prairiegirl
Hall of Fame
Yes, it's just my way of saying "ugh"!
The Shape Of Things To Come: Denis Shapovalov!
- Thread starter stringertom
- Start date
gogo
Legend
Totally understand!
prairiegirl
Hall of Fame
Well, Denis d. PCB, but he could have (should have?) won more easily. In any case, I hope this helps his confidence on clay, because Djokovic is up next. A tall order - for anyone. Wishing him luck.
Alexander Berger
New User
Good job Denis!
I hope, Djokovic is tired after Madrid. In any case, Denis should believe in himself, in one specific day anything can happen.
In the worst case, to play against Djokovic is a great experience for any young player.
I hope, Djokovic is tired after Madrid. In any case, Denis should believe in himself, in one specific day anything can happen.
In the worst case, to play against Djokovic is a great experience for any young player.
stringertom
Bionic Poster
Shapo will get a crash course on the WATLYNM sales presentation, including a tour of the suite reserved for slam champions. It is an upgrade of the rooms offered to garden variety champions. We even promise to install a recovery egg for Joe Kovic!
Joseph_K
Hall of Fame
A comprehensive win for Shapo earlier today over Stefanos Tsitsipas in Rome, albeit only in doubles, where Shapo is partnering Fernando Verdaco and Tsitsipas was partnering the Dutch player Wesley Koolhoof. The final score was 6-3, 6-2. Shapo and Verdasco, who are unseeded, next face Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic, the no. 5 seeds, with a place in the quarter-finals at stake.
prairiegirl
Hall of Fame
Joseph, I saw a little of that too. I thought Shapovalov and Verdasco made a potent combo today. He also seems to play better in singles when he plays doubles. Or, maybe I'm just imagining he does, LOL.
Marius_Hancu
Talk Tennis Guru
Joseph_K
Hall of Fame
Shapo is still in the men's doubles event in Rome where later today he will play his second-round match with Fernando Verdasco against Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic. This match was rescheduled due to rain on Wednesday and Verdasco's prolonged involvement in the men's singles event, where he has just lost a quarter-final match to Rafael Nadal.
stringertom
Bionic Poster
Shapo takes a WC at Lyon and receives a 1R bye as the #3 seed. He will face a fellow southpaw in 2R, either Cameron Norrie (GBR) or Ugo Humbert (FRA).
prairiegirl
Hall of Fame
Well, lefties have been a huge challenge for him. I've said it before. Denis is an enormous talent, but he's still very undisciplined and inconsistent. He needs to be more patient on court, construct the points and then hit the big shot. If he can do this consistently, he'll do extremely well. If not...stand by.
prairiegirl
Hall of Fame
flyinghippos101
Legend
I'm always curious to see by how on-court success impacts off-court relationships. Wonder if things will change (or are already changing) between Shapo and Felix now that the latter is skyrocketing through the rankings and is the ATP's newest "IT" kid
prairiegirl
Hall of Fame
Me too. I recall raising that issue on another forum and got told off for it. Oh well.
InvisibleSoul
Hall of Fame
I hope they can find a way to stay great friends as they both progress in their careers, even if they end up having a serious on court rivalry for the next 15 years.
Sparlingo
Hall of Fame
Well, Shapo's still waiting to do dinner with Felix:
flyinghippos101
Legend
I hope the same thing, but competition and relative success has a nasty habit of impacting friendships negatively. The most obvious ones I can think of include Bouchard-Robson, Djokovic-Nadal (pre-2011) and even Fed and Stan seem to be noticeably more terse with one another once Stanimal arrived on the scene.
stringertom
Bionic Poster
Let’s see if 2019 will be easier vs fellow lefties than 2018. A win over Klizan in DC is his only sinister encounter this year.
vernonbc
Legend
Djokovic and Nadal were never close friends, before or after 2011. Rafa was always polite but they never spent any time together. Novak's family was as much a reason for that as Novak himself as his father was a big trouble maker and a complete boor.
OutOfBounds
Rookie
What's so funny? I don't understand what Félix said.
prairiegirl
Hall of Fame
Umbert said that? Hmm. I wonder why he'd be so rude? Anyway, yes, Denis won, but apparently not an easy match. He often has difficulties with left-handers. Good that he pulled through.
Sparlingo
Hall of Fame
No nothing funny, Shapo said "when are we doing dinner" to Felix. And Felix responded "not today" and Shapo said "Jesus". Felix later tweeted that dinner was on him next week, which is now this week.
Joseph_K
Hall of Fame
A very up-and-down performance from Shapo against Ugo Humbert on Wednesday morning in Lyon. From 2-all the Canadian lost 16 of the next 22 points and four games in a row as the Frenchman took the first set 6-2. At that stage Shapo looked as if he had got out of bed on the wrong side and was frequently gesticulating and mouthing towards his team.
