A refreshed Alexei Popyrin has vowed there will be no rear vision mirror on a draining 2025 season after arriving back in Australia with a new mindset he believes will rule his future on the tour.

Popyrin arrived in Brisbane from his Dubai base on Tuesday ready to draw the curtain on a disappointing 2025 that left him mentally and physically drained.

But after taking his longest break since the Covid period, the 26-year-old is excited to be back home and was on court at the Brisbane Tennis Centre training just hours after his flight landed.

Popyrin heads into the new year ranked no.54 in the world but hit a career-high mark of 19 in August after reaching the Toronto Masters quarter-final.

Well before that though, the wheels had started to come off for Popyrin, who lost to world no.461 Arthur Fery at Wimbledon, a result that sent him into a spin.

“I went through a little bit of a down patch there and then took my mind off things for a couple weeks and came back feeling good, and then got injured after that,” he said.

“So I was feeling good and then got kicked back down. And when I came back from injury, I wasn’t quite enjoying travelling … I wanted to stay at home, and I had to push myself to go out there and travel.”

The grind of tour life forced Popyrin to make deliberate changes and he’s returned with a new outlook – on life and tennis.

“I spoke to my team after the season finished and next year, I want to do things a little bit differently,” he said.

“I just want to enjoy my time when I’m travelling. I want to do some stuff off the court that I enjoy doing more often and then focus when I’m here on site.”

For this tournament, that has meant Popyrin meeting up with his sister and her children in Brisbane, while family members are likely to join him on tour at times this year.

While he’s based in Dubai with his fiance, Australia will always be home for Popyrin, who is excited for the challenge of his eighth year on tour and a summer in which he can start to rebuild his ranking and challenge the top players in the world.

“I think as long as I’m my mind’s up to it, then I feel that I’ve got the level to be where I want to be but it’s important for me to get my mind there,” he said.

“Pre-season has gone unbelievably well and the way I’ve come into today’s practice and into this week feels great, so hopefully I can continue that for the rest of the year.

“This will be the last time that I’ll talk about last year. From now on, I just want to look forward to what’s to come. I just want to forget about last year.

“I just want to try and get that new mindset going and just enjoy my time everywhere.”