Christo Popov: Facing Masters Challenge – Confirmation Bias

How do you feel physically before approaching these World Tour Finals, which close a very long season?
Christo Popov : After the French Open-Hylo Open sequence in Germany at the end of October-beginning of November, I admit that I felt a lot of fatigue because I hadn’t stopped at all for a long time. But having four weeks without competition during which I was able to train a lot and well allows me to feel physically ready to take on a big competition like this.

How do you feel about participating for the first time in this equivalent of the Masters in tennis?
It’s incredible. Especially since as far as I’m concerned, the only results that count in my ranking are from May or June, so it was only over six months that I fought to qualify because I didn’t have any good results at the start of the year. At that time, I was still sailing between the 25^e and the 30^e world place so my objective was just to enter the Top 20, then to aim for the Top 15. And finally, it’s great to tell myself that I finished 5^e with just these six very good months. This allows me to achieve one of the goals of my career, namely to compete in this little Grail of the circuit at least once. Now, it’s up to me to go there to perform and not to be satisfied just by being there.

Rather than a specific trigger, I would say that it was the accumulation of little things that allowed me to gain confidence, to try more things and to raise my level.

Christo Popov

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Do you think there was a turning point or was there a pivotal moment that explains these last six months at the summit?
I don’t know if we can talk. At the start of the season, I didn’t necessarily have many results, but I worked a lot physically, whether in terms of leg speed, endurance, power… This helped me a lot for the rest of the season because I was better prepared. Afterwards, I think I managed little by little to get into a good wave, where I feel good and confident. As a result, in certain matches where it was very close, it worked in my favor on several occasions and this allowed me to go through more rounds and achieve big results at the end. So rather than a specific trigger, I would say that it was the accumulation of little things that allowed me to gain confidence, to try more things and to raise my level. Then, these good results lead my opponents to see me differently. This change in status also helped me a lot.

Were the World Championships in Paris at the end of August an additional source of motivation?
Clearly, I think it also helped me stay motivated. Not to mention the enormous preparation I had done for this occasion and which then carried me through the following two months. And then at these Worlds, even if I lost in the round of 16, it was against the world number 1 (the Chinese Shi Yu Qi) after a very close match (22-20, 13-21, 18-21). This showed me that even on big events, I had the means to seek out the very best. This motivates me to return to training to find the little points that are still missing, knowing that I am very close.

You have played this world number 1 three times this year (defeats at the Danish Open 19-21, 21-19, 19-21 and at the Japan Open 12-21, 26-28) and each time, you did not come far from victory…
It really didn’t go far in those matches… I have no doubt that the best players in the world are capable. I showed several times this year that I could do it (he notably beat the Thai Kunlavut Vitidsarn, number 1 in the race). But the thing, to be able to claim to enter the Top 5, is that it is not enough to do it two or three times a year, but you have to do it nine or ten times and be permanently in the last four of each tournament. I don’t have this form of regularity yet.

Did the emergence of Alex Lanier after the Paris 2024 Games, by taking some pressure off you, also help and/or motivate you? Or on the contrary were you upset to find yourself in his shadow?
No not at all. With my brother (Toma Junior, current 15^e world), we have never seen things from this angle. On the contrary, we practice a sport, bad’, which receives very little media coverage in France and we are happy when people talk about it. Between Alex, the mixed doubles (Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue) or us, with my brother, we feel that something is happening for the discipline. There is a form of collective pride in highlighting our sport. I like the fact that everyone is doing their bit to ensure that bad things are more and more valued.

And in terms of emulation with Alex…
I think it helped. For two years, in the World Top 30, French level, there was only my brother and me. And then the arrival of Alex allowed us to question ourselves, to better see what we could improve to progress further. He works differently and there is obviously no question of copying them, but there are necessarily things that we can feed off of each other. In terms of results, there is a bit of a game of cat and mouse, whether with my brother or with Alex. I think it’s a very good thing. It takes competition to climb very high.

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If you had to analyze your game, what do you think are your strengths and weaknesses?
I think I’m a player who knows how to adapt very well to the playing conditions, which is very important in bad’ because there are rooms where the shuttlecocks will be very fast, others less so, there can also be drafts or stronger air conditioning… I manage to find solutions to this quite quickly. Otherwise, unlike my brother who is very powerful, who will “punch” in attack with a lot of force, I have more of a style where I adapt tactically to the opponent. My game is very complete, without being extraordinary in everything I do.

I’m pretty excited to see what I can do with more expectations.

Christo Popov

What is your objective for these World Tour Finals? Is it really a goal to win them, or do you see them as a cherry on the cake of a very good season?
Honestly, it’s hard to answer… Six months ago, as I said, it wasn’t a goal at all because I seemed so far away from it. But today, it has become a goal. I know there will only be matches against the top eight in the world. It’s going to be big matches, whatever happens, with a different philosophy since there will first be a group stage, so the assurance of playing three matches whatever happens. So my objective will first be to play very good matches against them to gain experience. And obviously, if I can at least get out of the group and qualify for the final four, that would be great. I think I have the level.

When you talk about gaining experience against such players, these World Tour Finals, do you approach them as the conclusion of this year or the way to prepare now for 2026?
I see them more as a preparation for next year, especially since the circuit will resume very quickly afterwards.

Are you afraid of the famous confirmation stage next season?
Confirming is always harder, it’s true. There is always this difficulty between continuing to do what has worked well, while bringing new things because otherwise, we very quickly begin to stagnate and therefore regress. But in any case, I’m not afraid of that. I’m pretty excited to see what I can do with more expectations. I don’t have many points to defend in the first five months so I’m going to try to continue my momentum to see if I can go even higher….