In the set the Canadian dropped serve in a long opening game. There was an angry, frustrated racket throw from him at one stage around this point, and this seemed to help him as he came back to build a 4-2 lead. But it would be wrong to say that he had now begun to play very well – the truth is that Humbert’s form had begun to drop. However, the Frenchman steadied himself to break back and at 5-4 was two points from victory at 0-30 on Shapo’s serve. But Humbert was unable to strike the killer blow and Shapo was always ahead in the tiebreak that concluded the second set.
In the third set Humbert played the poorer of the two players. Shapo was still hit-and-miss with his daring, go-for-broke style of play and rushes to the net, but a lot of his shots were now going in, whereas Humbert was making too many unforced errors. Shapo consequently took the final set 6-2, and the match 2-6, 7-6(3), 6-2.
In the set the Canadian dropped serve in a long opening game. There was an angry, frustrated racket throw from him at one stage around this point, and this seemed to help him as he came back to build a 4-2 lead. But it would be wrong to say that he had now begun to play very well – the truth is that Humbert’s form had begun to drop. However, the Frenchman steadied himself to break back and at 5-4 was two points from victory at 0-30 on Shapo’s serve. But Humbert was unable to strike the killer blow and Shapo was always ahead in the tiebreak that concluded the second set.
In the third set Humbert played the poorer of the two players. Shapo was still hit-and-miss with his daring, go-for-broke style of play and rushes to the net, but a lot of his shots were now going in, whereas Humbert was making too many unforced errors. Shapo consequently took the final set 6-2, and the match 2-6, 7-6(3), 6-2.
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BeatlesFan
Bionic Poster
Djokovic and Nadal have never been "friends." They have never socialized together, spent any time together off court or anything else. After Djokovic's loud celebration after his Madrid win in 2011, relations were even more chilly. Rafa just addressed the issue of having no friends on tour recently and said the language barrier is too big to get close to either Fed or Novak. He respects them, but none of them are remotely "friends."
BeatlesFan
Bionic Poster
I looked at Humbert's presser and couldn't find this remark. When did he say he wasn't impressed with either Denis or Shapo? Just curious.
InvisibleSoul
Hall of Fame
What happened here?
Sparlingo
Hall of Fame
The serve was out and Shapo circled it and stopped playing but his shanked shot fell in and Humbert played it. The ump said that Shapo should not have hit the return and refused to replay the point. Shapo sat until the supervisor came and the call wasn't reversed. A video is here:
https://t.co/j3ArJ6brsP
OutOfBounds
Rookie
Even if Humbert did say that, I would advise being cautious over what he actually meant. In French, one can use the expression "ne pas se laisser impressionner" ("to not let oneself be impressed") to say that they won't be in awe by someone's status, that they won't let themselves be intimidated by someone's achievements. That would definitely make sense coming from a tennis player, because obviously you have to believe in yourself if you are going to win; it's better to forget that your opponent is supposed to be stronger than you on paper. In that sense, it wouldn't be a dismissive statement like "They don't impress me" would imply in English.
Without context and/or knowing how well Humbert knows all the nuances of the English language, it could be a matter of a subpar English speaker (Humbert himself), a subpar French to English translator if the original statement was in French, or else Humbert actually meaning to be dismissive of his young peers, as is implied here. Years ago, I've seen a native French speaking athlete being kind of ripped apart on an Internet forum for using a word that, I learned that day, conveyed a very negative meaning in English, but was rather neutral in French. Those words that are close in meaning and obviously from the same family can easily be the worst to deal with when learning another language, because you can only pick the nuances through a lot of exposure to the language, if ever.
raph6
Semi-Pro
Here is the article : https://www.welovetennis.fr/atp-lyon/147333-humbert-felix-denis-ils-ne-m-impressionennt-pas
You are right but I'm French so I perfectly understand what he says here. Here is the translation :
"I'm part of if (the Next Gen) and I think I am as good as the others. I am not impressed by Felix and Denis. I know them since I was young so I think I can do as well if not better than them"
OutOfBounds
Rookie
Thanks for the link to the original!
Perhaps it's a matter of interpretation, but to me, what he said sounds more along the lines of what I was describing above - he's essentially trying to believe that he can be up there too, that he is as worthy as a tennis player, more than he is minimizing their accomplishments.In general, I often think of how difficult it must be for an athlete to find a balance between sounding arrogant and being confident in yourself so that when you go out there, you are not beaten before the competition started because you think of your opponents as being too strong for you. In other words, if everyone was realistic, who would shoot for these big goals? I tend to be tolerant with these sorts of comments from athletes, as long as it remains about their sport and they don't treat people like crap when they are eating out at the restaurant afterwards. But I can understand that others may have a different opinion.
