There’s the big, bending lefty serve; “swing it like Shapovalov,” kids may say someday. There’s the forehand that he can hit for winners crosscourt, down the line, inside out and inside in, and which never ever looks rushed. There’s the one-handed backhand that he rarely gives in and slices, and which he rarely misses when he sees a crosscourt opening. There’s the too-large backwards hat and the leaping energy that lets you know that, yes, while his game may look 25, he’s still just 18.
But what has really set Denis Shapavolov apart this week in Montreal is what happens when he gets done leaping and comes back to earth. He slows down, collects himself and finds his best, calmest, most forceful tennis when he needs it. In Shapovalov’s matches with Juan Martin del Potro on Wednesday and Rafael Nadal on Thursday, I kept waiting for the veteran Grand Slam champion to assert his authority and run away with the match. Instead, it was Shapovalov, the teenage wild card ranked outside the Top 150, who ran them off the court.
Shapovalov, the 2016 Wimbledon boys’ champ, followed up the biggest win of his young career, over Del Potro, with a much bigger one, over Nadal, by the suitably dramatic score of 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4). Over the last two sets, Shapovalov controlled the rallies and pushed Nadal back with his hooking serve and heavy forehand, while at the same time forcing Rafa to scramble far beyond the sidelines with both shots. Shapovalov hit nine aces and 49 winners to just 18 for Nadal; that included a 33 to 14 edge from the forehand side.