Shapovalov chosen as Canadian Press male athlete of the year
No athlete in Canada held the spotlight in 2017 quite like Denis Shapovalov.
The 18-year-old’s remarkable run up the ATP rankings, leaving behind upset wins over Grand Slam tournament champions, has earned the Richmond Hill, Ont., tennis player the Lionel Conacher Award as the Canadian Press male athlete of the year.
Sh a po valov collected 20 of 64 votes (31 per cent) in a poll of broadcasters and sports editors from across the country. He edged Sidney Crosby, who led the Pittsburgh Penguins to a second straight Stanley Cup, by a single vote. Slugger Joey Votto, of the Cincinnati Reds, was third with 11 votes (17 per cent).
“To be honest, I’m a little overwhelmed to get this award, this huge honour,” Shapovalov said in a phone interview from his training base in Florida. “There are so many Canadian athletes that deserve it, so it’s honestly motivating me to keep going and work harder. I’m very happy.”
It is the third time in five years the award has gone to a tennis player. Milos Raonic, still Canada’s topranked player at 24th despite an injury-shortened season, took it in 2013 and 2014.
Shapovalov is hot on Raonic’s heels. He started the year ranked 250th in the world and reached as high as 49th after big performances at the Rogers Cup in Montreal and the U.S. Open in New York. He ended the season ranked 51st.
The Canadian is being touted as a rising star with potential to crack the top 10 or even top five in the world.
But what moved voters was Shapovalov’s style and sense of timing as much as his skill. The lefthander with shaggy blond hair and a one-handed backhand had the country in thrall as he seized his wild-card entry into the Rogers Cup in August and went on a spectacular run.
In the second round, he posted a two-set victory over Juan Martin Del Potro, the 2009 U.S. Open champion, and followed that by coming from a set down to defeat 15-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal. He had another comeback win in a quarter-final over Adrian Mannarino to become the youngest player to reach the semifinals of a Masters 1000 tournament before falling to another teenage prodigy, Alexander Zverev.
“It was definitely, absolutely crazy,” Shapovalov said. “I was so proud to be playing at home, having the whole country watching my back.
“It was honestly a dream week. It’s something I’ve dreamt of my whole life. Hopefully in the years to come I can actually lift the Rogers Cup trophy. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. So many emotions that week. Everything kind of had to fall into place. I had to play big, which I was able to do, so it was definitely a life-changing week. A week I’m never going to forget and hopefully I can keep building off that feeling and just keep moving forward.”
Sprinter Andre De Grasse was last year’s winner of the Conacher Award, which has been handed out since 1932, and is named for the allrounder voted Canada’s athlete of the half-century in 1950. The illustrious list of past winners also includes basketball star Steve Nash, who won it three times, Crosby (three), and hockey icon Wayne Gretzky (seven).