. Seeing another likable superstar emerge would dull the losses of Rafa and Andy -- obviously wishcasting a bit, but THAT'S how good Alexei has looked this past week, through the gauntlet of matches. We could be seeing the long-awaited 3rd of the next-gen Big 3, after the likely false dawns of Rune and Shelton (too early to say on Fils).
Simply said: no, won't happen and not even close. If I Had to make a top 10 of players of whom are said they are top 10 material based on comments like this I'd have a list of 50. There is a lot of talent in the top 200 who can all play insanely well. But Popyrin just had the best run of his life, yes. But he will be nowhere near the top 5 in his career and to go from 18 to top 10 is still a long way to go, let alone to stay in the top 10 for a while. This is all notwithstanding what he has done this week, amazing performance.
You're right except you forget one thing. Everyone has had great runs for a week or a month. But staying consistent is what gets you the high ranking. Can he keep it up? We have to wait and see.
@@fwvw7056 I mean, there’ve been only a few players who people project as future top 10ers: Musetti, Fils, Paul, Shelton, Korda. None of those are remotely unrealistic as all are 24 and under except Paul. In every match in Montreal, Popyrin has looked better than anyone on the list except possibly Paul in his wins over Carlos, Musetti in his close losses to Djokovic, and Fils in his Hamburg win over Zverev. Except Popyrin did it for SIX straight matches. If he plays at 85% of this level, he’s absolutely top 10. If he plays at 95%, he’s top 5. We’ll see if he can stay close to this level, but, aside from Novak’s gold medal win, I haven’t been this impressed since Sinner dismantled Novak at the AO.
@@keshavsharma5406 popyrin probably played at 100% of his level more or less this tournament whereas others were a bit less (especially Rublev). But the main thing is, can one do it all year on all surfaces. Because gor a top 5 position you can see one has to have around 4000-5000 atp points, meaning practically one has to go far in a two grand slams, win a tournament here and there, do well in some masters. I don't see Popyrin pulling it off for a whole year. Simply because there is so much other talent on the tour that have (had) runs like this. Consider for example Tabilo and Jarry at the Monte Carlo masters this year, most (I too) thought they would be able to make a good run at RG. I think both of them lost in the first round. Jarry is a good example because his physique and game looks similar. Tabilo has more touch / talent on the ball it seems. And so there are plenty others who have this potential. For example, where is Coric (Cincinnati), Shapovalov, and not even talking about Fritz, Aliassime etc.
@@fwvw7056 Not denying top-5 could be beyond him, but it's not like he won this based off of one fluky good performance. It's the six in a row that gets me thinking previously crazy thoughts lol. Jarry doesn't have the speed or the FH or the ability to use his height to get over the ball and create short angles (which shockingly few tall players do, because they don't have the movement of Poppy). The power off the racket and the depth is truly rare, as is the serve code breaker he found to hit return winners off all kinds of serves. As for Fritz, I can see strong similarities between his and Popyrin's game and attributes, but Fritz has been 5th I believe, and was top 10 for a while before recently slipping to 11th or 12th. Idt Fritz has ever had a streak of wins quite like this. Consistency is of course key, but you just can't deny your eyes -- looking like a future GS champion, more so than anyone else besides the top 3. Obviously I could be wrong and he could turn back into a pumpkin, but with the belief in himself coming to fruition, hard to believe he's going to regress -- even if he doesn't push into the top 10, he should be a mainstay in the top 20 with the game to beat anyone on his day. He doesn't have the low ceiling of guys like Stef, Rune, Ruud, De Minaur, Baez, Tabilo, Khachanov, Jarry; doesn't have the ill discipline of guys like Rublev, Shelton, Humbert, and Bublik; doesn't have the mental scarring of guys like Zverev and Fritz, and doesn't have the inexperience of a guy like 20 y/o Fils. Given the competition, anything is possible for Alexei.
Popyrin is so respectful… there are not many players that give a firm handshake and see the referee in the eyes when they finalize the match. Probably Nadal did it, Alcaraz as well
Popyrin is good at running side-to-side he stands so far back and absorbs Rublev's power. Andrey should use angels more often to make his opponent run to the front and side, that's harder than side-to-side. Rublev also needs to come to the net more often and improve his volleys!
Well done Alexi after long time you bring joy to my life congratulations keep the momentum after Hewitt you are expected top ten Aussie player love you congrats entire Australia and Alexi family fans ❤❤❤❤❤
This is one of the things that happens when you continuously run into Djokovic or Nadal and keep losing. Your game gets better as a result. Pops been playing well the last two years. Well deserved. 🎉
Poppy has definitely turned a corner with his level. I could see a breakthrough coming ever since he backed up his AO performance with another solid 4-set battle against Novak at Wimbledon. He's figured out how to pour it on and take on the big guys. He had beaten Rublev before at Monte Carlo as well so it was going pretty well for him against the top ranked players. This moment was a long time coming and it all fell into place at the right time. Well done Poppy, he's realising his potential and now it's gone to new heights with a maiden M1000 here. It'll be interesting to see him continue his upward progress from here... perhaps reaching a maiden grand slam quarterfinal, semifinal or dare we dream a final?
Congrats Alexei! Unreal tennis & Unreal run through some incredible players. Also thanks to TennisTV for the fantastic highlight packages, love the mixup from top view and court level.
Popyrin didn’t have to do much today, Rublev was just beating himself by making tons of unforced errors and not getting his first serves in (lowest percentage with less than 45%), the worst performance from him this tournament. Surprisingly, it was Alexey who managed to hold his cool better than Andrey, which eventually made a difference. Amazing runs from both and props to Popyrin for pulling it off
Congrats to Popyrin, impressive run to get his 1st Masters, definitely better than the previous winner's run👏🏽 Congrats to Rublev too, he had an great week🔥Obviously was ill during this match but Pop played well & made the most of it
Maybe you didn't win the title, but still you are winner in our hearts. Because you improved mentally a lot, you stayed calm through whole tournament in every match, you put your heart into every game, was playing beautiful tennis, also beated World No 1 Jannik Sinner, which was one of your best matches I have seen since I started to support you ☺️☺️☺️
In the big 3(4) era when there was a surprise masters winner it would be someone like Ferrer, Berdych, Tsonga....this new era will have great elite players no doubt but the 2nd tier of players is so inconsistent...
