Happy memories come flooding back for Alexei Popyrin on each visit to Roland Garros. In 2017, the then-17-year-old became only the fourth Australian – and the first in 49 years – to lift the boys’ singles trophy at the claycourt major.
“I think every year you kind of remember it. It's a shame that the court's not there anymore that I won it on,” said Popyrin, who joined Roy Emerson, John Newcombe and Phil Dent on the tournament honour rolls. “If I saw that court, it would be even more [vivid], but I think it's always a good feeling coming back to [the] French Open.”
The actual trophy is another matter for Australia’s No.2 men’s player, who admitted pre-tournament he was currently unsure of its whereabouts.
“I was going through boxes of childhood trophies [and] I've got every single trophy from like [when I was] nine years old, but I can't find my French Open trophy anywhere, so I'm kind of panicking as to where it might be,” said Popyrin, adding he hopes the silverware is among items his parents have packed for a planned move to Dubai.
While Popyrin leaves that particular challenge in the capable hands of his mother, Elena, the world No.61 can focus on other positives as he launches an eighth main-draw campaign at Roland Garros.
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Targeting an improvement on his final-16 appearance in Paris last season – when he exited to Tommy Paul, another former Roland Garros boys’ champion – Popyrin brings momentum from an upset win over higher-ranked Jakub Mensik at the recent Rome Masters, and another against No.1 seed Taylor Fritz in a quarterfinal run at Geneva.
“I think confidence is slowly starting to come back. We've been doing some good work,” said Popyrin, noting a “few adjustments” were helping him rediscover the form that saw him claim ATP Masters 1000 glory and a top-20 ranking in 2024. “I'm a bit more clear in my head and how I want to play and what I want to do out there.”
The return to form followed one of the most difficult stretches of Popyrin’s career. A quarterfinal run in Houston was the lone highlight across a four-month period in which he suffered eight opening-round losses in 11 tournaments before the end of April. “I wasn't quite in the best head space,” he conceded with a smile.
But alongside those challenges, there was also hard-gained perspective for the 26-year-old.
“What I expect for myself, the pressure that I put on myself, it can be quite brutal,” Popyrin admitted. “And when you look back on it and look back at like – the last six months let’s say – my personal life hasn’t changed. I’m getting married. My family is healthy and happy. And for me, that's the biggest success. Whatever I do on the court is a bonus."
Other factors provide confidence as Popyrin prepares to face USA’s Zachary Svajda, the current world No.85, in the Roland Garros first round.
“I honestly think clay's always been kind of my surface. I think my family moved to Europe for that specific purpose is to try and get used to kind of moving on clay and I think it suits my game really well,” he said.
“I think it just took a little bit of adjusting in terms of kind of waking up and kind of realising that the game that you bring on a hard court is not the same that you bring on a clay court. And you just have to make that adjustment.”
Alongside his confidence on the surface – on which he won the second of three ATP titles at Umag in 2023 – Popyrin feels at home in France, where he has a European base.
“I love it here…. and where we kind of base ourselves is a great little village,” he said. “I kind of like to keep it quaint, just nice and chill. And where I practise is great at the Mouratoglou Academy. So yeah, all in all, it's great. a great little set-up that I've got here.”
Almost a decade on from his teenage triumph, Roland Garros feels like another opportunity for Popyrin to build momentum – and perhaps create new memories on the clay that has long felt like home.
Catch Popyrin, and the other Australians, in action at Roland Garros on the channels of the Nine Network and Stan Sport.