To book your place at the 2020 Olympics, the vital qualification year has begun. Fans will be keeping an eye on the rankings and tournament results to see who will have the honour of representing their country in Tokyo.
One of those players in the hunt will be young French star Toma Junior Popov, who is only 20 years of age. Picking up five International Challenge/Series wins in 2018, he is soaring up the rankings rapidly and will be looking to step-up on this progress in 2019.
We asked Popov how important this qualification period is for him.
-It will be a great battle for everybody, my aim is to be qualified but I know will be really hard so I will do my best
During this time, where every player is that little bit more competitive and focused on getting as many points as possible, it can motivate all players on the circuit to fight harder. For Popov, the aim is to utilise this moment to reach his goals
-My goal is to climb up in the ranking and get as many points that I can. And also get more good results of course