Super Max and Career Highs

Australian tennis players Alex De Minaur, Max Purcell and Alexei Popyrin have had impressive months in US Open warm up events with the trio achieving career high rankings.

Max Purcell shakes hands with world number 1 Carlos Alcaraz after pushing the Spaniard to three sets in the Cincinnati Quarter Finals (Credit: Tiscali Sport)

The trio of Aussies have had breakthrough results over the last few weeks at the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open. Alex De Minaur made the final of the Canadian Open last week with Purcell and Popyrin making the quarter Finals in Cincinnati this week. De Minaur has jumped to a career high 12 in the world with Purcell and Popyrin rising to 47 and 40 in the ATP live rankings respectively.

Super Max

Max Purcell celebrates defeating Casper Ruud in Cincinnati to reach the round of 16 (Credit: Matthew Stockman / Getty Images)

Purcell made the courageous decision at the start of the year to shift his focus from doubles to singles for the 2023 season. Having won the 2022 Wimbledon title with West Aussie Matt Ebden, Purcell decided to split with his grand slam partner to schedule his season more around singles events. This calculated gamble from Purcell has clearly paid off with Max's ranking rising from 220 to an impressive 47, making him the third highest ranked Australian behind De Minaur and Popyrin.

25 year old Purcell has seemingly come from nowhere this year to rise 173 spots in the rankings but there is a lot of work that has gone into getting such reward. The highly touted junior has done it the hard way this season by dominating the Challenger Tour in 2023 where he has won 3 titles and made a further 3 finals this year. Purcell won all three titles in India and got his ranking high enough to get him qualifying spots in ATP Tour events.

Max had a career best victory over Felix Auger Aliassime at the Canadian Open last week where he made headlines for saying he has "big balls" after his victory. Purcell certainly came in clutch in that win and let the crowd know his ball size with an action that fellow Aussie, Jason Kubler has done several times after wins this year. Purcell also had breakthrough wins in Cincinnati beating world number 5 Casper Ruud, who has struggled since the French Open and Stan Wawrinka dropping just 6 games in the dispatching of the Swiss grand slam champion.

Purcell has a typically calm demeanour which has been on display over the last couple weeks with restrained celebrations and speaking respectfully about his opponents post-match. Purcell has remained humble and reserved which is a character trait he shares with highest ranked Aussie Alex De Minaur. This trait hasn't always been observed in Aussie tennis players with Lleyton Hewitt and Nick Kyrgios being quite the opposite. Whatever works for the specific individual I guess and whilst Purcell might not have the ability to sell out arenas like Kyrgios, it is refreshing seeing a genuine good bloke and Aussie battler doing well on the world stage.

Take #1: Super Max Purcell will finish the year with a ranking of 36.

The Demon quietly goes about his business as per usual

Alex De Minaur took down former world number one Daniil Medvedev in Toronto last week (Credit: Vaughn Ridley / Getty Images)

The Demon continues to go about his business quietly and has reached a career high of 12 in the world after reaching the final of the Canadian Open last week where he succumbed to an in form Jannick Sinner. De Minaur beat former world number one Daniil Medvedev and Taylor Fritz on his way to making his first Masters 1000 final. The demon backed up his performance from the previous week where he also made the final at the Los Cabos Open. These results have led to a career high ranking and puts the Demon in a good spot to make an impact at next week's US Open.

As touched on, the Demon doesn't quite have the draw, charisma or entertainment factor that Kyrgios possesses but reaching number 12 in the world is a remarkable achievement for the Aussie and a ranking that Kyrgios has not achieved in his career. Alex consistently punches above his weight without any real firepower and relies on his elite footwork to make life difficult for his opponents. Throughout his career, the 24 year old has struggled to beat top 10 players being hit off the court several times by the big hitters. This is why the wins in recent weeks have been so important and should give Alex the confidence he needs to seriously match it with the best of the best. This leads me to my second take about the young Aussie.

Take #2: Alex De Minaur will win a Grand Slam (whilst I can't see it being this year, I think the stars will align with some big players missing through injury and the consistency of the Aussie will shine through and the Demon will be a Grand Slam Champion. When this happens, I am not sure).

Alexei Pop(corn)yrin

Popyrin reached the quarter finals at the Cincinnati Open this week (Credit: Andy Brownbill/ AP Photo)

Firstly, apologies for that terrible attempt at weaving popcorn into Alexei Popyrin's name. Secondly, Popyrin's run at the Cincinatti Open achieved an 11-year first. The first time since 2012 that a lucky loser has reached the quarter finals of the Cincinnati Open. Popyrin lost to Purcell in the final round of qualifying at Cincinnati and credit to Popyrin for putting that tough loss behind him by coming out the following day and playing his first round main draw match.

Being an Everton fan, Popyrin is a good bloke and the Evertonian's run was so impressive it put the Aussie up 16 spots in the rankings to a career high of 40. The former junior French Open champion possesses weapons of plenty and has the game to match it with the best in the world. The question marks over Alexei are always around his consistency and ability to match it with the top players over the course of a tournament week and especially over five sets.

Popyrin recently won his second career title at the Croatia Open in July showing that the Aussie can perform well over the course of a tournament where he reduced Stan Wawrinka to tears after beating him in a tight final. With two career titles now a career high of 40, the 24 year old is building a nice career. With the Pop in form, he is a player that the seeds would like to steer clear of at the US Open next week.

Take #3: Alexei Popyrin will take down a seeded player at the US Open

Speaking of popcorn, the Cincinatti final is a marketer's dream with world number 1 Carlos Alcaraz facing the greatest ever Novak Djokovic in their first match since the ridiculous Wimbledon Final a couple months ago.

Take #4: Novak Djokovic beats Alcaraz in straight sets at Cincinnati but Alcaraz beats the Djoker in the Final of the US Open which starts next week