Denis Shapovalov has officially landed in Estoril and on Monday he took the time to speak to the media ahead of his first match.
At the age of 22 he is the top seed in an ATP event for only the second time in his career after Sofia last year. He is one out of nine top 50 players in the Estoril draw with all of the six highest ranked players never previously playing in the tournament. Ahead of his first match, Shapovalov spoke about a variety of topics ranging from injury to bubble life on the Tour.
Why is he playing?
The Canadian confirmed the tournament reached out to him on Friday. He is coming off a third round loss to compatriot and good friend Felix Auger Aliassime in Barcelona where he made the decision with his team to play this week.
” I decided pretty late, I think they messaged me on Friday seeing if I want to play and I talk to Misha ( Youzhny) and my team and we decided it’s best to get a couple more matches in before Madrid,” said Shapovalov. “To get more points situations in so that’s really what I want to get from this week.”
Injury update
Shapovalov did confirm that he no longer has an issue with his shoulder and he feels fine and ready to go.
”The shoulder feels fine but I’m still feeling it, it’s nothing serious, something I can play through, and honestly just here to get some more matches.”
Nearly went to another country
He did confirm before deciding to play that he was planning to spend a couple days in Greece where he has a place but when he got the call he realized how close it was from Spain to Portugal so he opted to make the trip.
”It was a pretty easy transition, it was pretty easy because I was planning to practice 3-4 days with Misha in Barcelona before going to Greece and we thought it could help get my feet a little more wet on the surface and just play a little bit more points.”
Form isn’t as good as last year
Shapovalov mentioned that his game on clay is not where it was last year in Rome, but he continues to work at it.
” I don’t think it’s where it was in Rome but I feel like Rome was a follow up from a really good tournament in New York. I was playing with a lot of confidence and I felt like I could roll through that tournament even though I was going through jet lag there and my body did not feel good. Just my game wise I felt really confident so I played two matches in Barcelona and I at least wanted to get one more match before Madrid and Rome before these big tournaments and both these events. I have been able to go far before and I feel I can play really well there but I just wanted to play a little more and that’s why I chose to come to this tournament”.
Is he a differnt player on the clay?
Shapovalov was asked if he sees a difference in-game when he is playing on clay as opposed to playing on hard. As well as the difference in the return game.
”No I don’t think the way I play changes, you just try to build the points a little bit more and you try to be a bit more patient constructing it on the clay, a lot of the guys are far back, it’s more slower so it’s tougher to hit and come in, you have to really pick the right ball, whatever surface I am playing on I always try to play aggressive and come in so it doesn’t really change”.
When he is at his most dangerous
Shapovalov is a player who likes to build off confidence and stressed the importance of using it to get better results.
” I think it just comes from matches, from wins, I think at the end of the day I don’t really care who I play against, I’m going to play my game, going to go for it and that’s the mindset I try to have and it doesn’t matter who is on the other side and when I can rattle off a few wins that’s when I think I’m dangerous and that’s when I think I can beat anyone”.
Felix-Auger Aliassime friendship
He was even asked about his friendship with Felix Auger Aliassime who he recently played in Barcelona and the friendship runs deep and as far back as the junior level.
” It’s great to see how far we made it the two of us from juniors from junior regrouping all the way through the junior rankings through the futures, through challengers, bouncing off each other success and each other results and playing at the highest level for sure it’s a pretty special feeling, I think it’s pretty cool and it’s great for Canada and for tennis in Canada so I think there are so many positives from it”
Verdict on playing clay
Shapovalov did confirm however that clay is not his favourite surface and he actually prefers to play on other surfaces.
” If I am being completely honest I prefer other surfaces but I do feel I have had good success on clay and I am able to play on it and I do love the feeling of playing on clay and the sliding, it is more grueling and longer points, I think my favorite is grass, there are practically no rallies and just serves and returns and it’s perfect and it’s like Canadian tennis indoors on super fast surfaces so it’s awesome but I do think I am able to play well on clay and the results have shown that so I do enjoy it but I do tend to look forward to the grass-court season”.
Being the top seed
Being the tournament new number one seed after taking the wild card means he has a first round bye and will play his first match against the winner of Corentin Moutet and Marcus Giron. He gave his thoughts on his next potential opponent.
” A tricky match, either way, I’ll see how they are playing, I haven’t seen Giron play too much so I will try and check out the match and obviously I know Corentin ( Moutet) really well and we even have a song together so I know him really well but I think he’s a really good player, a crafty player and I know him really well from juniors and we go way back so either way a tricky match but honestly it’s what I want and it’s something I am looking forward to and I think it’s going to be fun to be out there, going to be a tough battle”.
He also confirmed he was able to practice and check out the conditions of the court.
”Not center court but today was my first practice day, I landed yesterday, slow conditions here, it’s a little bit windy but the weather changes quite a lot so a lot of different things coming into play but it’s clay courts and I feel they are different every day depending on the conditions, depending on the weather, the humidity, they always play differently”.
mental health
Shapovalov this season has stressed the importance of mental health. He has mentioned several times he would be taking more weeks off due to the fact every tournament he plays would be in a bubble environment due to Covid and again opened up about how he is feeling ahead of the tournament.
” I feel good, I mean If I wasn’t ready to be in the bubble I wouldn’t have come to play but I do feel fresh and after Miami, I chose not to play Monte Carlo just to rest to be out of it for this reason so I could be fresh leading up to this long swing of events, I feel fresh, I feel good, It’s also a really good place, the room has a balcony and they have done a really good job here so it’s a really nice bubble so to speak”.
Shapovalov will most likely play his first match on Tuesday or Wednesday.
