Can Shapovalov stay grounded?

gogo

gogo

Legend
To have fame thrust upon you so suddenly as a teenager must be difficult to handle. Will Denis be able to keep his head screwed on straight?

He seems to have a great family influence and strong team around him. They've done a great job so far. I just hope his attitude stays true.
--

Chris McKendry‏ @ChrisMcKendry
After our interview 2day, @denis_shapo thanked & shook hands w/everyone on crew. As impressive as his game. #just18

DIr0mtLW0AA7xLX.jpg
 
Is it possible that he's already gotten the requisite petulant behavior and blind rage out of his system?

What a thing, if so. Almost overnight there are a raft of pleasing scenarios for the future tour. And about a dozen contenders for 2019 numero uno. Hope abides.

BONUS: Is North America the hotbed now?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
He'll be grounded soon enough I think.

He was losing first round of Challenger events 6 months ago. He was 50/50 to lose to Evans yesterday before Evans got hurt. He's far from a world beater.
 
not buying the hype

too many "next gen superstars" and fed impersonators running around

not hyped unless i see a trophy on sunday

any sunday, not necessarily this coming one
 
Legend of Borg said:
not buying the hype

too many "next gen superstars" and fed impersonators running around

not hyped unless i see a trophy on sunday

any sunday, not necessarily this coming one
Click to expand...

Well obviously he's made it when he gets a trophy on Sunday...but for now he has serious potential with a great attitude...one of the best from the young gen.
 
Firstservingman said:
Yes. He has the "it" factor.
Keeps his head down and wins. He's not going to do a Kyrgios or a Bouchard.
Click to expand...

Tomic stormed to the Wimby QF as an 18yr old back in 2011. People thought he had the
'It' factor and was known to keep his head in, but then......
 
Funnily enough, a few Slams down the line that Davis Cup debacle in particular might probably be seen as having been a blessing in disguise :eek:

At that point, young Denis was definitely on the rise and the incident definitely slowed his roll. The outcry, the default, the apology, the fine, the shame...and then the humility that it brought about will have proved invaluable at that stage of his development.

He'll have had a fair amount of media/PR training from the Canadian federation to help get through that as well, I'd imagine.

He achieved global infamy for that accident and behaved quite admirably in the aftermath.

Because it's the first thing that most of us ever knew about him, it's something that'll forever be at the back of his mind, informing his behaviour for years to come. If anything, he'll become a model player and might even emulate Fed in bagging a few sportsmanship awards down the line.

Much respect to him so far...or as the Frenchies would say, "Chapeau!"
 
Druss said:
Tomic stormed to the Wimby QF as an 18yr old back in 2011. People thought he had the
'It' factor and was known to keep his head in, but then......
Click to expand...

Yes, we don't know how things will play out...and Shapo will face lots of pressures that could change his attitude, but I don't think anyone here would say that Tomic had the kind of stable, humble family support that Denis has. It was the exact opposite.
 
Legend of Borg said:
not buying the hype

too many "next gen superstars" and fed impersonators running around

not hyped unless i see a trophy on sunday

any sunday, not necessarily this coming one
Click to expand...
Agree. He's had some nice wins. That and $0.50 will get you a bad cup of coffee (or so I'm told - don't drink it).

I'll give the usual suspects on the board some slack for the out of control hype train though - shows how desperate they are for someone new to do something.
 
I'm not worried about this aspect of it at all tbh. Maybe I should be, but I'm not. I'm more interested to see how he actually develops as a tennis player in arguably the most important years of his tennis development. Because as much as the kid is hyped, and perhaps deservedly so, it's still only been a couple of tournaments that he's done well at. Next step is consistent year round results. Seeing how the body holds up over the tennis calendar and the like.
 
Legend of Borg said:
not buying the hype

too many "next gen superstars" and fed impersonators running around

not hyped unless i see a trophy on sunday

any sunday, not necessarily this coming one
Click to expand...

I tend to share your sentiments. However, we can easily understand WHY this guy is so exciting to many of us. He clearly is a match player and demonstrates the "IT" factor. Kyrgios has that when he plays Fedal or Novak (but not Murray!) but not against the rest of the tour.

It's been a long time since an 18-year-old made this big a splash, right?
 
Fame is relative and he's not a famous young tennis player in the way Becker, Hingis or Chang were in their teens/early 20s (no slam = no real fame to the general sport viewing public)
 
gogo said:
To have fame thrust upon you so suddenly as a teenager must be difficult to handle. Will Denis be able to keep his head screwed on straight?

He seems to have a great family influence and strong team around him. They've done a great job so far. I just hope his attitude stays true.
--

Chris McKendry‏ @ChrisMcKendry
After our interview 2day, @denis_shapo thanked & shook hands w/everyone on crew. As impressive as his game. #just18

DIr0mtLW0AA7xLX.jpg
Click to expand...
I hope he has class...I can't take it anymore if he turns out to be a spoil brats like kyrios or coric...
 
Druss said:
Tomic stormed to the Wimby QF as an 18yr old back in 2011. People thought he had the
'It' factor......
Click to expand...

Maybe 12 people in the world thought Bernie had the "it" factor and those dozen have proven to have been wrong. There's absolutely no comparison between Tomic and Denis at 18 years old in the levels of their game: Denis is by far the better player and much stronger mentally. Most importantly, Shapo loves the game, has fun out there and seems grounded off court. Tomic hates the game, looks miserable on court and is a head case off court.

Two totally different men.
 
BeatlesFan said:
And is really has tremendous charisma on court. Not many players have that, but Shapo definitely does. He's the most likable tennis player I've seen since God knows when. It seems everyone likes him.
Click to expand...

Well everyone except @Red Rick. But he's on special dispensation as approved by gogo. ;) We definitely need some dissenters otherwise it will turn into a love fest and you know how those things can end!

Lovefest2016_V1.jpg
 
NothingButNet said:
Funnily enough, a few Slams down the line that Davis Cup debacle in particular might probably be seen as having been a blessing in disguise :eek:

At that point, young Denis was definitely on the rise and the incident definitely slowed his roll. The outcry, the default, the apology, the fine, the shame...and then the humility that it brought about will have proved invaluable at that stage of his development.

He'll have had a fair amount of media/PR training from the Canadian federation to help get through that as well, I'd imagine.

He achieved global infamy for that accident and behaved quite admirably in the aftermath.

Because it's the first thing that most of us ever knew about him, it's something that'll forever be at the back of his mind, informing his behaviour for years to come. If anything, he'll become a model player and might even emulate Fed in bagging a few sportsmanship awards down the line.

Much respect to him so far...or as the Frenchies would say, "Chapeau!"
Click to expand...
Yeah he seemed to have grown a lot from that incident and also being able to withstand a media s-storm
 
BeatlesFan said:
Maybe 12 people in the world thought Bernie had the "it" factor and those dozen have proven to have been wrong. There's absolutely no comparison between Tomic and Denis at 18 years old in the levels of their game: Denis is by far the better player and much stronger mentally. Most importantly, Shapo loves the game, has fun out there and seems grounded off court. Tomic hates the game, looks miserable on court and is a head case off court.

Two totally different men.
Click to expand...

Oh agree about Bernie, but he was not like that at 18. Back then he was enjoying the game, had aspirations, was more focused and committed. The points you made about him came later, once the money started rolling in, besides also other factors.

Bouchard is another example.....I'm not saying Shapovalov is going to follow suit, heck I hope he doesn't, but I think it's still too early to be making predictions like he's the next ATG or something.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Otacon
Felix at the Federer University
Replies
22
Views
3K
Fridge
Fridge
Back
Top