@SportsHorn
You may not have heard much about Denis Shapovalov but you are going to hear much more soon. The new young star of Canadian tennis continued to “wow” the crowds in Montreal with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) win over former US Open Champ Juan Martin Del Potro in the 2nd Round of the Rogers Cup in front of a jam packed Court Central.
The 18 year old from Thornhill Ontario came into Wednesday’s match with just two ATP Tour Level main draw wins, one of those coming yesterday in the opening round against World No 64 Rogerio Dutra Silva. Instead, he has now become the youngest player to reach the round of 16 in an ATP Masters 1000 series event since Rafael Nadal in 2004.
“He’s got massive weapons. But I felt like I was returning really well today,” said the Canadian.”When I could get my racquet on it, I was putting a lot of them back. I think that put a little bit of pressure on him in the end. To break him at 5-All, he served a double. In the breaker, I was getting a lot of them back and he shanked a couple forehands. I think I did a good job of that.”
Shapovalov has looked unnerved and confident playing in front of his home crowd and he has come up with some big shots during big moments. His stat lines may not look pretty from today (24 winners, 29 errors, 11 aces, 7 double faults) but his defensive play has been strong. He also broke Del Potro four times on route to the third round.
“I’ve never played in an atmosphere like this. It was so loud. On match point, when I hit that double, right before it, I mean, my ears almost popped. They were cheering so loud, it was insane. It’s just so much fun to be out there, to be part of this atmosphere. I feel very privileged to be a part of this tournament.”
Del Potro has struggled to find his form in 2017. Another early exit for one of the games most beloved players, the 29 year old’s best result this year was a semi-final appearance in Florida. His best Masters 1000 finish was a quarter-final appearance in Rome.
As for Shapovalov, he has done extremely well to recover from the well publicized incident at the Davis Cup back in February when he accidentally hit a ball at the chair umpire in frustration. Since then he won a match on the grass at Queen’s Club, played his first main draw Wimbledon match (loss to Janowicz), won two ATP Challenger tournaments in Canada and now has two wins under his belt also on home soil.
“I’m a completely different person from what I was six months ago,” said Shapovalov. “It’s pretty crazy to say that, but in the tennis world you’re forced to mature really quickly. I think me and Marty (coach-Laurendeau) have been working extremely hard on my mental part of the game. I showed that yesterday and today. I’m still improving. I think that’s been the biggest benefit of my game, of my personality. But, you know, there’s still a lot of room to improve in that aspect. I’m going to try to get better.”
Shapovalov will now face Rafael Nadal in the 3rd Round in the final match of the evening on Thursday
