Denis Shapovalov has been playing through pain for weeks on the Tour but now he admits that it might be time to stop.
The world No.29 crashed out of his fourth round match at Wimbledon on Sunday to Russia’s Roman Safiullin. After clinching the first set, Shapovalov slumped to a 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-3, defeat. A disappointing outcome for the Canadian who reached the semi-finals of the tournament back in 2019.
Whilst giving credit to the level of play produced by Safiullin, the 24-year-old said his movement was hampered by knee pain. Something which he has been dealing with for months and has previously consulted with doctors about.
“I’m happy it didn’t flare up in the first round, but at the same time it’s difficult to play tennis,” Shapovalov said.
“It’s not shocking that it happened. It is disappointing. It felt like I was playing good tennis and had chances today to get into the quarterfinals. It didn’t help that I have a cold, as well,” he added.
Earlier this year Shapovalov missed the Italian Open following medical advice regarding his knee. He hoped that the break would give him enough time for it to recover. While he acknowledged that he has had a ‘decent run’ at Wimbledon, he needs to find a permanent fix to his problem.
Shapovalov estimates that he would require at least two months away from the Tour to heal his knee if it didn’t require surgery. He will speak with his team about what to do next but it appears that he is not ruling out skipping the upcoming North American swing of the Tour, which includes his home tournament.
“It could be right now. I don’t know. With today I need to consider things,” he replied when asked when he would consider taking a break.
“I think I’ve held off enough points making the third round of French, fourth round here (at Wimbledon). So maybe it is a good time to take a break, try to fix this, and come back for the fall.’
“But then again, I would be missing an important part of the season which I love to play, which is in North America.’
“It’s tough, but unfortunately that’s life.”
Shapovalov says he wants to keep private what the exact issue with his knee is. Although he later added that his decision to keep playing in recent weeks is on the understanding that it will not worsen the problem but the inflammation in the area will trigger more pain.
