NEW YORK—It’s hard to imagine that a player, even an 18-year-old player with transcendent talent, could significantly improve over the course of three weeks. But if my eyes weren’t deceiving me, that’s what Denis Shapovalov did between his semifinal run in Montreal earlier this month and his US Open debut this week.
Shapovalov was solidly impressive in his first-round win over Daniil Medvedev, but befitting a brash, flashy, high-energy kid who likes to be center stage, his game really took flight in his first Ashe Stadium night match on Wednesday. That’s where he made quick and efficient work of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (3) in two hours and 11 minutes.
“Quick and efficient” doesn’t do justice to the electricity that Shapovalov wired into the court. Neither does his 28-winner, 19-error stat line, which wasn’t all that much better than Jo’s. It was the way Shapovalov went about winning his points that told the story of this match, and left older fans with a strong sense of déjà vu.