Je peux rivaliser avec lui. C'est le meilleur joueur de tous les temps et l'un des meilleurs joueurs du monde à l'heure actuelle, mais je peux faire jeu égal avec lui." Alexei Popyrin l'a prouvé en réalisant l'exploit vendredi soir. Au troisième tour de l'US Open, l'Australien s'est offert le scalp de Novak Djokovic, 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. L'exploit est colossal car le Serbe n'avait plus perdu avant les huitièmes de finale de l'US Open depuis 2006. Surtout, Popyrin avait été dominé par Djoko à l'Open d'Australie et à Wimbledon cette année. Cette fois, il a trouvé la clé pour remporter une des plus belles victoires de sa carrière et peut-être se mettre à rêver...
Vidéo : @USOpen
Vidéo : @USOpen
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00:00It was a pretty solid performance from my side, yeah. Honestly, I said before the match
00:09that the last two matches that I had I didn't take my chances and today I managed to take
00:15my chances.
00:16Well done. Congratulations. Questions? Hands? Willie?
00:21Of all the matches you've played in your career, how would you compare the way you played this
00:25evening against everything else?
00:29I would say level-wise it probably wasn't the highest level. I think because I've had
00:39some matches where I've played and I felt way better than I felt out there today. But
00:45I think the way I composed myself and the way I tactically played the match, that was
00:51up there with one of the best matches that I've played. But the level, yeah, it was high,
00:57it wasn't honestly. I've had matches where I've won one-on-one and I've played a match
01:02where I've hit 50 winners and 15 unforced errors. So it was kind of like that.
01:07Alexi, Rich Jones from the Mirror. Yeah, there were some amazing passages in that match, especially
01:13late on. You've hit some great winners, Novak hitting some winners, the crowd really, really
01:18getting into it. Just talk me through what's going through your mind at that moment. You're
01:21under the lights, it's late at night in Grathrash, there was some incredible atmosphere out there.
01:25Tell me what was going through your mind when you were hitting some of those winners.
01:28Yeah, it was amazing. I stepped out on Arthur Ashe about 20 minutes before the actual match
01:34and that was the first time I've ever been on Arthur Ashe. Just to kind of get a gauge
01:39of how the stadium looked and how big it was. Honestly, the crowd was amazing. They kind
01:48of stepped up. When I hit those passing shots, it was quite amazing to feel the crowd on
01:54my side. I managed to kind of win them over towards the end of the match, which was amazing
01:58also.
01:59Yeah.
02:00Alexi, congratulations. Matt Felderman from The Athletic. What is going through your mind
02:06because when you're playing Novak, who's clearly not having a great night, partly because
02:13you're playing really well, but also he's just hitting a lot of double faults, things
02:17like that. But at the same time, you're looking at a player who's won 24 Grand Slam titles
02:24and has come back so many times from two sets down. How are you sort of squaring those things
02:29and staying calm and thinking your way through to the finish line?
02:34Yeah, honestly, all of the things that you mentioned were in my head. He wasn't playing
02:39his best tennis. I was waiting for him to kind of step up. I felt like he did in the
02:43third set, but my level went down. I didn't make too many first serves. Yeah, and also
02:50there's countless times when he's come back from two sets to love down, and I didn't just
02:54want to be one of those moments where Novak kind of stepped up and came back from two
03:00sets to love down.
03:01And that was going through my head, and it was kind of extra motivation for me not to
03:05do that and to win that fourth set. I kind of had to pump myself up, swear at myself
03:10a few times to kind of get back into the mood of winning. And I managed to do that, and
03:19that was amazing.
03:20Alex, what time do you reckon you'll get to bed tonight? With your adrenaline and your
03:26recovery, I imagine that's a big focus.
03:29Yeah, I just did ice bath like literally two minutes ago, so I'm a bit cold right now.
03:33But I think I struggle to sleep after matches like this. I tend to go down probably four
03:43or five hours after the match, so probably around 4 a.m., 4.30, I'll probably be asleep.
03:47What's the plan for the recovery to make sure you're ready for that?
03:50Yeah, I'll sleep in as long as I can. So far this week I've been waking up quite early,
03:55so hopefully I can sleep in a little bit. And then, yeah, we'll do some kind of recovery.
04:02And honestly, I think we'll do some fitness in the morning and then go on the court for
04:08half an hour and then do some more recovery.
04:12Great.
04:13Lacey, have you ever come anywhere near experiencing the emotions you felt on that match point
04:21before, and has it totally sunk in yet?
