LONDON | Denis Shapovalov remained on court 2 until the end, supported by the English crowd who understood by seeing him limp that something was seriously wrong. Because, as he was taught, “If you step into the field, you don’t come out unless you are unable to walk.”
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The Canadian even challenged the last decision of the game, one of his shots that was clearly behind the baseline. But, physically diminished, he who has been affected in the left knee since last year, Shapovalov could not take the measure of the surprising Roman Safiullin, who beat him 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 and 6- 3, Sunday at Wimbledon.
Roman Safiullin celebrates his victory over Denis Shapovalov on Sunday at Wimbledon.
Photo: AFP
This famous injured knee – of which he did not want to reveal the exact nature of the evil – will therefore have held out long enough to lead the 26e favorite until the round of 16. And this, even if he had been forced by the rain to play four days out of five between Monday and last Friday.
But not enough for Shapovalov to reach his first major quarter-final in a year and a half since the 2022 Australian Open, where Rafael Nadal showed him the way out.
“I couldn’t really walk anymore”
Because as soon as he appeared on the field, Sunday against the unexpected Safiullin, 92e world and who is in his first appearance at the All England Club, “Shapo” had pain.
Ailing Denis Shapovalov during Sunday’s match at Wimbledon against Roman Safiullin.
Photo: AFP
The 24-year-old Ontarian tried to hide it during an inning. But from the second, his movements began to be more laborious. In the third set, he committed six double faults and called the physio when he trailed 4-1. The latter gave him pills, except that it did not change anything.
“The more fatigue I felt in my gluteal muscles, around the knee, in the quadriceps, the more impact it had on my knee,” explained the 29e at a press conference, specifying however that the risk of aggravating his injury was low.
“And the more the game progressed, the more it became unsustainable, he continued. […] At the end, I couldn’t really walk, so play…”
A joke, but a lot of disappointment
In front of reporters, Shapovalov hid his disappointment at seeing his body let go of him with a joke, as soon as he entered the press conference room.
After having been reserved secondary rooms since the start of the fortnight, “Shapo” had been awarded “room 2” on Sunday, a little less cramped than the first.
“Ah, I had to hurt myself to have a bigger gym!” he said laughing.
But his first statement was much less jovial: “Without taking anything away from Roman, who played very, very well, I would like to get my health back soon. I hope to be able to solve the problem with my knee.”
No more than this, when he was asked about his decision to play on clay and at Wimbledon, despite the evil: “I am happy to have made this decision. I got a decent result at Roland-Garros [une défaite au troisième tour] then here. But it’s an issue that I have to settle, because, clearly, I will not win tournaments with this pain.