Denis Shapovalov's "best game can beat anybody" 

Denis Shapovalov will be playing his first Grand Slam semifinal when he meets No.1 Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon. Some will say it should have happened by now, while others will question if he's ready.

But any time is a good time for Shapovalov, and especially now, when he's at the top of his game.

His former training partner Adrian Fuorivia worked with him for five years, and insists he could have done it anytime since breaking through on tour. Shapovalov was the 2016 boys champion at Wimbledon.

“I’m always a believer in his game and how far he can go. Denis’s best game can beat anybody,” Fuorivia told Sportsnet.

But he's not just playing anybody—Shapovalov's next opponent has won the Australian Open and Roland Garros this season and has sailed through so far at Wimbledon.

Djokovic, though, still expects Shapovalov's big serving and one-handed backhand to give him a challenge, and notes an area of improvement.

"It seems like he’s maturing," Djokovic said. "You would expect that from a player like him that has really an all-around game. He has been consistent with success on the tour in the last couple of years, top 20, top 15 in the world, although people did expect him to probably going to top 10 or maybe top 5 and be one of the leaders of the Next Gen, which he is."

"Maybe big matches, he was not winning those. It seems like he’s maturing, which is also something that is normal. He’s comfortable coming in to net. I think his movement has improved. He’s probably making less errors, which was probably the part of his game that was always troubling him."

Shapovalov agrees that fewer errors have been a big part of his success during the tournament.

"Yeah, it's something I've been working on, because maybe sometimes I'm a little bit too wild and I don't make the opponents earn it on the big points," he said. "I've always been an aggressive player. I've always wanted to go for shots. It's actually the other way around that I've had to learn to take a step back and put more pressure on the opponents, make them earn the points."

Against, Djokovic, he'll likely have to do both, and hit a lot of winners.