Alexei Popyrin was left wondering forlornly where he goes next after the recent shooting star of Australian tennis suffered another low point in his traumatic year with a tame first-round French Open exit.
The player touted as the major threat to Alex de Minaur as Australian No.1 and still ranked in the world's top 20 as recently as August will now plummet to at best No.85 after being beaten 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7-3) 7-5 by American Zachary Svajda.
His freefall will also see him sink in the Australian rankings to at least No.3 behind James Duckworth, and while his first-round five-set exit at the Australian Open left him tearful, this early capitulation just seemed to leave him numb.
