Popyrin wins biggest title of career and gets the private jet ride he wanted

Alexei Popyrin summed it up appropriately on a camera lens after he became the latest unlikely title winner in Montréal.

The Australian had never even won a main draw match at the National Bank Open presented by Rogers in three previous appearances — now he’s gone all the way at the prestigious Masters 1000 stop after concluding with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Top 10 regular Andrey Rublev.

And what is it about Montréal that produces these upsets? At no. 62, Popyrin became the second lowest-ranked champion in tournament history behind No. 95 Mikael Pernfors of Sweden in 1993. In fact, all five of the lowest-ranked champs at this tournament won in Montréal, not Toronto.

The explanation might take deep analysis but dissecting Popyrin’s week, the 25-year-old with a hefty serve and bulldozing forehand won the most crucial points. He saved three match points against Grigor Dimitrov in the third round and the serve came to his rescue for two of them.

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In total, Popyrin pulled off the impressive feat of beating five Top 20 players. Against Rublev, Popyrin hit 31 winners and made only 22 unforced errors. Eighteen of those winners came on the aforementioned forehand wing.

“Considering the occasion and what we were playing for, I think with the level I played, it probably is the best match I played in my life,” said Popyrin, whose previous two titles came at 250 level. “But for me I’m not most proud of how I played in this final. It’s more how I played throughout the whole week and the level I produced the whole week.”

Popyrin’s junior career — he got to as high as no. 2 after winning the French Open — and his weapons suggested a week such as this was always a possibility. So why now? Popyrin doesn’t just expect the results to happen — which might have been the case after his junior days — and is putting in the work in the gym.

“There’s been some changes I made from when I was first coming up as a young player,” said Popyrin. “Let’s just say at the start of my career, it was to kind of not get injured. Now it’s kind of building the body, building an athlete like we’ve been doing for two years now.”

It especially paid dividends after he contested two matches Sunday thanks to rain earlier in the tournament.

“To come out and feel the way I did on court, it shows that all the work we’re putting in, we’re building nicely, and I don’t think we’re done yet.”

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The number ‘7’ figured prominently in his last two matches. Popyrin won all seven points in the pivotal first set tiebreaker against the surging Korda in the semi-finals Sunday and began Monday by claiming the first seven points under the lights.

Rublev only served at 44 percent, although he had, as he called it, one “moment” to get back into the finale and possibly take control. After breaking back for 3-3 in the second set, though, Rublev immediately lost serve. The most dramatic game was the last one. Rublev kicked an advertising board upon losing the first point. Popyrin’s gutsy forehand winner down the line gave him a 30-15 lead, only for Rublev to then win the longest rally of the match, 25 shots. Rublev saved a second match point with a bold smash as he backtracked close to the baseline, before Popyrin finally won it on a third match point when he crushed a forehand down the line.

Still, Rublev — who upset World No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals — called it a positive week. Despite his run-in with the hoarding, he feels he is becoming less combustible on court.

“Since I start to be more clear in my head, every week I'm doing better and better,” said Rublev. “This week I feel really proud of myself. I feel really proud in some things that I was able to kind of react in a good way in some moments, in some matches because normally I would react in a completely different way. I guess I would not be finalist. The final, I still need to learn a bit more,” he smiled.

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Popyrin is now 3-0 in his ATP finals. He climbs to a career-high of around 23 with the victory, likely giving him a seeding at a Grand Slam for the first time at the U.S. Open. Before then, he has a first round match against Gael Monfils in Cincinnati on Wednesday. It’s one of those quick turnarounds in tennis but at least Popyrin got the transport he wanted by making the Montréal final, a private jet provided by the tournament.

“Just before the semi-finals, we were like, ‘Let’s go out and get that private jet,’” he said, referring to his team. “And I’ve never been on a private jet in my life. I’m scared of flying so we’ll see how I feel on a small plane.”

He’ll be high in the sky Tuesday and riding high in tennis terms.

Featured photo by: Patrice Bériault