Shapovalov winning matches and fans
Under the lights and lights out.
Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov just keeps rocking and rollicking through — up and over — the meat of the men’s tennis entrée.
The 18-year-old has been picking top seeds out of his teeth for the past month.
At Arthur Ashe Stadium, centre court of the U.S. Open, the kid from Richmond Hill took out eighth-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets: 6-4, 6-4 and a 7-3 tiebreak.
Which puts him into the third round for the first time ever at Flushing Meadows.
Tsonga, admittedly struggling this season — he hadn’t won a match since Wimbledon until his opener in New York against Romanian Marius Copil — is nevertheless a three-time U.S. Open quarter-finalist, immensely experienced at age 32, and never out of the world top 25 since the Australian Open in 2008. Also a huge favourite ’round the world for his showman personality and showman shot-making.
None of it, not the savvy and not the buoyant character, could blunt the energy, athleticism and precocious tennis IQ of his opponent late Wednesday night.
Shapovalov, in the past fortnight, has knocked off world No. 1 Rafael Nadal at the Rogers Cup in Montreal, before losing in the semis to eventual champion Alexander Zverev — No. 28 Juan Martin del Potro and No. 34 Adrian Mannarino.
This from a Richmond Hill lefty in his first full year on the tour circuit as a senior who had to elbow his way into the main draw for the Grand Slam by negotiating the qualifier on-ramp; three matches in the bag before merging onto the Queens majors highway. Ahead of Tsonga, El Shapo dispatched No. 54 Daniil Medvedev in straight sets in the round of 128.
Fourth-seeded Zverev, meanwhile — the 20-year-old German perceived by most observers as New Gen heir to Roger Federer eventually — crashed out shockingly to Croatia’s Borna Coric.
Togged up in all-black, ball cap turned backwards on his head, wisps of blond hair sticking out, Shapovalov showed tremendous maturity and poise against Tsonga. He broke him at love in the opening game of the first set, waiting out a video review on match point in the tiebreaker — the Frenchman’s return was out — and then threw up his arms in triumph as a packed house, clearly on the upstart’s side, rose to its feet in raucous applause.
Tapped his hand to heart in appreciation.
“I played loose from the beginning,” Shapovalov said at his press conference afterwards. “I mean, I broke him first game. I mean, obviously it’s intimidating, it’s so big, there’s so much going on. The screens are working during the points. There’s a lot of people moving and talking. It’s not easy to play in.’’
There’s something about instant rapport, though, between an athlete and the public, especially at this most un-sedate of venues. Shapovalov, in his short and very recent spin in the limelight, has palpably made that connection effortlessly.
Or maybe it’s that his tennis effort has been so favourably received.
The kid has presence galore and has been absolutely humming along, catapulting from No. 250 at the start of the year to his current No. 69 ranking.
But they do tennis-watching distinctively in the Big Apple, all that buzz and razzmatazz.
“It was pretty funny. I noticed a couple of guys had a little bit too much to drink. I mean, some of them were standing and, like, just talking to me as if we’re buddies. I was up a break in one game, I think it was probably 40-15, I just miss a backhand. He’s like, ‘aaah, no!’
“I’m like, ‘Don’t worry, man. I got this.’ ” Indeed he did. Tsonga seemed to have no idea how to counter his opponent’s speed and pace, his deft ability to reach and return what looked like putaway shots, aggressive net play hugely improved just since Montreal — 23 for 32 on net points — domination on first serves in (67 per cent compared to 51 per cent for Tsonga) and, crucially, the inability to lure Shapovalov into unforced errors; a mere 19 for the match compared to 28 for his opponent.
The edge in play was wider than the score suggested, Shapovalov taking a break off Tsonga in each of the first two sets. Tsonga gave him the second one in the middle frame on a double fault.
Shapovalov’s emerging panache with a racquet — which really is quite sudden, though he did win the Wimbledon junior title last year — was most evident in deft hooks, audacious backhand volleys, billiards-like placement of balls, darts down the line, cunning angles and leaping forehands, all limbs splayed, with extraordinary torque and spin.
This was fearless tennis that had Tsonga talking to himself in the crossovers.
The only wobble, perhaps a bit of looking too quickly ahead, occurred in the third set when Shapovalov, serving for the match, fell 0-40 and was broken in a last-gasp pushback by Tsonga.
Tsonga held serve at 6-5, forcing Shapovalov to hold his own service game — which he did to love — and bringing them to the deciding tiebreak. Tsonga launched that segment with a double fault, found himself in an 0-3 hole, laid down an ace at 3-5, but came no closer to extending the match.
“I don’t know why but I just managed to stay loose and go for my shots the whole match,’’ said Shapovalov, “except a little bit at 5-3 or 5-4, serving for the third set. Got a little bit tight, stopped moving my feet on a couple of shots, sailed some forehands. He did a good job to break me. He stayed mentally tough there. I just stayed calm and just waited for my next chance and took it.”
Staying calm has not necessarily been Shapovalov’s strong suit in the past, he admitted.
“No, it’s been a long process. I don’t think I was always mentally solid as I am today.’’
He’s been working on that aspect of his game too, with coach — and Davis Cup captain —Martin Laurendeau.
Far from serene, of course, in that Federer way. But he’s only 18 and quite pinch-me agog with his own Roman candle success.
“Like I said before the match, I was going in with nothing to lose. I was having fun on the court. There were a couple of times during the match I was just smiling, having a good time. I was enjoying the atmosphere. It’s a dream come true for me to play a night match on Arthur Ashe. I mean, I grew up wanting this.”
The subject of Shapovalov’s occasional fits of temper came up postmatch too, especially since he now goes on to face Kyle Edmund of Britain. It was Edmund he was playing in a Davis Cup match this past February — playing badly, two sets down — when Shapovalov took a wild, frustrated swing at a ball that hit the chair umpire in the eye. That resulted in a disqualification for Canada and $7,000 fine for Shapovalov.
“I’ve come a long way from that incident,” he assured. “I’ve apologized constantly before and I continue to apologize for my actions. It’s something I have to live with. But for me it’s in the past and I’m a different person and a different player now.’’
More recently, Shapovalov defeated Edmund, British No. 2, just before Wimbledon, which was also the Canadian’s first Slam.
With seeds falling fast and furious, the bottom half of the Open draw is wide open, albeit with Wimbledon finalist and 2014 U.S. champion Marin Cilic the cream of the crop in Shapovalov’s quarter bracket.
He wouldn’t be coaxed into looking too far ahead.
“Maybe for a guy like Zverev or Federer, you could say it’s open a bit. For a guy like me, every match is tough and I’m going to have to battle it out.”
Perhaps he hadn’t heard yet that Zverev is gone. And look who’s still standing. “This win, it’s definitely another confidence boost. It shows that Montreal wasn’t a fluke week.”
Who said so?