Interview conducted by Raoul Ruberti
Earlier this week Canadian rising star Denis Shapovalov conducted a one-to-one interview with Ubitennis after qualifying for the Aegon Championships. Since then the 18-year-old knocked out Kyle Edmund in the first round before falling in three sets to Czech world No.14 Tomas Berdych on Wednesday. During the interview he shared his thoughts about his recent Davis Cup controversy, Wimbledon goals and what it is like being a member of the highly talked about ‘Next Gen’ group.
Q: You just told me you are working on your concentration. Is it something you started working on more after the Davis Cup accident?
S: For sure. First of all, it didn’t only help me on court. Of course it helped me on court, I think it improved my game, much more trying to stay mentally focused and not lashing out, because now I know what can happen to anyone who just lashes out for a split second. It could be very unlucky. So I really focus on that and I really improved in that area, but I think off the court too it helped me mature a lot as a person, because I went from being a teenager playing my first Davis Cup to really having to become an adult and deal with these situations and deal with people who are not talking very politely about me. Just that sort of thing, daily. So I think I really matured as a person from the incident.
Q: Will you put some kind of expectation on yourself, when you get there, because you won the junior version of the tournament?
S: Nooo. Once you’re done with juniors you kinda realize that ok, it was a good part of your life, but it has nothing… not much to do with pros. Maybe it can help you get wild cards and stuff like that, people start to know who you are, but at a certain point you’re gonna have to start all over. The pros is a completely different game, completely new, a new start to your life. So I don’t think there’s any expectations going in. Obviously I love the surface, so I think I could do well on it, but you can have some tough draws and some good players, and it could be tough.
Q: So you never thought: I am doing well in junior, so I will surely do well in pros.
S: No. No, no. There’s been a lot of players that have done unbelievably in juniors and not quite [???] as a pro, and vice versa players that didn’t play much juniors and all of a sudden they’re unbelievable pro players. It’s tricky with juniors because you never really know. You’re told that you have talent and that you can play well on certain surfaces but you never really know, it’s a new start. A new, pretty much, game.
Q: So you won’t be “destroyed” if things don’t go extremely well.
S: (Chuckles) No. I am only eighteen, my results are gonna go up and down a lot in my career so I’m not gonna get “destroyed”, no.
Q: Since you mentioned your age… I watched you practicing Saturday and you seem to have a pretty good relationship with the other young guns. You were chatting with Tiafoe…
S: Yeah, Frances… (Chuckles)
Q: I have a double question about it: is there some kind of Next Gen players group of friends? And is it hard to leave someone behind when – as you said – not everyone makes it to the pros?
S: Yeah, of course. You just make a lot of friends on tour. I mean, you see these guys weekly, so it’s either you don’t get along or you do. The easiest way is obviously to get along (Smiles) but no, they’re great guys, we go to dinner often, we go out. It’s tough when you see these guys in juniors and then you don’t see them for a while because you start having different schedules, not necessarily they’re doing bad or you’re doing bad. Like me and Felix (Auger-Aliassime, ndr), we’re very close but often we’re having different schedules so it’s a bit difficult to keep in touch.
Q: He won a Challenger on Sunday!
S: Exactly! I just sent him congratulations. That’s amazing. I had the record of youngest Canadian, he took it away from me. I called [???] when I won the Challenger actually and I said: “I’m gonna enjoy it until Felix takes it from me”. Congrats to him, he’s gonna be a great player. But as I was saying, it’s tough sometimes with different schedules not to see your friends. I think it makes it even better when you get to see each other though, like me and Frances, me and Reilly (Opelka, ndr), any of the guys.
Q: You all have a very respectful behavior towards each other.
S: Yeah! We all get along tremendously and respect each other’s games and persons. When we’re on court it’s one thing, it’s business, but when we’re off court we’re really cool with each other and really good friends.
Q: Speaking of Next Gen, there’s a chance you’re gonna play the Next Gen Finals in Milan. What do you think of the new format? Because I saw you today complaining about people moving on the stands, and one of the new rules is-
S: 25 seconds between points?
Q: No, free roaming on the stands.
S: Oh, is it, really? I did not even know that! Well, it’s just gonna be… (Laughs) Hopefully no one starts getting up, but it’s gonna be a little bit different, it’s a different game. It could be kinda like basketball, in basketball you’re allowed to distract the players. I think it’s exciting actually. It’s a different tournament. I always like trying new things and I think it’s very smart to try to advance in the sport and think of other ways to make it exciting. But yeah, it’s gonna be different. I think it’s more in the mindset: you know that people aren’t supposed to do this, so obviously it’s gonna distract you more. But I feel like if it’s implied in the rules, you’re just gonna have to deal with it.
Q: Technical stuff: which part of your game are you working on the most? And it was you who came up with the idea of playing a one-handed backhand?
S: When I was on the court with my mom and father, when I started, I was hitting with two hands but I was releasing it naturally so my father and mom just told me to try it out, try having a one-handed one and it just felt naturally from then. So almost my whole life I had a one-handed backhand. Oh, yeah, and what am I working on! I think the biggest part is mental. Like I said I’ve improved a lot but there’s still a lot of room for improvement. That, and I am trying to be aggressive, I’m trying to come in. I’m really working on coming into the net, I’m working on my volleys with Martin.
