Novak Djokovic's US Open conqueror rubs salt in his wounds after 'way bigger' win

Alexei Popyrin said his victory over Novak Djokovic wasn't his biggest achievement

Alexei Popyrin added insult to injury after dumping Novak Djokovic out of the US Open. Djokovic suffered his earliest exit at a Grand Slam since 2017 as the 28th seed beat him 6-4 6-4 2-6 6-4. It’s the best win of the Australian’s career by ranking. But he admitted that it didn’t feel like his most important triumph, admitting that one of his recent successes was “way bigger”.

The US Open men’s draw has been blown wide open. Less than 24 hours after Carlos Alcaraz was stunned in the second round, Djokovic was ousted by Popyrin. It was the third time they had met at Grand Slam level this year. Popyrin took a set off Djokovic at the Australian Open and did the same at Wimbledon. But in New York he finally went a step further and got the job done, upsetting the defending champion. However, the 25-year-old quickly brushed off claims that it was his biggest win, having lifted his maiden Masters 1000 trophy in Canada earlier this month. “For me, winning Montreal was way bigger than today, just because it's a title, and it's a Masters 1000 title. That felt unbelievable,” Popyrin said.

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Alexei Popyrin stunned reigning champion Novak Djokovic for his best win by ranking

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Although the 28th seed had never beaten Djokovic before - much less at a Grand Slam where he was defending the title - he admitted that he thought it was achievable while a Masters title wasn’t. Popyrin continued: “Today was something that I kind of thought I could do, you know? “Winning a Masters 1000 was not something that, you know, kind of crossed my head. But my two experiences against him earlier this year in Australian Open and Wimbledon kind of gave me the confidence to go out there tonight and believe that I could win and actually do it and believe it. “So when I did it, it kind of felt that kind of proved me right, proved what I was thinking right. Yeah, it wasn't something that, you know, was unbelievable like Montreal, for example.”

Alexei Popyrin said his Montreal Masters win was "way bigger"

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