The final of the Miami tournament between Jannik Sinner and Grigor Dimitrov had just ended when Denis Shapovalov called your reporter.
While Sinner expressed his thanks to the Florida crowd, the Canadian looked back on an overall positive week spent in Hard Rock Stadium, home of the Dolphins in the NFL.
In the second round, Shapovalov easily got rid of the tenth seed, Stéfanos Tsitsipás, in two sets of 6-2, 6-4. A first significant victory against a highly ranked player since his victory against Taylor Fritz in Vienna in October 2022.
“It feels good,” said Shapovalov, just after training on the clay court of the Houston tournament.
“I feel like I’m progressing. Especially beating a player of the caliber of [Stéfanos] Tsitsipás returning from injury. But overall, I’ve played well over the last few weeks. Even in my defeats, I felt progress. I prove that my game is improving every week and physically, I am slowly returning to normal. »
PHOTO GEOFF BURKE, USA TODAY SPORTS ARCHIVES
Denis Shapovalov beat Greek Stéfanos Tsitsipás at the Miami tournament last Wednesday.
An expected return
In Miami, but also since the start of the season, Shapovalov moves better, he looks lighter, more explosive, and above all, he hits the ball with much more confidence. He’s light years ahead of what he looked like just a year ago.
But the main person concerned finds the comparison exercise difficult to do. “Especially since last year I was struggling with my knee, and my problems were not only tennis-related, I didn’t feel well physically. »
And once injured, Shapovalov completely fell off the radar. His presence on the courts became rare and his ranking, like his popularity, suffered greatly.
He did not play a match between his fourth-round exit at the Wimbledon tournament on July 9, 2023 and his return to play in Auckland on January 8. It was the 24-year-old’s longest career absence.
Even before his injury, we felt the Canadian was sometimes demotivated and often at the end of his resources on the field. The consistency was no longer there. Even the eye of the tiger which allowed him to build part of his identity and his DNA as a player no longer made the difference in the crucial points.
With a major injury sidelining him for almost six months, it would have been logical to assume that his love of the sport that made him famous had waned during his convalescence. However, this period of calm will have been beneficial for the winner of the Stockholm tournament in 2019.
“It just made me hungrier, more eager to want to come back,” he admits. And his inspired display against Tsitsipás, paired with stretched defeats against Alexander Bublik, Gaël Monfils and Lorenzo Musetti, is concrete proof of his point.
“I’ve been on the circuit for about five years and it’s pretty intense, it draws a lot of juice. So taking a step back just reignited the flame. And I’m much more grateful for the life I live. And as an athlete, it reminded me how careers don’t last long. So I cherish it all a lot more now. »
PHOTO GEOFF BURKE, USA TODAY SPORTS ARCHIVES
Denis Shapovalov in action in Miami
Ranking as a distraction
To suggest that Shapovalov has never been the same since his defeat in the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2021 against Novak Djokovic 6-7, 5-7 and 5-7 would perhaps be stirring up the past unnecessarily.
However, during this fortnight, Shapovalov played as the member of the top 10 he has been in 2020. At his peak, he can probably beat anyone, or at the very least compete fiercely with the best players on tour.
With his performance and his absence in recent months, the blond fell sharply in the rankings. It now points to 121e rank. And the remark was made to him.
“I haven’t looked at the standings since I came back to the game,” he said with a laugh. It would have become poison. »
At the time of his injury at Wimbledon, he was ranked 29e world rank and he aspired to return to the top 20.
Shapovalov, however, set the record straight: “I don’t think my ranking is a good indicator of my level of play. I was a player in the top 20 almost my entire career and it’s this group that I’m trying to come back to. I just want to play well, I don’t care where I am in the rankings right now. »
He considers himself still in recovery. The tennis player refuses to be too harsh on himself given his recent history. The fact remains that his short and medium term objectives come in two ways: “I want to be healthy and get back on track. »
“I would really like to play a full season without pain,” he added in a truly sincere tone. If I don’t have any problems with my knee, it will be a great accomplishment. »
Shapovalov is aware of the detours that this nasty injury will have taken him.
Everyone says it: it’s not easy to come back from a major injury, it’s a roller coaster ride. You have to be patient and above all never stop believing in it.
Denis Shapovalov
This idea of never stopping believing was a recurring theme during the interview. This could be a harbinger of an imminent return for the Canadian to the top of the world rankings or simply to the upper reaches of an important tournament.
Shapovalov, who became a darling of the Quebec public during that famous evening of August 10, 2017 when he triumphed over Rafael Nadal at the Rogers Cup, relies on his team, his natural enthusiasm, his health and his eye of the tiger, capable of bringing down the most stubborn of bulls.
Some will refuse to believe in a real comeback until they see it, but Shapovalov is driven by a single ambition: “To go as far as possible in the tournaments in which I participate. »
And with him, we are never short of a surprise.