By Chris Oddo | Monday July 2, 2018
Denis Shapovalov has elite tools and athletic aesthetics, but it's his willingness to commit to process that will take him higher.
Photo Source: Bryn Lennon/Getty
Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam that Denis Shapovalov hasn’t notched a victory at yet, but the Canadian teenager is hoping to change that despite a difficult draw at SW19 in 2018 (note: that draw has since gotten a tad easier with Andy Murray's withdrawal).
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Shapovalov, ranked 25 and seeded 26, will face France’s Jeremy Chardy in round one action on Tuesday at Wimbledon.
The youngest player in the draw is confident about his game on the grass, despite the fact that he’s had a difficult summer on the surface that he prefers the most.
“First of all I have great history here at Wimbledon, so right off the bat that gives me inner confidence knowing that I can compete with anyone and I can beat anyone," the 19-year-old says. "It’s an extremely tough draw, but for me it’s good—I’m going to play with nothing to lose. I’ve had tough draws all grass season so I feel as prepared as I can be.”
Shapovalov went 1-2 on grass this summer but acquitted himself nicely in a loss to Gilles Muller at Queen’s Club that featured two tiebreakers, before taking a second-round loss to Mischa Zverev in Eastbourne. Those are two under-the-radar players who are extremely difficult to face on grass. Though he lost, in Shapovalov’s case the experience he gains from facing such player is sure to pay dividends at some point.
But when?
Most agree that the Canadian has a one-way ticket to the top of the rankings, even if there might be some speedbumps along the way.
“In a few years I think Denis can be really good on this surface,” former World No.4 Brad Gilbert told me in an interview on Sunday. “I think Denis can win Slams, I really do. He’s got explosive talent and a lot of firepower for a guy that’s maybe 6’ 165 pounds—he’s got a very good serve, moves well, explosive forehand, I like his upside a lot.”
Let us not forget that Shapovalov was ranked 164 last year at Wimbledon when he fell to Jerzy Janowicz in four sets. Another good experience for the 2016 Wimbledon Boys Singles champion.
“Wimbledon was my first main draw Grand Slam match,” Shapovalov says of the experience. “Obviously I was a little tight.”
One thing working in Shapovalov’s favor at this year’s Championships will be a lack of pressure. After skyrocketing up the rankings last summer and for most of this season, he’s slowed down a bit of late, and he’ll be facing a player that has won 12 of 14 matches on grass this summer in Chardy.
“Normally I’ve been the underdog, and recently that’s flipped a little bit, I’ve been the favorite to win at the last couple tournaments, and I’ve had some tough draw with some good grass-court players, but I feel like this week it’s not the case, Chardy’s been playing better than me on grass and the results prove it so I’m going out there with nothing to lose and normally I play well under those circumstances.”
It’s a nice mind game for Shapovalov to play, and he’s not the first tennis player to work the psychology and create a set of expectations that ease the pressure burden. But always with the 19-year-old, there’s an underlying confidence. He feels his own pressure to win, no matter how new at this he may be.
Underdog in the mind, favorite in his heart.
“But like I said, I have good history here," he's quick to add. "I have confidence in myself that I can beat anyone here, so I feel ready.”
It’s a constant push and pull between being ready and preparing to be ready for Shapovalov. He believes he can beat anybody on any given day, and he certainly can, but he knows that the next two or three years of his career will be about learning as much as they’ll be about winning.
"It's a process,” he says. “You see my results and they haven't been unbelievable, right? It shows that I still have a lot of work to do."
When it comes to work Shapovalov says he likes to study the tennis of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
“The legends that they are and what they are doing at this stage of their careers, it’s absolutely crazy. I try to study them as much as possible," he says. "On the clay courts I was watching Rafa a lot, trying to pick up on a couple of things he’s doing as a lefty to bother players and I felt like that helped me, and on the grass I’m trying to do the same with Roger, I mean he’s been so dominant on this surface for so many years, so I’m really trying to watch their matches and just look at what they do to kind of win.”
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but in Shapovalov’s case it’s also an intelligent way to approach the sport. Studiously mining the approach of the two greatest legends in tennis history can’t be a worthless endeavor, even if trying to replicate the trophy cabinets of Federer and Nadal might be an altogether more unconquerable task.
He may not be at their level yet, but in his current form, and with his current mindset, Shapovalov is certainly on the fast track to becoming what Milos Raonic hasn’t been able to become—Canada’s first ever Grand Slam champion.
In the meantime, there’s work to do and an underdog card to play…