Denis Shapovalov surprised himself with his run to his first clay-court Masters quarterfinal in Madrid.

The 19-year-old Canadian is not awed by the breakthrough seasons of several NextGen stars.

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Shapovalov believes generation next will make a major impact in the rankings.

"I think the NextGen guys are really advancing this year," Shapovalov told the media in Madrid after sweeping Canadian No. 1 Milos Raonic. "I feel like it's going to continue this way for the next couple years. There's going to be a lot of changes in the rankings, a lot of upsets, new champions coming up.

"We have a really talented group, a lot of young, hard-working guys that are actually really nice guys, too, which is always a bonus. Yeah, it's a really strong group coming up. It's unbelievable to see all these young guys doing well in these tournaments."

Hyeon Chung advanced to his first Grand Slam semifinal at the Australian Open, 20-year-old Frances Tiafoe beat Shapovalov en route to his first ATP title in Delray Beach,21-year-old Borna Coric scored three Top 25 victories reaching the Indian Wells semifinals and 19-year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas toppled Dominic Thiem and Pablo Carreno Busta in succession to reach the Barcelona final.

The 43rd-ranked Shapovalov says the success of his peers has inspired him.

"To be honest, it motivates me as well," Shapovalov said. "Look, Stefanos, he's been playing exceptional for the past couple weeks. That's motivated me to get back on the court, train extremely hard. This week I've managed to kind of do well, as well. I'm sure the rest of the guys are looking, as well, looking to work hard. It's just great to see."

Photo credit: Tennis Canada