Onward and upward
Canadian Shapovalov continues march in major spotlight
Denis Shapovalov continues his storybook run at U.S. Open,
The stars are aligning for a protostar aborning.
Hot core fusion of atoms and molecules exploding in the tennis galaxy: El Shapo.
Denis Shapovalov, teenage upstart from Toronto suburbia, is into the fourth round of his first U.S. Open.
A Grand Slam which, simultaneously on Friday, lost the top seed in Shapovalov’s bottom bracket of the draw when 2014 champion Marin Cilic crashed out of the tournament, nailed to the mast of 80 unforced errors. Which leaves only one player in that half who’s ever made it to the semifinal of any major.
And if 18-year-old Shapovalov prevailed through the round of 32 off the misery of an opponent enfeebled by injury — Britain’s Kyle Edmund quitting the fray of a match in which he trailed two sets to one and 1-0 — that scarcely took any edge off the lefty’s gobsmacking roll.
A competitor has to be merciless. Shapovalov was, winning 10 consecutive points after Edmund received on-court ministrations from a trainer to shoulder, neck and back midway through the third frame. Projectile forehands and windmilling one-hand backhands, attacking Edmund’s clearly weakened serve, he broke to love in game seven, held serve, then won the match by consolidating another break opportunity when the Brit’s forehand sailed long, his 24th unforced error.
Better in that department, compared to Shapovalov at 32, mostly because the fearless Canadian kept going for bold style shots: 36 winners versus a mere 14 unforced errors and eight aces in the 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 1-0 (retired) outcome.
Only when it was definitively over — Edmund stepping up to serve in the second game of the fourth set, looked towards his box, shook his head and backed way — did Shapovalov apply a sympathetic pat on his opponent’s back as they met at the net to shake hands.
“It’s never good to win this way,” Sha- povalov told an Arthur Ashe court audience that had vociferously been in his corner from the start. “Hopefully it’s nothing too serious. Kyle’s been playing tremendous tennis. I saw and heard something was up just before he called the trainer.’’
That was with Edmund leading 3-2 in the third set. He’d heard Edmund grunt on his serve in an odd, pained way. While the Brit was being thumped and massaged, Shapovalov kept moving, bouncing on his toes, just as his tennis instructor mom Tessa had taught him to handle the lulls.
There was further attention from the trainer for Edmund, but his fate was sealed.
Upshot for Shapovalov: In there with a chance, a darn good chance.
He becomes the youngest male to reach the round of 16 since American 17-year-old Michael Chang in 1989. Shapovalov only turned 18 in April, barely known to the casual tennis fan — though he was Wimbledon juniors champion last year — and remotely outside the top 200.
His next tango partner, on Sunday, is No. 12 seed Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain. A tall challenge but he’s already knocked off No. 8 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, dismissing the veteran Frenchman in straight sets on Wednesday. And current world No. 1 Rafael Nadal just a fortnight ago at the Rogers Cup in Montreal, which catapulted Shapovalov to No. 69 in the world rankings, becoming the youngest male ever to reach the semi of a Masters 1000 event.
“At moments of the match I thought my ears were going to pop,” he said of the ga-ga crowd during his Nadal encounter.
That’s six matches in the bag now at Flushing Meadows, after having to persevere through the grind of qualifiers. At his Grand Slam debut, Wimbledon, he went directly into the main draw as a wild card.
His goals, starting the season, were modest — to climb into the top 150, starting from 230. “The goal for the end was to be 150 in the world. Once I had reached that, before Rogers Cup, I changed the goal to be top 100. Now it’s been to be top 50.”
If he doesn’t win another match in Queens, he’ll depart around No. 51 or 52.
Goodness, the tennis talking heads have been comparing him to Rod Laver, Andre Agassi, Stan Wawrinka.
Yet he’s still just this audacious teenager, born in Tel Aviv, raised in Richmond Hill. A polite — that frustrated and inadvertent shot to the chair umpire’s eye at the Davis Cup in February notwithstanding — unassuming Canadian boy-man, not yet entirely grown into his developing body but with self-confidence and poise to spare. His game a heady mix of serves flat down the T, sliders into the body, kickers out wide; an instinctive shot-maker with his ridiculously angled backhands, retrieving deftness and banshee winners. Even in a match like Friday’s, which wasn’t the best we’ve seen of the kid lately, dropping the first set; the only set he’s lost at the Open.
“Biggest stadium in the world, craziest crowd for sure,’’ he said of the raucous Ashe audience, during a featured interview with the ESPN game post-match.
An, er, revealing detail in that charming TV chat too, discussing the torque thrust on his backhand. “I literally felt my pants tucked into my back.” Backside he meant. “It’s a weird feeling.”
Edmund, who’s only 22 himself, in his press conference afterwards described his ailment as a “thoracic problem,’’ cause unknown, but it left him sore, tight and locked up.
“It’s just such a horrible way to go out, isn’t it, really? It’s a tough thing to go on centre court, the biggest court in the world, and just feel a bit helpless. What do I do? Do I carry on to the end? You just go through the emotions and it’s a bit of a sorry state.”
At his own media Q&A, Shapovalov reiterated the thrill of it all.
“The month of August has been absolutely life-changing for me. I’m absolutely thankful to my team for helping me to stay humble and just prepare for every match like it’s just another match.” As if. “But I feel like after the Open I’m going to have a little bit of time to take it all in, everything that’s been happening to me.”
None of it has swelled his noggin, though.
A reporter wondered why Shapovalov wears his ball cap spun around backwards. “I have a small head.” See?
“It’s just such a horrible way to go out, isn’t it, really?” KYLE EDMUND AFTER RETIRING IN THE FOURTH SET ON FRIDAY