Alexei Popyrin is an Australian professional tennis player who was born on August 5, 1999, in Sydney, Australia. Born to Russian parents, he first picked up a racquet at age four. After he had to keep relocating around the world due to his dad’s job, Popyrin finally settled in the south of Spain, where he could train in the temperate climate.
After becoming experienced at the ITF level from 2016 onwards, the Australian finally earned enough credit at that level to get himself a spot on the main ATP Tour. His debut came in his birth city of Sydney, where he came through qualifying to set up a first-round tie against compatriot John Millman.
That Australian summer proved memorable for him because just two weeks later, he had his Grand Slam debut at the Australian Open. He spent the majority of that 2018 season on the ATP Challenger Tour, earning him enough money to travel around the world doing the sport he loved, all the while training to become a fully-fledged pro.
The tail-end of 2018 proved to be memorable for the Australian, too, with his first ATP Tour-level win coming at the Swiss Indoors in Basel. After enjoying working his way up gradually throughout the coming seasons, by 2021, he had fully established himself as a solid member of the main tour.
The next step for him was to win a title, with this accolade coming in 2021 at the ATP 250 event in Singapore. While continuing to grind out some good results in the following years, he managed to repeat the feat he achieved in Singapore two years later at the Croatia Open in Umag, beating three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka in the final.
Results such as these have set him up nicely to enjoy the heights he is at at the moment, with the Australian breaking into the world's Top 40.