Sparlingo
Hall of Fame
My thoughts on latest Shapo issues:
1- I believe that Felix and Shapo will remain firm friends throughout their career and will often play doubles together.
2- Shapo really gets pissed about bad calls and it takes him a few games for him to recover from what I think is blind rage. He lost a match to Felix in juniors after a bad call. Felix said after that match "I hope he wasn't mad at me".
3- I agree that Humbert didn't mean it the way it sounds. Perhaps "I am not over-awed by Denis and Felix, I think I can hang with them" would have been better wording and I think that is what he meant.
4- He seems to be in a lull but he said himself that he didn't expect much out of the clay season. I have to hand it to Shapo for sticking with clay unlike a lot of North-Americans.
5- For Shapo the needle on the Concern-O-Meter is moving to the right a little, for me, but I am faithful and hopeful.
1- I believe that Felix and Shapo will remain firm friends throughout their career and will often play doubles together.
2- Shapo really gets pissed about bad calls and it takes him a few games for him to recover from what I think is blind rage. He lost a match to Felix in juniors after a bad call. Felix said after that match "I hope he wasn't mad at me".
3- I agree that Humbert didn't mean it the way it sounds. Perhaps "I am not over-awed by Denis and Felix, I think I can hang with them" would have been better wording and I think that is what he meant.
4- He seems to be in a lull but he said himself that he didn't expect much out of the clay season. I have to hand it to Shapo for sticking with clay unlike a lot of North-Americans.
5- For Shapo the needle on the Concern-O-Meter is moving to the right a little, for me, but I am faithful and hopeful.
prairiegirl
Hall of Fame
Yes, I am at number 5 too. The problem is lack of consistency. Either he doesn't want to be consistent and continue to play his go for broke style, or he's trying and still hasn't mastered it. There are matches, even weeks, where he has it, and weeks where he doesn't. A learning curve still for him.
stringertom
Bionic Poster
I can’t wait for clay season to be done for Shapo. If he had been more consistent on the dirt and secured some good wins before Lyon, I would be all in on him for a first title this week. I don’t see it happening this week and I’m just hoping he gets at least to 3R at RG and doesn’t get throttled by a top seed then.
The grass awaits and it’s a chance for him to reverse the poor results in 2018 on that surface. He won junior Wimby, played well in his first pro campaign and then flopped last year. Good runs, maybe even a title before SW19 and get to the best day of the whole season, Middle Monday.
The grass awaits and it’s a chance for him to reverse the poor results in 2018 on that surface. He won junior Wimby, played well in his first pro campaign and then flopped last year. Good runs, maybe even a title before SW19 and get to the best day of the whole season, Middle Monday.
InvisibleSoul
Hall of Fame
Thanks.
That was terrible umpiring.
Similar situation to match point when FAA defeated Hurcakz. Could you imagine if Layani told FAA he shouldn't have touched the ball before stopping play?
vive le beau jeu !
Talk Tennis Guru
sometimes you wonder if the clay season doesn't ruin the confidence of some players right before the gras season.. while they should have better results on the green surface !
prairiegirl
Hall of Fame
Well, Denis just lost, but barely. In the tiebreak. He just didn't have enough and he had many break points in the third set and didn't convert. But, he played well and still gave a good fight.
stringertom
Bionic Poster
Silver lining in the dark cloud...off to RG with at least one day extra rest to be ready for Bo5 format.
prairiegirl
Hall of Fame
I totally disagree with you here. His demeanor yesterday wasn't great, but today he was a thorough professional.
Musterrific
Hall of Fame
Another bad loss to a known headcase.
InvisibleSoul
Hall of Fame
rushhr
Rookie
wrong
paire is a KNOWN headcase
when the dude is on, he's a dangerous, creative player. good enough to be in the finals now
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Pmasterfunk
Hall of Fame
There goes the clay season. Hopefully the hemorrhage ends with the clay season.
George Turner
Hall of Fame
Well that was a worthless clay season for Shapo.
More time to prepare for grass.
More time to prepare for grass.
prairiegirl
Hall of Fame
Yes, not a good clay court season at all. I doubt he expected much either, but perhaps not this bad. Remember though, he lost his coach a few days before the season began. That could not have been easy on him. I don't think his old coach knows what to do with him. So, back we go to the same damn thing - when is he going to get a decent coach? He has fallen again in the rankings - now behind both DeMinaur and Felix who were both way behind him months ago. He's now 25. He needs to take a serious look at his team and his game.
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