The Shape Of Things To Come: Denis Shapovalov!

Sparlingo

Hall of Fame
The brighter Covid news here in New Brunswick (pop 775,000) is :

118 total cases
0 new cases for 4 days in a row
102 recovered, so only 16 active cases
0 deaths so far
5 in hospital, 2 in IC

Prince Edward Island is about the same per capita as NB, also with no deaths.

Not true of our other land bordered neighbours, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and Maine all still raging. An oasis here.
 

Joseph_K

Hall of Fame
Shapo's last posted on Instagram five days ago: Little update for you guys! I've been grinding in Bahamas for the past 3-4 weeks (we all tested negative upon arrival and have been living together). Hope everyone is doing well and staying safe during these times.
 
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topher

Hall of Fame
I didn’t get to see all of the matches today, but I’d wager Shapo was probably the highest level of the day. Maybe I’m just starved for tennis, but that was the most entertaining routine straight set match I can recall seeing.

Shapo just overpowered Cilic, was firing bombs from the word go and didn’t even have too many mental hiccups. If he plays like that he could make the quarters for sure.
 

Sparlingo

Hall of Fame
Playing against Struff for what seems like the 20th time (actually 4th), we'll see if he breaks the losing streak against the German.
Seems like the court is much faster than people anticipated which doesn't really favour Shapo but we can't say he didn't feel comfortable on it. Interesting take from Shapo on what he thought was his most important improvement:

Shapovalov: 'I think the first thing was really working on the footwork. I feel like that's a big area where I can improve. You see the guys like Novak and Roger moving. It's just another level. We really focused on that a lot.'
 

gogo

Legend
Playing against Struff for what seems like the 20th time (actually 4th), we'll see if he breaks the losing streak against the German.

Struff looked very strong against DeMinaur. The court conditions are working for him. Denis is going to have his hands full in what is typically a bad matchup for him.
 

topher

Hall of Fame
Looked good against semi retired dude. Will win USO



I feel like I've been here before.

To be fair, people are getting excited over Andy and FAA playing down to lesser competition and basically letting the opponents mentally collapse to win it. Whereas Shapo played consistently above a more dangerous 1st round opponent, one of the two slam winners in the draw.

Now watch Denis lay a big goose egg in round 2, but that won’t mean he didn’t play excellent tennis today!
 

Pmasterfunk

Hall of Fame
To be fair, people are getting excited over Andy and FAA playing down to lesser competition and basically letting the opponents mentally collapse to win it. Whereas Shapo played consistently above a more dangerous 1st round opponent, one of the two slam winners in the draw.

Now watch Denis lay a big goose egg in round 2, but that won’t mean he didn’t play excellent tennis today!
I'm not sure Cilic is really dangerous anymore, but Shapo did play quite well yesterday.

Now about that goose egg
 

prairiegirl

Hall of Fame
Shaps needs a hardass coach like Lendl to keep him off social media and making rap albums to focus solely on intense tennis training.
He's had 3 coaches in 3 years. And, he has a great coach right now. But, a coach can only do so much. He has to do the rest on his own. Something is missing. I don't know what.
 

Joseph_K

Hall of Fame
A reasonable singles draw for no. 12 seed Shapo in the early rounds of the U.S. Open. His first-round opponent is Sebastian Korda. The winner of that match will face either the American Thai-Son Kwiatowski or the South Korean Kwon Soon-woo. If the seedings worked out, Shapo would face no. 19 Taylor Fritz in the third round.
 

prairiegirl

Hall of Fame
Yes, JK that sounds like a good draw for him. Finally! He always seems to face Felix in the first or second round. But, this time they avoided each other. But, Fritzie is no walk-over and IF Shapo gets there he'll have to work hard for the win. Would love to finally see him go deep in a major. Is this the year?
 

Sparlingo

Hall of Fame
Shaps needs a hardass coach like Lendl to keep him off social media and making rap albums to focus solely on intense tennis training.
He's had 3 coaches in 3 years. And, he has a great coach right now. But, a coach can only do so much. He has to do the rest on his own. Something is missing. I don't know what.
Shapo had one loss against a guy that has had his number after a five month hiatus on unusually fast courts, calm down you two.
 

Sparlingo

Hall of Fame
I think Shapo has a very good chance of beating Djokovic this time. There I said it. let the derision begin, I'll hide under my desk.
 

Pmasterfunk

Hall of Fame
Is everyone avoiding this thread in fear of jinxing our man?

After being a break down in the third, I thought The Menace was out. Anyone get to watch the match?
 

SeeingDusk

Hall of Fame
Is everyone avoiding this thread in fear of jinxing our man?

After being a break down in the third, I thought The Menace was out. Anyone get to watch the match?


I watched a good amount of it. Shapo played well after that 1st set TB choke. Happy for his win. Let's gooo.
 

Sparlingo

Hall of Fame
Shapo was down 4-2 in the second set but after that poured it on and seemed always to control matters after that. Kwon was pooped by the 4th set.
 

Ironwood

Professional
Shapo is so frustraing....especially how he blew so many set points in the lst set TB. He's a wonderful shot maker, but he really needs to be more consistent constructing points if be has any hope of becoming a top tener!
 

Joseph_K

Hall of Fame
It's great to see Shapo entering the doubles event at tournaments on a consistent basis. None of the other men ranked among the top one hundred singles players has his skill at the net. Later on Thursday Shapo and Rohan Bopanna take on the Americans Ernesto Escobedo and Noah Rubin in first-round doubles action at the U.S. Open.
 

iceman_dl6

Professional
It's great to see Shapo entering the doubles event at tournaments on a consistent basis. None of the other men ranked among the top one hundred singles players has his skill at the net. Later on Thursday Shapo and Rohan Bopanna take on the Americans Ernesto Escobedo and Noah Rubin in first-round doubles action at the U.S. Open.

Agreed! Especially that doubles will further help Denis’ all-court game.
 

Sparlingo

Hall of Fame
It's great to see Shapo entering the doubles event at tournaments on a consistent basis. None of the other men ranked among the top one hundred singles players has his skill at the net. Later on Thursday Shapo and Rohan Bopanna take on the Americans Ernesto Escobedo and Noah Rubin in first-round doubles action at the U.S. Open.
Shapo/Bopanna won the first set - 6-2
 

BeatlesFan

Bionic Poster
None of the other men ranked among the top one hundred singles players has his skill at the net.
Since this is a Denis-dedicated thread, I will refrain from guffawing at this remark.

There are no great volleyers in the sport since Pete retired, but Shapo at the net is about 1/100th of what Fed is blindfolded and nearing 40.
 

Sparlingo

Hall of Fame
Since this is a Denis-dedicated thread, I will refrain from guffawing at this remark.

There are no great volleyers in the sport since Pete retired, but Shapo at the net is about 1/100th of what Fed is blindfolded and nearing 40.
I've heard guffawing before and this post is usually what it sounds like.
 

Joseph_K

Hall of Fame
The Shapo vs Taylor Fritz third-round singles match is second on Arthur Ashe stadium. A court has yet TBD on for the continuation of the first-round doubles match between Shapopanna and Escobeo/Rubin, but it will probably also be played to a finish on Friday.

Apparently, just singles at 1:30 on Ashe.
 
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