Denis Shapovalov

Denis Viktorovich Shapovalov (born 15 April 1999) is a Canadian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 10 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) which he first achieved in September 2020. He is the third highest-ranked Canadian male player in history behind Félix Auger-Aliassime (world No. 8 in 2022) and Milos Raonic (world No. 3 in 2016). He has won one ATP Tour singles title and produced his best Grand Slam performance at the 2021 Wimbledon Championships, where he reached the semifinals. Shapovalov also has a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 44, which he attained in February 2020.

As a junior, Shapovalov was ranked as high as No. 2 in the world. He won two junior Grand Slam titles, his first being the doubles title at the 2015 US Open with Auger-Aliassime and his second being the singles title at the 2016 Wimbledon Championships. As a professional, Shapovalov broke into the top 100 for the first time in 2017 after making the semifinals of the 2017 Canadian Open; at the age of 18, he became the youngest player ever to reach the semifinal of an ATP Masters 1000 tournament. The next year, Shapovalov continued his success with a second Masters semifinal appearance at the 2018 Madrid Open and ended the year ranked inside the top 30, making him the youngest player in the group. In 2019, Shapovalov won his first ATP title at the 2019 Stockholm Open and made his first Masters finals appearance at the 2019 Paris Masters, after which he ended the year ranked No. 15. For 2020, Shapovalov reached his maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal at the 2020 US Open and his fourth Masters semifinal at the 2020 Italian Open, taking him to his career-high ranking of world No. 10. He made two more tour final appearances in 2021.

With partner Rohan Bopanna, Shapovalov has also succeeded in doubles at the Grand Slam level, having reached his first quarterfinal at the 2020 US Open, and the Masters level after making five quarterfinals and one semifinal. Together, they also reached their first doubles final at the 2019 Stuttgart Open, which brought Shapovalov past Adil Shamasdin to become the No. 1 Canadian doubles player. After their quarterfinal appearance at the 2019 Paris Masters, he entered the top 50 in doubles for the first time.

A left-handed player with a one-handed backhand, Shapovalov plays an aggressive, high-risk ground game and has some of the strongest groundstrokes on the tour, complemented by his powerful forehand and serve. He also often plays serve-and-volley to quickly end points, which has rewarded him on faster surfaces. In recognition of his breakout tennis success in 2017, his peers on the ATP Tour voted him as the ATP Most Improved Player and ATP Star of Tomorrow. That same year, he was also awarded the Lionel Conacher Award as Canada's male athlete of the year, making him the second tennis player to have won the award since its inception in 1932.

Early life

Denis Viktorovich Shapovalov ( ; he, דניס שפובלוב; ) was born on 15 April 1999 in Tel Aviv, Israel. His mother, Tessa Shapovalova, was a tennis player and played for the Soviet national tennis team. She moved from the Soviet Union to Tel Aviv with Denis' father, Viktor Shapovalov, when the Soviet Union was collapsing. She eventually became a tennis coach there. His mother is Jewish, while his father is Orthodox Christian. Shapovalov has one sibling, an older brother named Evgeniy, who was also born in Israel.

The family moved from Israel to Canada before Denis' first birthday. He then lived in Vaughan, Ontario. He started playing tennis at the Richmond Hill Country Club, where his mother got a job as a coach two weeks after arriving in Toronto from Tel Aviv. Denis began playing tennis at age 5, and quickly became obsessed with the game. When it became difficult to get Denis enough time on the Richmond Hill club's courts, his mother left her job there and eventually opened her own tennis academy in Vaughan, named TessaTennis, to help give him a home base to train and to teach the game to other juniors. Shapovalov attended Stephen Lewis Secondary School in Vaughan. He is nicknamed "Shapo" or "Deni".

Tennis career

Juniors

When Shapovalov was 13, his training needs were too much for his mother to handle on her own. It was at this point that the family hired Adriano Fuorivia, a former manager of tennis development for Tennis Canada, to be his personal coach and travel with Shapovalov while his parents stayed home to run the academy. The relationship between Shapovalov and Adriano lasted four years, and included numerous junior and ITF futures titles, including the 2015 US Open Junior Doubles title and the 2016 Wimbledon Junior Singles title. In October 2013, Shapovalov won his first junior singles title at the ITF G5 in Burlington, Ontario. He captured his second singles title in April 2014 at the ITF G5 in Burlington. In July 2014, Shapovalov won the singles and doubles titles at the ITF G4 in San José. At the US Open in September 2015, he qualified in singles and made it to the third round for his second straight Grand Slam. In doubles, he won the title with partner Félix Auger-Aliassime. In October 2015, Shapovalov and fellow Canadians Félix Auger-Aliassime and Benjamin Sigouin captured the first Junior Davis Cup title for Canada in its history. At the French Open in May 2016, he advanced to the semifinals in singles and to the second round in doubles. At the beginning of July 2016, he captured his first G1 singles title after winning in Roehampton. A week later, Shapovalov became the third Canadian to win a junior Grand Slam singles title with a three-set victory over Alex de Minaur at the 2016 Wimbledon Championships. He also reached the doubles final with Félix Auger-Aliassime.

