Wimbledon runner-up Milos Raonic has praised his fellow countryman Denis Shapovalov following his breakthrough week at the Rogers Cup.
17-year-old Shapovalov made headlines earlier this week after stunning Nick Kyrgios in the first round of the Masters tournament in Canada. The encounter was his first ever match on the ATP Tour. Shapovalov’s fairytale run at the tournament ended in the second round with a straight sets loss to Grigor Dimitrov.
The triumph comes shortly after Shapovalov became the third Canadian is history to win a junior grand slam title at the Wimbledon Championships. His recent performance on both the junior and senior tours has earned him praise from Raonic, who candidly admitted that the teenager is playing at a better level than he was at that age.
“I think he can have a very bright future.” The world No.7 said shortly after his straight sets win over Jared Donaldson in Toronto.
“He’s much further along than I was at his age. He has much more capacity than I had at that age. So he’s figured it out quicker than I have.”
Aided by an impressive one-handed backhand, there is a lot of promise being shown by the Canadian teen, who has won three Futures titles in America this season. Shapovalov might be on the right road to the top of the men’s game, however, there is still no guarantee that he will get there according to Raonic.
“At the same time, just because of this one week, doesn’t mean it necessarily carries through. He’s going to have to put in a lot of hard work.” Raonic said.
“But at the same time, I think he has been doing that. I think he has the right people around him to continue doing that.”
Fortunately Sharpalov has the same viewpoint as his older compatriot. Speaking shortly after his second round exit in Toronto, the Canadian admitted that he need to improve his serve in order to be a contender on the main tour.
“I think I really need to improve my serve,” the 17-year-old said.
“I thought I had a good serve until I played Kyrgios, who was just bombing aces past me. Same with Dimitrov. He was blocking [it] back like nothing when I was putting it in. I think my percentage wasn’t very high today.”
Following his run this week, Shapovalov will break inside the top-300. He has achieved this milestone two years earlier than Raonic did, who was 19 when he first entered the top-300.
