Last Updated on October 31, 2021
The Canadian tennis player Denis Shapovalov is one of the most interesting young talents of the circuit. He known for his strong backhand and for shots that are fun and certainly important in terms of results, has never had a great relationship with clay courts, as demonstrated by the results at Roland Garros where he has never gone beyond the second round.
Currently, Shapovalov is number 14 in the world, but despite his young age he has already entered the Top Ten of the Atp ranking, he did it last year in September after reaching the Quarterfinals of the Us Open.
Hard is probably the favorite surface of the tennis player, who during his career won a tournament in Stockholm in 2019. We last saw Shapovalov in a clay tournament last week where he was quickly eliminated in two sets by compatriot Felix Auger Aliassime.
After an all Canadian showdown, Félix Auger-Aliassime defeats fellow 🇨🇦 and friend Denis Shapovalov 6-2, 6-3 at the Barcelona Open 🤝
Félix advances to the quarterfinals and will face Stefanos Tsitsipas tomorrow 👀#BCNOpenBS pic.twitter.com/h2OlPM7EhM
— Team Canada (@TeamCanada) April 22, 2021
Despite the fact that Shapovalov has been struggling with physical problems, it must be said that the Canadian even on Catalan soil has shown that he is not akin to this surface, remaining in constant difficulty.
Denis Shapovalov at Estoril
This week Shapovalov has decided to participate in the Atp tournament in Estoril where he will start as number 1 seed and will face the French Corentin Moutet.
In his press conference, the Canadian tried to explain the reasons for this participation:
“I need to build well and better points and be able to make the last shot effectively. I prefer other surfaces, but I think that my game can be adapted also on clay. After all, I enjoy playing on clay and I came here to Estoril where I can better prepare for the upcoming tournaments in Madrid and Rome.”Denis Shapovalov
Together with Jannik Sinner and compatriot Felix Auger Aliassime, Shapovalov is one of those players who are waiting to make the leap from the NextGen Atp to the crucial steps of the circuit where this improvement could lead to fight with the best players on the circuit.
