The Shape Of Things To Come: Denis Shapovalov!
- Thread starter stringertom
- Start date
stringertom
Bionic Poster
2018 was decent on the dirt...SF at Madrid and R16 at Rome before losing early at RG. Last year was crapola.
Sparlingo
Hall of Fame
Lots of points available to gain then
Pmasterfunk
Hall of Fame
Wow, a convincing win:
- on clay
- against a clay veteran
- on his first match on the surface this year
prairiegirl
Hall of Fame
He's now ranked 14 in the world.
stringertom
Bionic Poster
Live-tennis is listing Rome, Hamburg and RG on his schedule so he is committed to improvement on his weakest surface. However, I wouldn’t be surprised If Hamburg goes away with a win vs Martinez. Should he win later today he has either Humbert (Shapo Lite) or floundering Fognini before an encounter with a non-repentant Sinner
Pmasterfunk
Hall of Fame
I just watched the highlights against Pella, and doubles seems to have really helped with his net positioning. He managed to get a lot of shots that I expected to pass him (and most players these days) by.
Sparlingo
Hall of Fame
Shapo has very good reach. His arm span is like 7'.
gogo
Legend
His arms are attached to his body by elastic.
stringertom
Bionic Poster
Very tidy win in 1:40 for Shapo, 4&4, despite some service woes (broken twice, under 50%, DFs (2), aces (3). He managed to attack Martinez’s serve to get four breaks of his own and won 45% of the return points.
The Fognini/Humbert winner is next in the R16.
The Fognini/Humbert winner is next in the R16.
Sparlingo
Hall of Fame
Tidy, but messy.
prairiegirl
Hall of Fame
Would prefer humbert. Fognini is very tough on clay. He's even beaten Rafa once.
Pmasterfunk
Hall of Fame
Martinez was outclassed before the match started, but Shapo managed to make a match out of it.
Shapo almost pulling a Stan here, spraying errors left and right and missing just about every first serve he could. Managed to grab that first set fairly convincingly anyway, but in the second Pedro Martinez turned into Pedro Gruntinez, and his level improved. Thankfully Shaps managed to up his game as well after being down a break, and both guys seemed to start a noise competition. The grunting and "come on"s and "bamos"es were pretty overt, and the atmosphere between the two guys was pretty tense. Denis played a couple solid points to break and serve for the match, avoiding a potentially grindy and exhausting third set. Not a match to remember, but a well fought grindy win nonetheless.
3rd round against Humble Humbert or Fabious Fog. Hard to predict who's going through given the Frenchman's inconsistency and the Italian's, er, mercuriality, and harder to predict how the winner is going to perform tomorrow, combined with Shapo's own, er, ups-and-downs... we all see where I'm going here. I'm hoping for an entertaining match, but I'm not discounting a total sheetshow.
Sparlingo
Hall of Fame
You got your wish
stringertom
Bionic Poster
Humbert it is. Fognini is quite off; maybe the recovery from the ankle surgery is still a factor. He’s now 4-8 in 2020 and two of those wins were in 5th set TBs at AO.
All lefty matchups were a sh1tshow for Shapo in 2018 but he fixed that in 2019, including a win over Humbert in three sets on clay at Lyon. Humbert won their QF in Auckland on his way to his first title in January’20.
Ironwood
Professional
I saw the results, but it didn't register that Shapo had taken Pella twice in two days.....thanks for pointing that out!
Marius_Hancu
Talk Tennis Guru
prairiegirl
Hall of Fame
Denis defeated Humbert in 3. First set was a crap fest with Denis double-faulting and sparying errors. He cleaned everything up significantly to take the next 2 sets. But, a lot of screaming! When did he start screaming after every point? Oh well - into the quarters against Dimitrov (I think).
Marius_Hancu
Talk Tennis Guru
Pmasterfunk
Hall of Fame
What's this? A lost tiebreak? Hm... well, a win is a win.
Ironwood
Professional
Thought Shapo might loose his shape altogether late in the third when the ump wouldn't reverse what looked like a long serve called in. But he didn't implode, as he has done in the past. What's with the retro Agassi shirt? The body and neck look two sizes to big, and the top is cut off at the bottom to sit above his waist!
Marius_Hancu
Talk Tennis Guru
prairiegirl
Hall of Fame
So many nice changes for Denis - more patient, constructs points instead of trying to bash winners, learning to problem solve out there, way better at the net, and in general a much improved Denis 2.0. That being said, what is it with Dimitrov trying to imitate Federer in every aspect of his game?
Joseph_K
Hall of Fame
Well, after defeating Grigor Dimitrov, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, in the quarter-finals in Rome earlier today, and becoming a member of the Top 10 for the first time, Shapo will now face none other than Diego Schwartzmann in tomorrow's semi-finals. The Argentine caused a big surprise by beating the King of Clay, Rafael Nadal, in straight sets in their quarter-final late on Saturday. Tomorrow's encounter will be a first meeting between Shapo and the 28-year-old from Buenos Aires.
Pmasterfunk
Hall of Fame
I'm not sure that's a fair analysis. The guy just won 2 tough three setters in a row, and lost in a third set tiebreak to a clay specialist who just beat Nadal on clay. On a surface that doesn't play to his strengths.
