There isn’t a season where fans don’t get to see a dark horse rising up to the top and making his mark. For the pre-US Open events this year, it was the Australian ATP star Alexei Popyrin. Besides experiencing a commendable rise in rankings, the 25-year-old also managed to lift the Canadian Open trophy. And he lived up to the hype, doing the unthinkable.

In his round 3 match against reigning US Open champion Novak Djokovic, he pulled off a shocking win (6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4). But who do you think pushed him throughout his journey to stand among the tennis greats? Here’s everything about Popyrin’s mother Elena Popyrin and her undeniable support.

The support of Popyrin’s coaching team has been evident throughout his presence on the courts. However, besides them, he owes much of his success to the undeniable support of his family. Born in Sydney to Russian immigrants, Alex and Elena, Alexei moved to Dubai for his father’s work. Interestingly, in school, he was playing both soccer and tennis. In fact, he was pretty good at soccer during his school days. But it was because of his mother that he ended up choosing tennis.

Popyrin was a striker back then. And the soccer coach, former Premier League player Carlton Palmer, was trying to convince his mother that Popyrin should quit tennis. Palmer recognized his football talent, only to miss the tennis element in him. So Elena told him to come and watch him on the tennis court. Palmer did. And the verdict?

“when he did he was like, ‘Yep, stick to tennis!’” Popyrin had recalled in 2022. Since then, there has been no looking back. And if anything that has been a constant in that journey, that was his mother Elena. She always made sure to attend every training session and match. In an interview with ABC in 2017, Alexei took the time to acknowledge this, saying, “My mum is my inspiration. I don’t remember the last time she missed a training session. She’s definitely never missed a match.” It was not only limited to this.

Popyrin’s mother has been beside him since the very initial days of his career, on all the tennis trips he has embarked on. “The fact that my parents always believed in me really helped with that. They were always encouraging me and were there whenever I needed them. My mom was traveling with me everywhere and my dad was a phone call away. Without them, I wouldn’t have made it. Yet here I am, and I hope I will continue to make them proud,” Popyrin had said.

The sacrifices Elena made for her son, coupled with the hard work of his father, eventually resulted in the ascent of Alexei into a tennis star. His family’s relocation from Sydney to Dubai and to Spain eventually came to form part of the need to chase the dream of providing the best opportunity and training for Alexei. “The sacrifices she’s made are the reason I am where I am right now. I’m so grateful for everything that she’s done for me,” he had said of her mother. In fact, not only his mother, but his entire family was on the move, just because of him.

Alexei Popyrin’s entire family is ‘invested’ in him

Having a deep love for his family, the tennis star once made a special appearance on the ATP Tour in 2022 to present a letter named, “Why Family Is Everything To Me.” The Aussie narrated incidents from his childhood recalling how his family left everything behind to travel to different parts of the world with him. The first he could recall was back in his time as a 9-year-old.

“Pack up your bag,” Popyrin recalled his father saying to him as he was coming out of the school in Dubai. It was because he would have to go on a two-week tour to Croatia for a tennis tournament. It was more than surprising to Popyrin. By that time, the longest time he had taken his time off from school was for a day, most likely a Friday, to compete in a tournament in the United Arab Emirates. But Europe was a different ball game.

“I had never been to Europe. I had never played on clay. I was happy with missing two weeks of school, but traveling so far for tennis? That was unbelievable!” Popyrin had recalled. The trip would later test him against contemporary kids that included names like Alex de Minaur and Nicola Kuhn. So his entire family, including his mother, father, brother, sister, and grandmother, set out for that.

In his following year of life (10-17 years) this entire army traveled “for three months at a time going from tournament to tournament, from Italy to Slovakia to Slovenia and so on.” Not only the matches, but Popyrin holds the memories of car rides also very close to his heart. And among those memories, once again, comes his mother.

“A lot of the time we would rent a house for a week or two at a tournament. My mom tried to find the cheapest possible option, which was tough because we needed a huge space. There were six of us, and we would have needed three rooms at a hotel,” Popyrin had said, delving into the memories.

“I didn’t fully realize this at the time, but my family sacrificed everything to enable my brother and I to chase our dreams,” Popyrin had further added. Everything, literally! About a year after that first tournament in Croatia, his parents sold their house in Sydney, where they used to live until he was eight. And why? “My family was fully invested in our tennis,” came Popyrin’s simple explanation. He thinks it is this unconditional belief his family has shown in him that has propelled him to success.

“Parents are the ones who believe in you the most, and mine showed it in my brother and me,” Popyrin stated. With such a flurry of support behind him, the Aussie looks poised to grab one of the biggest opportunities in his career at the US Open 2024.