Young Canadian sensation Denis Shapovalov has been on the scene for quite a while now. His powerful serve and ultra-aggressive game are a treat to the eyes and are highly effective when firing. 2021 could have been his breakthrough year, as he made two finals at ATP 250s, plus a blockbuster performance at Wimbledon. However, was that enough? Let us take a look at Shapovalov’s 2021 season.
Denis Shapovalov: Tame start to Season
Shapovalov started his 2021 Season at the ATP Cup in Australia. He played two group stage matches and came out on the losing side, though both were pretty close encounters. The Australian Open wasn’t a great outing either. However, his first-round win over Jannik Sinner will remain a big positive, as he battled throughout five sets for almost 4 hours. He then dismissed the talented yet controversial player and local boy Bernard Tomic in straight sets. It seemed as if Shapovalov had hit a great run of form, and it seemed likely that he would make it deep in the draw. However, he fell out in the third round, losing to fellow Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime. Shapovalov should have used the momentum from his earlier matches, which he couldn’t.
The Australian Open loss would mark the start of a new trend in his performances. In the three hard-court tournaments he played next, Shapovalov failed to make a mark, even though he played very well in the first rounds. He came closest to winning a title at the Dubai Tennis Championships. He reached the semi-final without dropping a set but couldn’t go further, coming up short against Harris in a cliffhanger. Then at the Miami Masters, where Shapovalov was the sixth seed, he was supposed to make a mark. However, he crashed out in his second match, against eventual champion Humbert Hurkacz.
Shapovalov had begun to come into his own at the end of the clay season, despite showing miserable performances early on. In his first three tournaments, Shapovalov returned with solitary wins at two of them. At the Estoril Open, things got even worse as he exited in his first match of the tournament. The first glimpses of a resurgence were seen at the Rome Masters, where he reached the last 16 without dropping a set. In the final, Shapovalov met Rafael Nadal; and also took a set-and-a-break lead over him. However, Shapovalov failed to close out the match, even after having two match points in the decider. (It has to be noted that Nadal went on to win the title) At his next tournament, the Geneva Open, he made the finals but came up short against Casper Ruud, in a tough match. Shapovalov decided to withdraw from the Roland Garros due to a shoulder niggle, that was causing him problems since the Geneva Open.
Breakthrough Performance at Wimbledon
Having missed the French Open, Shapovalov needed to get back to action as quickly as possible. He entered the Stuttgart Open in June, as the first seed. Nevertheless, his campaign there didn’t last long, as he lost to Marin Cilic in the third round. Next up, he would play the Queen’s Club Championships, putting up some show there. Shapovalov reached the semifinal without dropping a set. He was stopped by local boy Cameron Norrie in the semifinal. However, when we look back, the London ATP was where Shapovalov really started clicking on grass.
No one would have anticipated Shapovalov to perform so well at Wimbledon, to play the dark horse. Not after having such a bad season preceding it. The first challenge propped up in the first round itself, in the form of 38-year-old veteran Philipp Kohlschreiber. Shapovalov was tested right up, and he managed to scrape out a win after three hours and 40 minutes. He received a direct entry into the third round as his second-round opponent Pablo Andujar pulled out. In his next two matches– against able grass courters Andy Murray and Roberto Bautista Agut–Shapovalov took his aggressive gameplay to a new level. Against Murray, Shapovalov banged 13 aces and 45 winners, while he hit 15 aces and 52 winners against Roberto Bautista Agut.
His quarterfinal match, however, was the most entertaining of them all. Shapovalov had drawn up Khachonov, who also had been in excellent form. It was a display of fierce resilience and mental strength that got Shapovalov through. In the semi-final, he faced Novak Djokovic, and as the set scores convey, he gave it his all. Barring a few mess-ups in the final, Wimbledon turned out to be a positive outing for him. Shapovalov hit the third most number of aces in the tournament. But, he also did the most number of double faults–an area that he needs to work on. Though he lost the semifinal in straight sets, all of them were very close, and he could likely have taken home the trophy if he had made the final.
Title Drought Continues
Maybe it was the heart-breaking semifinal defeat to blame, but Shapovalov’s performance nosedived in the following tournaments. His next tournament after Wimbledon was the Gstaad ATP; where he lost to Vit Kopriva, a guy ranked beyond 200. Shapovalov skipped the Olympics citing the Covid-19 pandemic and returned in the American hard court swing. At the Toronto Open, he was defeated by Francis Tiafoe in straight sets. Next up, Shapovalov played the Cincinnati Masters, where he lost to Benoit Paire in a very tough match. Shapovalov seemed to have lost all his zeal after the semifinal loss at Wimbledon. This lean patch shows loose similarities with Tsitsipas’s downfall after the debacle in the Roland Garros Final.
At the US Open, however, it seemed as though his poor run of form was over. In his first-round encounter, Shapovalov dismissed Federico Delbonis in straight sets. Next up, he dismantled Roberto Carballes Baena, to book a third-round spot. In his first two matches, Shapovalov hammered a total of 23 aces and 88 winners, playing ultra-aggressive tennis. And for the umpteenth time in this season, he squandered all the momentum he had gathered from his first two matches, folding in straight sets against Llyod Harris. In his subsequent tournaments, Shapovalov went through a series of alternate wins and losses.
The Stockholm Open was the last chance for Shapovalov to win a title in 2021, and it was the closest that came to fruition. He had been successful once here in 2019 and came agonizingly close to repeating the feat this year. He started as the third seed and was one of the firm favorites. After battling his way to the semifinals, he came up against fellow Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime. After he defeated Auger Aliassime in straight sets, it felt as though Shapovalov was bound to take the trophy. But evidently, Tommy Paul had other plans. It wasn’t a superb season for Shapovalov as we look back. We saw a common trend in his performances–failure to convert good starts. And it echoed in his game too. In most of the close matches he lost, it was after he had blown up a lead.
The new season will bring new opportunities, a chance to correct the mistakes, another shot at glory. The problem with Shapovalov is hardly technical and can be fixed. He has the weapons to succeed on the big stage, as he has shown. If Shapovalov manages to capitalize on clutch moments, he has great things to look forward to.
Main Photo from Getty.