As a junior, he compiled a singles win–loss record of 86–32.

2015–16: Early years

In late November 2015, Shapovalov won his first professional doubles title at the ITF Futures in Pensacola. In January 2016, he reached the doubles final at the ITF Futures in Sunrise. A week later, he captured his first professional singles title with a straight-set victory over Pedro Sakamoto at the ITF Futures in Weston. In March 2016, he reached the semifinals of the Challenger Banque Nationale de Drummondville, beating his first top 100 player in Austin Krajicek before losing to Daniel Evans in three sets.

In April 2016, Shapovalov won his second and third singles titles after defeating world No. 286 Tennys Sandgren at the ITF 25K in Memphis and winning the ITF 10K in Orange Park over Miomir Kecmanović two weeks later. He also won the doubles title in Orange Park. In July 2016, Shapovalov was awarded a wildcard for the tournament in Washington, his first ATP main draw appearance. He was defeated by Lukáš Lacko in three sets. Shapovalov then was awarded a wildcard for the 2016 Rogers Cup the next week. In the first round he upset world No. 19 Nick Kyrgios, beating him in three sets to win his first tour level match. He was defeated by No. 40 Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets in the next round.

2017: Breakthrough – Grand Slam debut, first Masters semifinal, top 50 debut

In February 2017, Shapovalov was selected to play for the Canada Davis Cup team in the World Group 1st round tie against Great Britain, and lost his opener to Dan Evans. In the deciding rubber against Kyle Edmund, he accidentally hit the chair umpire, Arnaud Gabas, in the eye after launching a ball aimlessly towards the crowd in anger after dropping serve in the opening stages of the third set, leading to immediate disqualification for unsportsmanlike behaviour, and as a result, Great Britain won the tie 3–2.

In March in Gatineau, Shapovalov captured his fourth ITF Futures singles title after defeating Gleb Sakharov in straight sets. Two weeks later, he won his first ATP Challenger title with a victory over Ruben Bemelmans at the 75K in Drummondville, and was the youngest Canadian to win a Challenger until Félix Auger-Aliassime's victory at the Open Sopra Steria de Lyon later in the year. The next week, he was defeated by Mirza Bašić in the final of the ATP Challenger 50K in Guadalajara, stopping his winning streak at 17 matches. At the French Open in May, his first professional Grand Slam, he was defeated in the first round of qualifying by the first seed Marius Copil in three sets. In June, Shapovalov qualified for the ATP 500 at the Queen's Club Championships, his fourth ATP main draw but his first as a qualifier. In the first round, he defeated his second top 50 player, world No. 47 Kyle Edmund, before losing to world No. 14 Tomáš Berdych.

At Wimbledon in July, Shapovalov made his Grand Slam debut after he was awarded a wildcard for the main draw. He was defeated by Jerzy Janowicz in the opening round. At the end of the month, he won his second ATP Challenger title, defeating compatriot Peter Polansky in the final of the 75K in Gatineau.

Shapovalov experienced a significant breakthrough in August at the Rogers Cup when he defeated world No. 31 Juan Martín del Potro in the second round and world No. 2 Rafael Nadal in the next round, which was his first-ever match against a top 10 player. He went on to defeat world No. 42 Adrian Mannarino in the quarterfinals before bowing out to world No. 8 Alexander Zverev in the semifinals, thus becoming the youngest player ever to reach an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semifinal.

Despite his achievements at the Rogers Cup, Shapovalov had to qualify to enter the main draw of the US Open. In the qualifying rounds, he defeated Denis Kudla, Gastão Elias, and Jan Šátral. In the main draw, Shapovalov defeated Daniil Medvedev in the first round, then No. 8 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second. He reached the fourth round by defeating Kyle Edmund in four sets, becoming the youngest player to reach the fourth round since Michael Chang in 1989. He was defeated by world No. 19 Pablo Carreño Busta in the fourth round, after which he reached his career-high ATP ranking of world No. 51 on 11 September 2017.

Shapovalov was offered a wildcard to the main draw of the Shanghai Masters in October where he lost in the first round to Viktor Troicki in three sets. He also lost in the first round of the Paris Masters two weeks later to Julien Benneteau. In November, Shapovalov competed in the inaugural Next Generation ATP Finals along with seven other top singles players aged 21 and under. Seeded third, Shapovalov finished third in his Group with a record of one win and two losses in round robin play, which was not enough to qualify for the semifinals.