04:28For me, winning Montreal was way bigger than today, just because it's a title and it's
04:38a Master 1000 title, and that felt unbelievable. Today, it was something that I kind of thought
04:50I could do. Winning a Master 1000 was not something that kind of crossed my head, but
04:57my two experiences against them earlier this year in Australian Open in Wimbledon kind
05:02of gave me the confidence to go out there tonight and believe that I could win, and
05:05actually do it and believe it. So, yeah, when I did it, it kind of felt that kind of
05:12proved me right, proved what I was thinking right. And, yeah, it wasn't something that
05:19was unbelievable like Montreal, for example.
05:23Does it sort of feel like a situation where this is just one step, the job hasn't been
05:30completed as yet?
05:32Yeah, for sure. Like I said in Montreal, for me, the biggest part about Montreal was that
05:38I was able to back up big wins. And for me, that's something that I've really had to work
05:43on. I've had the capability of winning a big match, but not being able to back it up. And
05:48this week in Montreal, I was able to do that, and hopefully I can continue it this week
05:52because this is probably the biggest win of my career so far, ranking-wise. And, yeah,
06:00hopefully I can back that up.
06:02Lev Akavis from Sportico. Congratulations. Did you follow the Boudic-Carlos match last
06:08night? What were your thoughts when you saw that result?
06:12I was asleep at 10.30, so I actually didn't see any of the match. So, yeah, I woke up
06:19this morning and showed my girlfriend straight away and shot kind of like it was crazy. And,
06:26you know, results like that happen, and I thought to myself, why not me today? So, yeah.
06:31Willy.
06:32You next play Francis Tiafoe, somebody you haven't played before, but from what you know
06:37of his game, what you've seen, how would you describe him and the matchup between the two
06:42of you?
06:43Yeah. He's actually a really good friend of mine, so we get along really well off the
06:48court, and it'll be interesting to play against him. We've practiced a bunch of times, and
06:54yeah, he's a very tricky player, and probably he's got one of the best hands on tour and
06:59comes into the net a lot and likes to mix it up, so that's going to be the tough part.
07:04And I'm just going to have to kind of, you know, play my game, serve well. Today I felt
07:11like I didn't really serve that well, considering, you know, the percentages and stuff. So, to
07:17me, I'm going to have to improve on that. But honestly, playing Francis will be quite
07:24an experience, because there's been a few times where I've kind of lost the round before
07:29having to play Francis, and he's always telling me, man, why do you keep losing before we
07:33play each other? So, yeah, luckily this time I was able to do it, and hopefully it'll be
07:38a good match.
07:40With Alkaraz and Djokovic out, how would you describe the opportunity you and others have?
07:46For me, I'm not thinking that far, you know. I'm going to give you the cliché answer that
07:51I always give, is it's always the next match for me. I focus on the next match, and that's
07:55it. So, my focus is on Francis. If I get passed out, then we'll focus on the next one.
08:01Got a couple more.
08:03Can we say that the winning week in Montreal has changed at all regarding your game, your
08:10confidence, and the mental part?
08:13Yeah, definitely. It's given me a lot of confidence. And I said earlier this week that, for me,
08:19the most important part was to take that confidence from Montreal and bring it into this week,
08:23but not only this week, but hopefully for years to come, because all these top ten players,
08:28top five players, they play on this confidence all the time, and they steadily build on it,
08:34and that's what I kind of want to do, and hopefully I can.
08:37We'll take two more. Craig, you'll have the last question.
08:40Alexi, you've talked a lot on the fact that you had that real belief that you could beat
08:43Novak after meeting him twice in Grand Slams. Just wondering, is that belief and confidence
08:47in yourself something that's always been there, or has it built up over the last few months
08:51or years?
08:53I think, in my past, I've always had the one-off result of beating a top player, and I think
09:01the last two matches against Novak really gave me the confidence to come out here today
09:05and win, and it's something that I believe that I have the game to be able to beat these
09:11top players, and for me to be able to do it and back it up is a big thing for me.
09:17Craig, last question.
09:19Do stats mean anything to you? And what I want to just say, in case you haven't heard,
09:23that you're only the second Australian to beat Djokovic at a major, and the last one
09:30was Hewitt in 2006. Do those sort of things mean anything to you?
09:38Yeah.
09:39And I'm just the fifth Australian to beat him.
09:41Yeah, for sure. I think to be mentioned in the same name as Leighton, one of our greats,
09:48is always unbelievable, but yeah, it's a great feeling. I think I was the first Aussie to
09:56win a Masters 1000 since Leighton also, so that's also a great feeling. So hopefully
10:02I can continue that trend and do some more things that Leighton has done in the past.