Alexei Popyrin to rise to career rankings high as 'muscle memory' ends Roland-Garros run

Alexei Popyrin is set to rise to a career high No.21 in the world rankings despite being knocked out of Roland-Garros in straight sets to American Tommy Paul.

Popyrin never really looked in the fourth-round contest against the world No.12, bowing out 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.

But it still represents the 25-year-old Aussie's deepest run at the clay slam. He had only once from his seven previous attempts made it beyond the first round.

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Speaking to Stan Sport, Popyrin said Paul made him "feel like I haven't felt for a while on a tennis court".

"He played a tactically spot-on match. He played great tennis, managed to break down my weaker side," he said.

"I didn't play my best tennis at all, but that's credit to him. He made me feel uncomfortable out there and made me play worse tennis than I'm able to."

Working with South African duo Neville Godwin and Wayne Ferreira, Popyrin tried taking a different approach to this clay season, and it had been paying dividends.

He conceded Paul had forced him back into old habits.

"It's a very, very positive French Open. I think what we've been working on works, and then it's just honing those skills and keep working on what we've been trying to work on," he said.

"We started it ... a few weeks into the clay court season, and I'm into the second week of the French Open for the first time.

"It clearly works (but) there's going to be a few moments, a few matches here and there where maybe a bit of muscle memory kicks in and it goes back to old things. Today was probably one of those matches.

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"We'll learn from it, I'll learn from it, and we'll come back stronger I'm sure."

Paul is the first American man in the French Open quarter finals since Andre Agassi in 2003.

Coming off consecutive five-set victories, Paul saved nine of the 10 break points he faced and converted five of the six chances he had.

Both Paul and Popyrin won junior singles titles on the red clay in Paris, with the American's coming a decade ago.

Popyrin's focus now turns to the grass court season and Wimbledon in just four weeks. He achieved a career-best third round appearance in 2024.

"I think we found out last year that for me to be able to play good on the grass, I'm going to have to start moving comfortably on it," he said.

"Last year we managed to do some good work on the movement side before Wimbledon came along, and it's just repeating that cycle.

"Grass court game (is) very different to clay, which is very different to hard – a bit more aggressive, shorter points, 1-2 punches, big serves, return aggressively.

"It's a lot to work on and it's a bit different to what we've been doing on the clay, but it's a game I'm used to playing, so I'm looking forward to it."

He will first get a few days off in Paris with his girlfriend Amy.