Two years since his Canadian Open triumph signalled stellar things ahead for Alexei Popyrin, the one-time soaring star of Australian tennis has been ailing so badly, he's now had to rely on a reciprocal wildcard to guarantee his place at the US Open.
After that 1994 Masters 1000 victory in Montreal -- a feat even national No.1 Alex de Minaur has yet to achieve -- Popyrin went into that year's New York grand slam at a new career-high of 23 and proceeded to beat Novak Djokovic en route to the US Open last-16.
But it's been a rocky ride for the talented Sydney beanpole since then, especially over a difficult 2026 campaign during which his ranking plummeted back to 139 in the world, leaving him to even miss out on automatic qualification for the US slam.
