Teenage prodigy Alexei Popyrin has fulfilled a lifelong dream and secured a place in the Wimbledon main draw.
Australia’s former junior French Open champion overcame American Bjorn Fratangelo in four sets in the final round of qualifying at Roehampton on Thursday.
Popyrin recovered from a mini mid-match collapse – when he dropped the third set, received a warning for swearing and went down a break early in the third set – to clinch a tension-filled 6-3 7-6 (8-6) 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (8-6) victory on his second match point.
Once again cheered on by his new grasscourt advisor, 1987 Wimbledon champion Pat Cash, Popyrin was overjoyed to secure his place in Friday’s draw.
“I’m definitely enjoying that. It’s always special to have a legend in the game on your side, in your camp, and he’s definitely been giving me a lot of advice, a lot of tips here and there, especially on the grass court,” Popyrin said.
“He’s just a great motivator before the match.
Popyrin broke into the world’s top 100 this week but missed last month’s direct entry deadline for Wimbledon.
But having already reached the third round of this year’s Australian Open as a wildcard, the 19-year-old knows he belongs on tennis’s biggest stages.
The Spain-raised Sydney talent joins compatriots Alex de Minaur, Nick Kyrgios, Jordan Thompson, John Millman, Matt Ebden and Bernard Tomic in the All England Club’s men’s field.
Fellow Australians Jason Kubler, Andrew Harris and Arina Rodionova are also playing final-round qualifying matches on Thursday.
Rodionova, Australia’s best performer at Wimbledon two years ago, is hoping to join world No.1 Ashleigh Barty, Ajla Tomljanovic, Daria Gavrilova and Samantha Stosur in the 128-strong women’s draw.