Having said that, he really needs to start winning some tiebreaks, and his first serve percentage was way too low today (barring the second set) to trouble a guy like Schwartzman. Either that or improve the second serve, because he isn't winning many points on it.
BeatlesFan
Bionic Poster
He will be soon enough. Fed didn't win his first slam until he was almost 22, so Denis has time. His net play and BH have improved dramatically since last year. His match against Diego today was the match of the year, very exciting stuff, even in defeat.
Musterrific
Hall of Fame
Impressed with his play overall this year. He's upped both his level and consistency.
Joseph_K
Hall of Fame
The new ATP singles rankings were issued yesterday and show Shapo at no. 10, his first week there. He is still in with a chance of qualifying for the ATP Finals in London for the first time, although that particular tournament might not be held. Below are this week's singles rankings from no. 9 to no. 16 and some information on the players' records at the ATP Finals (in fact, only six of the eight players in question have ever qualified for the season-ending tournament):
Rank | Player |
9 | Gael Monfils Lone appearance came in 2016 |
10 | Denis Shapovalov Seeks to qualify for 1st time |
11 | Roberto Bautista Agut Seeks to qualify for 1st time |
12 | David Goffin Reached final in last appearance in 2017 |
13 | Diego Schwartzman Seeks to qualify for 1st time |
14 | Andrey Rublev Seeks to qualify for 1st time |
15 | Fabio Fognini Seeks to qualify for 1st time |
16 | Karen Khachanov Seeks to qualify for 1st time |
Sparlingo
Hall of Fame
A photo of Youzney and Shapo that goes back quite a ways
Marius_Hancu
Talk Tennis Guru
At RG, he has to beat Tsitsipas and Medvedev in that quarter - not necessarily easy.
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Musterrific
Hall of Fame
Medvedev sucks on clay, and I think Shaps could handle Tsitsipas given his solid form lately.
prairiegirl
Hall of Fame
Denis has only lost to Tsitsipas once since becoming pros, but it was on clay. As for Medvedev, I think his ability to be a "wall" and just get everything back would frustrated Denis esp. on clay. On hc, probably different.
Sparlingo
Hall of Fame
A nice interview with Shapo's doubles partner, Bopanna
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stringertom
Bionic Poster
Rublev is the biggest hurdle.
Sparlingo
Hall of Fame
I agree, I think he will win this quarter, Rublev will be tired .
prairiegirl
Hall of Fame
Actually, right now his serve is his biggest enemy. Once again, he couldn't serve out a match. I have no doubt he'll fix this, but it's not a pattern you want to have to worry about. A scrappy match v. Simon. Neither guy could really hold their serve. Very strange match.
Medvedev is out and Rublev needed 5 sets to beat Querry (who should have won). Tsitsipas needed 5 sets to beat Munar. All three of these young guns played pretty spotty tennis today, but they all got through. Hope Denis can keep going. I would love to see him play either Tsitsipas or Rublev.
Medvedev is out and Rublev needed 5 sets to beat Querry (who should have won). Tsitsipas needed 5 sets to beat Munar. All three of these young guns played pretty spotty tennis today, but they all got through. Hope Denis can keep going. I would love to see him play either Tsitsipas or Rublev.
prairiegirl
Hall of Fame
Medvedev is out.
Joseph_K
Hall of Fame
A four-set win for Shapo against Gilles Simon in first-round singles action on Tuesday evening in Paris. The final score was 6-2, 7-5, 5-7, 6-3, and of those 41 games neatly half were won on breaks on serve. That's why, although it might not look like the closest of matches from the score alone, its outcome was uncertain until the very last point had been played.
The whole match might have pivoted on the ninth of the second set in which Simon, ahead 5-3, was serving and led 40-0 before Shapo fought back and took the game after saving another two set points. On one of them the Frenchman thought he had hit a winning serve, and the linesman agreed with him. But the umpire overruled the linesman and Simon lost the point, the game and, eventually, the set.
Shapo could have and probably should have won the match in three sets, but after leading 3-2 in the third set with his serve to follow, he was broken. This was the most worrying feature of the match from his point of view: his inability to hold serve at some of the crucial stages. A better player than Gilles Simon would have exploited this weakness to the full and might even have won the match.
The whole match might have pivoted on the ninth of the second set in which Simon, ahead 5-3, was serving and led 40-0 before Shapo fought back and took the game after saving another two set points. On one of them the Frenchman thought he had hit a winning serve, and the linesman agreed with him. But the umpire overruled the linesman and Simon lost the point, the game and, eventually, the set.
Shapo could have and probably should have won the match in three sets, but after leading 3-2 in the third set with his serve to follow, he was broken. This was the most worrying feature of the match from his point of view: his inability to hold serve at some of the crucial stages. A better player than Gilles Simon would have exploited this weakness to the full and might even have won the match.
Sparlingo
Hall of Fame
I always enjoy your take.
stringertom
Bionic Poster
Failure to serve the match out at 5-4, fifth set. Could be a much longer experience now.
prairiegirl
Hall of Fame
Wasn't there an argument about a bad call by Ramos?
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