Djokovic shows Shapovalov that he's not ready for primetime just yet

MELBOURNE—The genius of Novak Djokovic is his lack of apparent genius. Which, to repeat and emphasize, makes him a genius. Consider Djokovic a 21st century version of another all-time great, Chris Evert. Each of these two supreme groundstrokers is methodical, disciplined, balanced, their penetrating baseline drives rarely flashy but persistently suffocating. One ball landing four inches inside your baseline could well be an aberration. Two raises an eyebrow. Three captures your attention. Four makes you hope you have the right to an attorney.

Evert was known for the occasional slow start and subsequent harsh finish. The latter held true for Djokovic today, his technique so sound that he was able to withstand a third-set meltdown—“walkabout” in Australian argot—and earn a 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 win over 25th-seeded Denis Shapovalov to reach the fourth round here.

“You have to be there the whole match, every point,” said Shapovalov in praise of Djokovic. “If you have any dips, he's going to take advantage of it.”

Arriving at this stage so smoothly was quite pleasing to Djokovic.

“I like the fact that I was tested, as well,” said Djokovic, “because you want to be tested, especially as you are improving, kind of going along in the tournament. Matches and opponents are going to get tougher. I feel like I've been playing well, so things are progressing well.”

Though tied with Roy Emerson and Roger Federer for the most men’s singles titles at this event with six, Djokovic’s last two trips to Melbourne were subpar. Last year, he went out in the round of 16 to his stylistic clone, Hyeon Chung. In 2017, Djokovic was beaten in the second round by 117th-ranked Denis Istomin.

This was the first time these two had met. The stylistic contrast posed intrigue. As a lefty, Shapovalov plays a highly expressive, passionate brand of tennis, his game a rocket ship keen to zoom into warp drive. But the 19-year-old Canadian took a long time to get off the launching pad. The final tally showed that Shapovalov committed 57 unforced errors and struck 20 winners, light years away from the desired 2:1 winners-to-errors ratio that’s a frequent sign of a well-conducted match.

An unforced error from Shapovalov handed Djokovic the first break at 1-2, 15-40 in the first set. The second set was closer, each player holding serve in the first nine games. But with Shapovalov serving at 4-5, 30-all, the Canadian made two consecutive unforced errors. And when Djokovic sprinted to a 3-0 lead in the fourth, all seemed lost for Shapovalov.

Said Shapovalov, “I felt a little bit tight on everything.”

As Shapovalov seeks to make his way up the ranks, his skill upside will come in the area of movement—specifically, how he organizes himself to play relentless, attacking tennis. The Shapovalov strokes impress, but the backswings are big and so he must persistently will himself into the best possible positions of the court with body and feet. Otherwise, as Djokovic uncovered through the first two-and-a-half sets, a pinned Shapovalov is highly compromised. This makes him different than Djokovic and Evert, each of whom organized their bodies and racquets with the precision of a BMW.

But then, with Djokovic serving in the fourth at 4-2, 40-15, everything changed. Four straight unforced errors put Shapovalov back on serve, jump-started him considerably and also derailed Djokovic. At 4-4, a desultory Djokovic double-faulted, and despite earning a break point in the next game, he was unable to stop the surge.

No panic. Oddly enough, if anyone became distraught, it was Shapovalov, who at 0-1 in the fourth resumed his losing ways. Broken at 15, from my vantage point it appeared that Shapovalov at this stage of his career often relies too much on energy over technique, his matches more rollercoasters than the smooth trolley required for sustainable success.

“I felt a little bit physically dead,” said Shapovalov. “He started the fourth really well. After that it was a little bit tough. The balls rolled. He was really taking advantage. He played a really good fourth set. After that it was a little bit too late.”

Djokovic praised his young opponent.

“He's got the big serve, a lot of rotation on the ball,” said Djokovic. “He can hit it flat. He can hit it with a spin. I like his mentality. I like his confidence in himself, his approach. He's very positive on the court, always backing himself up. I like that. Obviously he's lacking some experience playing on the big stage in the big matches, but that's going to come.”

Shapovalov today likely learned a long-term lesson about what it will take to bring his kind of tennis to the next level. Baseliners like Djokovic (and Evert) come out of the box with the batteries included, ready to be plugged in and turned on. Their genius is heavily grounded in their simplicity, tennis in the hands of these brilliant players pruned to such essentials as depth, accuracy, consistency and focus. Then there are those like Shapovalov, a lefty artist in the making who has earned praise from the most sizzling southpaw of them all, Rod Laver. These kind of players—and Laver was one too—take longer to ripen. We await more from Shapovalov.

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