The Czech player almost crossed paths with Jannik in Cincinnati, where he was eliminated in the first round: ranked 78th in the world, king of the challengers, he occasionally takes home some important scalps…

The challenge against Shapovalov and whoever won it was decisive. Before July 23, 2021, Vit Kopriva was only mentioned if you went beyond the 200th position in the rankings. Then came the turning point in his career: the boy from Bilovec suddenly came of age and sent home Denis Shapovalov, then world number 10, in the round of 16 of an ATP tournament. It was in Gstaad, on the red carpet that crowned Berrettini a few years later. Kopriva became a clay court player out of ambition and necessity: the points needed to climb the rankings came mainly from the many Challenger tournaments on clay, and the Czech made the most of them, winning eleven. The last one? Five months ago, against an Italian. He arrives at the US Open in fine form, having come close to his best ranking. He has never played a match in the main draw in New York and will have to quickly shake off his nerves, considering that Jannik Sinner awaits him on the other side of the net.

Vit Kopriva has given himself the best gift of his career. He celebrated his 28th birthday shortly before Wimbledon with his best ranking ever: number 78 in the world, a big leap forward that was mainly the result of his first victory in the main draw of a Grand Slam. That came on May 25 at Roland Garros after a battle lasting over four hours against Monteiro. Clay is his favorite surface, the one that has given him all eleven Challenger titles in his career and allowed him to truly dream of entering the top 100: “It would be fantastic for me, it would allow me to finally enter the most important tournaments. It may just be a number, but it’s a goal for every tennis player,” he said excitedly at the end of 2024, when the milestone was within reach. He achieved it and got a taste for it: today he is number 87 and is coming off a second-round elimination at Winston-Salem against Korda.

How many Challenger victories? Vit Kopriva has never played against Jannik Sinner. Curiously, the two could have faced each other a few weeks ago in the Italian’s debut in the Cincinnati 1000, but the Czech lost in his opening match against Galan, missing out on the chance to cross rackets with the world number 1. Now, in New York, he can dream again of a coup like the one he pulled off four years ago against Shapovalov in Switzerland: the restless Canadian star was coming off a Wimbledon semifinal, while Kopriva was ranked only 249th. Yet he did not let the emotion get to him. On the contrary, he reacted impetuously after losing the first set, coming back thanks to a solid 82% of points won on his first serve. That afternoon in Gstaad, he even became the lowest-ranked player to beat a top 10 player in the last four years. Yes, and what has he done from 2021 to 2025? At ATP level, he has not repeated his feat: the semifinal reached in Gstaad remained a flash in the pan, while the Czech from Bilovec continued to grind out points in the Challengers. His latest coup, incidentally, came against an Italian.

Previous encounters with Darderi and Sonego—  Final of the heated Tennis Cup in Naples on March 30: Vit Kopriva surprised our Luciano Darderi, another clay court specialist. It was anything but a short match: two and a half hours to reach the decisive tiebreak in the third set, in which the Czech broke the Italian’s serve and then clinched victory. His good vibes with the Italians continued the following week in Marrakech, when he knocked out Sonego after another battle (almost three hours) and quelled Lorenzo’s controversy over an alleged double touch by his opponent on match point. In the next round, however, Darderi served up cold revenge: Luciano beat him 7-5, 6-2 and then went on to win the title. Kopriva resumed his quest for Challenger points with his usual recipe: don’t shy away from marathons and try to hold your own in rallies with everyone. He’s not exactly a servebot, and in fact, fast surfaces don’t drive him crazy. In 2023, to be clear, he played only four matches on hard courts, preferring to devote himself entirely to clay, where he played 34 matches. However, there is no escaping the challenge with Jannik: it may not be his favorite surface, but Kopriva will also try to take a bite (in a sporting sense) out of the world number one in the Big Apple.