Alexei Popyrin's private moment at US Open sums up size of Novak Djokovic upset

Shortly before taking to the court inside Arthur Ashe Stadium, Alexei Popyrin took a sneak peek at his stage. He’d never even been inside the iconic arena, so he had a private moment to soak it all in.

“I stepped out on Arthur Ashe about 20 minutes before the actual match and that was the first time I have ever been on Arthur Ashe,” he revealed. “Just to kind of get a gauge of how the stadium looked and how big it was.”

Three hours later, he had it on its feet. Not only did he beat Novak Djokovic, he won over and captivated the famous Friday night crowd with a dazzling display of tennis.

“Honestly, the crowd was amazing. They kind of stepped up," he reflected.

“When I hit those passing shots, it was quite amazing to feel the crowd on my side. I managed to kind of win them over towards the end of the match, which was amazing, also.”

His sumptuous forehands mesmerized the near-24,000 fans in attendance. They also left his opponent, arguably the greatest man to ever set foot on a tennis court, in a spin.

Unusually, even the great Serbian had no answers. And when he did, like when he saved several break points in a dazzling fifth game in the fourth set, Popyrin simply had even better ones.

Like when he opened up his body to smash the booming forehand winner which eventually broke Djokovic's serve. Or when, in the very next game, he summer stretched to reach for a drop shot and clipped an audacious flick around the top left of Djokovic’s reach before creeping inside the backcourt line.

He’d visualised beating Djokovic for months. But when he visualised it inside Arthur Ashe just moments before the match, even he couldn’t have envisioned it being quite as convincing as it turned out.

“You know, he wasn't playing his best tennis,” he says. “I was waiting for him to kind of step up. I felt like he did in the third set. But my level went down. I didn't make too many first serves.

“Yeah, and also there is countless times when he's come back from two sets to love down, and I didn't want to be one of those moments where Novak kind of stepped up and came back from two sets to love down. That was going through my head.

“It was kind of extra motivation for me not to do that and to win that fourth set. Kind of had to pump myself up, swear at myself a few times to kind of, yeah, to kind of get back into the mood of winning. I managed to do that, and that was amazing.

“I would say level-wise it probably wasn't, like, the highest level, you know, I think because I have had some matches where I have played and, you know, I felt way better than I felt out there today.

“I think the way I composed myself and the way I tactically played the match, that was up there with one of the best matches that I have played.”

There’s no doubt this was the finest win of Popyrin’s career, its breakthrough moment. It’s still not, however, the best moment of his career so far.

That honor still goes to his win at the Canadian Open in Montreal in August, his first ATP 1000 win. In the coming week, he’ll have chance to change that.

“For me, winning Montreal was way bigger than today, just because it's a title, and it's a Masters 1000 title,” he insists. “That felt unbelievable.

“Today was something that I kind of thought I could do, you know? Winning a Masters 1000 was not something that, you know, kind of crossed my head.

“But my two experiences against him earlier this year in Australian Open and Wimbledon kind of gave me the confidence to go out there tonight and believe that I could win and actually do it and believe it.

“So when I did it, it kind of felt that kind of proved me right, proved what I was thinking right. Yeah, it wasn't something that, you know, was unbelievable like Montreal, for example.”

His public declaration he felt he could beat Djokovic at Wimbledon raised eyebrows. Now, he’s backed up that inner belief.

He knows, however, the next step is to back that up. He again has that inner belief he is capable of doing just that.

“All these top-10 players, top-5 players, they play on this confidence all the time, and they steadily build on it,” he says. “That’s kind of what I want to do, and hopefully I can.

“I think in my past I have always had the one-off result of beating a top player. I think the last two matches against Novak really gave me the confidence to come out here today and win.

“It's something that I believed that I have the game to be able to beat these top players. For me to be able to do it and back it up is a big thing for me.”

For now, the focus shifts to Frances Tiafoe, a close friend who Popyrin has never yet had the chance to face in a competitive match.

Tiafoe will again start with the crowd support, just as Djokovic did, after he captivated his home fans in a breathless five-set win over Ben Shelton in the match before on Arthur Ashe.