The Shape Of Things To Come: Denis Shapovalov!

Max G.

Legend
I hope he doesn’t see it as “his moment”. He’s played a lot of tournaments; there’s not much special about this one. He’s never been consistent enough to take wins against lower ranked players as a given. He still has to play four good matches, same as anywhere else.
 

Pmasterfunk

Hall of Fame
I hope he doesn’t see it as “his moment”. He’s played a lot of tournaments; there’s not much special about this one. He’s never been consistent enough to take wins against lower ranked players as a given. He still has to play four good matches, same as anywhere else.
Yesterday I didn't really believe in his chances of winning the tournament, but the draw has opened up quite a bit. Stebe, Sugita/Tipsarevic, and PCB? That's about as good as it can get for Le Denys.
 

Tshooter

G.O.A.T.
I hope he doesn’t see it as “his moment”...

He needs to get in line.

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Hopefully he will end this awful streak of semifinals lost tomorrow, I won't hold my breath however.
At least it seems he is starting to be more consistent, its his third(?) semi since winston slam, baby steps...
Who is coaching him by the way? Is it youzhny?
 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
Hopefully he will end this awful streak of semifinals lost tomorrow, I won't hold my breath however.
At least it seems he is starting to be more consistent, its his third(?) semi since winston slam, baby steps...
Who is coaching him by the way? Is it youzhny?
Youzhpolov is a “trial” alliance but The Colonel doesn’t travel with Shapo at the moment. I’m sure there’s a lot of Skype interaction.

I guess we’ll see what the offseason holds for cutting ties or making the arrangement more than a trial basis. IMO, more Colonel Cowbell is needed!

 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
Sugita survived a third set TB with Tipsy to move on to the SF with Shapo.

The LL has played three more matches than Shapo, losing in three in the qualies to Popyrin before getting in as one of three LLs. The highest ranked player he has beaten this week is #83 Stefano Travaglia.

Shapo is 1-0 h2h, besting Sugita in a third set TB two years ago in Basel when the Japanese veteran was peaking in his career rank (#36) a few months after his lone ATP title at Antalya.

Gotta take advantage of this to reach a first title, Denis!
 

Sparlingo

Hall of Fame
Shapo played great today winning a staggering 21 of his 22 first serves which were in 67% of the time and 7/11 of his second serves and he won 21 of 42 returns. Shapo played good today and Stebe played bad. The biggest thing is he'll be fresh for a very tired Sugita tomorrow. Expect Shapo to dominate tomorrow and expect him to win this tournament on Sunday. Don't bet the house but bet the car, at least.
 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
Shapo played great today winning a staggering 21 of his 22 first serves which were in 67% of the time and 7/11 of his second serves and he won 21 of 42 returns. Shapo played good today and Stebe played bad. The biggest thing is he'll be fresh for a very tired Sugita tomorrow. Expect Shapo to dominate tomorrow and expect him to win this tournament on Sunday. Don't bet the house but bet the car, at least.
I need both of those but I’ll offer up the wife!
 

gogo

Legend
Shapo played great today winning a staggering 21 of his 22 first serves which were in 67% of the time and 7/11 of his second serves and he won 21 of 42 returns. Shapo played good today and Stebe played bad. The biggest thing is he'll be fresh for a very tired Sugita tomorrow. Expect Shapo to dominate tomorrow and expect him to win this tournament on Sunday. Don't bet the house but bet the car, at least.

:-D:-D:-D

Yes, you can never bet the house on Denis.
Clearly Stebe didn't play his best, but I did like to see that Shapo was zoned in. A year ago he would have lost focus and played down....getting sloppy. I liked his determination in this match. The announcers said he was 'clinical'. I wouldn't go that far unless we said it was 'clinical for Shapo'.
Great showing.
 

Sparlingo

Hall of Fame
:-D:-D:-D

Yes, you can never bet the house on Denis.
Clearly Stebe didn't play his best, but I did like to see that Shapo was zoned in. A year ago he would have lost focus and played down....getting sloppy. I liked his determination in this match. The announcers said he was 'clinical'. I wouldn't go that far unless we said it was 'clinical for Shapo'.
Great showing.
Odds posted aren't that appetizing, it takes 4 bucks to make 1 if you bet on Shapo on tomorrow's game. Maybe I'll make some sort of deal with Stringertom for his wife, he wasn't clear if you got his wife if shapo won or if he lost. I'll need pictures.
 

gogo

Legend
Odds posted aren't that appetizing, it takes 4 bucks to make 1 if you bet on Shapo on tomorrow's game. Maybe I'll make some sort of deal with Stringertom for his wife, he wasn't clear if you got his wife if shapo won or if he lost. I'll need pictures.
:-D:-D:-D

What say you @stringertom ??
What says your wife? (She might actually welcome the deal!)

(end note: my poor, long-suffering husband might be tempted by a deal like that!)
 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
Odds posted aren't that appetizing, it takes 4 bucks to make 1 if you bet on Shapo on tomorrow's game. Maybe I'll make some sort of deal with Stringertom for his wife, he wasn't clear if you got his wife if shapo won or if he lost. I'll need pictures.
A/S/L: She’s one of the four pictured here. I’m definitely not a Patriots fan and one of the four briefly played for my J E T S; other than that, I’m not going to “narrow” it down...you’ll have to take a chance what you get for taking Sugita:

 

Sparlingo

Hall of Fame
A/S/L: She’s one of the four pictured here. I’m definitely not a Patriots fan and one of the four briefly played for my J E T S; other than that, I’m not going to “narrow” it down...you’ll have to take a chance what you get for taking Sugita:

LOL, seems like the same 1 to 4 odds as with money, so I'll pass.
 

Sparlingo

Hall of Fame
A segment of a Youzhny interview talking about Shapo (translated from Russian)
- How did you end up in the team of Denis Shapovalov?

- In August, Denis's mother contacted Boris Lvovich and asked what I was doing. They wanted to invite me to Cincinnati, Winston-Salem and the US Open. My plans were already drawn up, and I could not come to Cincinnati, but I arrived afterwards. After the US Open, I had guys in America who needed to be watched, so Denis and I were able to work out at the IMG Academy for five days. Then he went to the Laver Cup and to Asia, and I had obligations before the tournament in St. Petersburg and Novokuznetsk, then I fly to the tournament of legends in Mallorca, and from there to Antalya for the training camp with the Novokuznetsk guys.

But you still want to work together?”

- We want, yes.

- And how is he at all? Here at the US Open, for example, he told me that you helped him “in the brain”: by talking, by mood. How it was?

- Let's be frank: a new face - new emotions. This happens for almost everyone, with the new coach the results immediately go good, and all of them are like: oh, that’s because the coach came. In fact, these are purely emotions, and the results are often residual effects from working with the previous trainer or something else in general.

But there are no such magic words that you came, said - that’s all. Simply, if a person invited you, it means that he trusts you and will believe what you say. Of course, this does not mean that you can say anything - just good contact and communication are important here. Denis is a good professional and trains and plays properly.

His mother played tennis, she is a coach. She gave me many useful tips that allowed me to find a common language. This is very important and again brings us back to the interaction we talked about.
- Do you speak Russian with him?

- Yes.

- I thought that it is closer to your children by age than you. He is such a typical post-millennial: he takes something off, the rapper reads . How do you like it?

“He is just in the middle between me and my children, I would say.” And when I was still playing, I talked with younger players and Denis’s age, too. At first, you communicate like with your peers, and then everything is younger and younger. There is no such thing that we are from different planets.
 
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