No. 28 seed Alexei Popyrin seems to know the delicate art of balance. While his third-round match at the Arthur Ashe Stadium will see him aiming to dethrone the longest-serving World No. 1 in history Novak Djokovic for the third time this year, he hasn’t forgotten his special person, his girlfriend Amy Pederick. Despite all the pressure and chaos surrounding not dropping a set through this tournament, he took a moment to tune out all the noise and showered his childhood sweetheart with some praise.

On August 12, Pederick shared a series of posts on Instagram from her vacation in Italy. In one of these pictures, she could be seen in a stunning black dress, as she enjoyed a view of the sea. Enveloped by a beautiful sunset while absorbing its yellow, orange, and blue hues, Popyrin couldn’t take his eyes off of Pederick’s beauty.

Commenting on the post captioned, “Summer nights,” the exuberant Australian wrote, “My queen 👸🏽❤️.” Popyrin and Pederick’s story started back in 2019- the same time when the Australian had his first Grand Slam main-draw match win on the ATP Tour. However, for the sake of not over-romanticizing, 2022 was the worst career season for the Sydneysider, and his English girlfriend was a witness to the struggles and resurgence of his career that followed. Remember this as this is going to be important in just a minute.

He started the year 2022 as the world No. 61 but ended it ranked 120th, getting wiped out in the opening round of every grand slam except for a second-round appearance at the US Open. By the end of that year, he was only able to win one ATP Challenger tour title at the BNP Paribas Primrose Bordeaux. He started off the next year on a good note, and in a shock win against eighth-seeded Taylor Fritz in the Australian Open, streams of tears rolled out as the Aussie fisted the air with overcoming joy,

“I had the toughest year last year, didn’t win many matches. I’ve won as many matches this year as I won the whole of last year and it’s only January.” Although the American Ben Shelton eventually ousted him in the third round in straight sets, his girlfriend couldn’t help but narrate how incredibly proud she was of her boyfriend.

Amy Pederick waited as her boyfriend trained for hours on the court to overcome career slump

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that Amy has seen him rising from the ashes and has lent huge support to the star player. Speaking about this difficult time with ‘Today’, Popyrin’s girlfriend said, “I’m incredibly proud. He’s had an insane start to the year 2023… It was really tough, mentally – very draining for him and it wasn’t easy. But he stuck through, he grinded, and he pushed through and he trained so hard in pre-season. Every single day, he was on the court for hours. He tried everything, mentally.

“He got a new nutrition coach on the team, and I think he has worked so hard to build an amazing team and build a strong support system. I think that is what helped him, and he has gone into this year with a very positive mindset.”

Tides have changed now, and Alexei has a lot to thank for when it comes to his support group. By vastly improving his form in back-to-back tournaments, like the Australian Open, Indian Wells, Monte Carlo, French Open, and Wimbledon, Popyrin gained much popularity on the ATP circuit. As a result, his rank even bumped up to World No. 99 in singles in June. While he was busy having a breakthrough year, Popyrin’s girlfriend, Pederick, focused on her profession as a physiotherapist.

UPDATE: Alexei Popyrin defeated the defending US Open champion Novak Djokovic, 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. With this victory, Popyrin became the first Australian to defeat Djokovic in a Grand Slam match since Lleyton Hewitt. Previously, Hewitt has had the opportunity of defeating Djokovic in the same round in New York in 2006.

The couple has had great times together. Having graduated in physiotherapy, the Brit, who is now 24 years old, started helping her boyfriend with his training and fitness. Their story can be traced back to their childhood when their eight-year-old selves shared the same math class in Dubai and kept in touch since then. Slowly, this friendship developed into a lifelong relationship for the two.

As the US Open unfolds, it would be interesting to see if the star player can pose some crucial challenges ahead of Nole in the third round. What do you think?