2018: Top 30 debut

Shapovalov began his 2018 season at the Brisbane International, where he lost in the first round in both singles, to Kyle Edmund, and doubles, to eventual winners Henri Kontinen and John Peers. At the ASB Classic, he defeated Rogério Dutra Silva in the opening round but was knocked out in the second round to second seed Juan Martín del Potro in straight sets. At the Australian Open, Shapovalov won his first round match over Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets, but lost in the next round to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in five sets despite leading Tsonga 5–2 in the deciding set.

Shapovalov then made his debut at the Delray Beach Open where he reached the semifinals. He defeated Ivo Karlović, Jared Donaldson, and Taylor Fritz in the first three rounds, before falling to eventual champion Frances Tiafoe. The next week at the Mexican Open, Shapovalov defeated former world No. 4 Kei Nishikori in three sets in the first round but lost to world No. 6 Dominic Thiem in the second round. Shapovalov started his March campaign making his debut at Indian Wells, defeating qualifier Ričardas Berankis in the opening round. He lost however to 30th seed Pablo Cuevas in the second round. At the Miami Open, he defeated Viktor Troicki, world No. 30 Damir Džumhur, and world No. 14 Sam Querrey in the first three rounds. He was defeated by Borna Ćorić in the fourth round.

Shapovalov started off his maiden clay court season at the Monte-Carlo Masters, where he lost in straight sets to qualifier Stefanos Tsitsipas in the first round. At his second clay court tournament, the Hungarian Open, he once again lost in the first round, this time to Nikoloz Basilashvili. At the Madrid Open, he defeated Tennys Sandgren and Benoît Paire, before knocking out compatriot Milos Raonic to reach the quarterfinals. He then defeated Kyle Edmund to become the youngest semifinalist in Madrid Open history. He subsequently lost in straight sets to world No. 3 and eventual champion Alexander Zverev. Shapovalov's victories here were his first on a clay surface and propelled him to the ATP Top 30 for the first time in his career. He became the youngest top-30 player since Richard Gasquet in 2005. The following week at the Italian Open, Shapovalov beat Tomáš Berdych in three sets and Robin Haase also in three sets to set up a rematch with Rafael Nadal in the third round. With the win over Berdych, he became Canada's new number one in singles. He was defeated by Nadal in straight sets. Shapovalov continued the momentum at the French Open defeating John Millman in straight sets in the first round, but lost to Maximilian Marterer in the next round.

Shapovalov next entered the Stuttgart Open, his first tournament of the season on grass, but lost in the first round to qualifier Prajnesh Gunneswaran. The next week at the Queen's Club Championships, he lost again in the opening round this time to Gilles Müller. Despite the struggles, Shapovalov entered the Eastbourne Championships. Seeded third, he defeated Jared Donaldson in his second round matchup only to lose to Mischa Zverev in the quarterfinals. In his first ever appearance at Wimbledon, Shapovalov won his first round match by defeating Jérémy Chardy, but lost to Benoît Paire in the next round after taking the first set 6–0.

Shapovalov started the 2018 North American summer hard court swing leading up to the US Open seeded 9th at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C., where he defeated Daniil Medvedev before losing to 7th seed Kei Nishikori in the quarterfinals. The following week Shapovalov returned home to Toronto and the Rogers Cup, the tournament where he experienced his 2017 ATP World Tour semifinal breakthrough. Shapovalov handily defeated Jérémy Chardy and fiery Italian Fabio Fognini in straight sets, before being knocked out of his home tournament in the Round of 16 by Robin Haase. In his first appearance at the Cincinnati Masters on August 13, Shapovalov defeated fellow NextGen ATP up and comer Frances Tiafoe and frequent opponent Kyle Edmund, before going down in the Round of 16 to fellow countryman Milos Raonic, who avenged his loss to Shapovalov during their maiden meeting at the Madrid Open in May.

In his second US Open appearance, 28th seed Shapovalov encountered long-time friend and fellow Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime in a highly anticipated first-round match-up. After the two split the first two sets, Auger-Aliassime was forced to retire from the match. Shapovalov then defeated Andreas Seppi in a five-set marathon in the next round, but then fell in the round of 32 to 5th seed Kevin Anderson in another five-set match that lasted close to four hours.

2019: First ATP title, first Masters final, Davis Cup final, top 15 debut

Shapovalov began his 2019 season at the Auckland Open, where seeded seventh, he was defeated by João Sousa in three sets. At the Australian Open, he defeated Pablo Andújar and Taro Daniel before being stopped in four sets by six-time and eventual champion Novak Djokovic in their first singles match. His next tournament saw him out in straight sets to Pierre-Hughes Herbert in the quarterfinals. He was also knocked out in the quarterfinals of the Rotterdam Open, but was able to defeat perennial Top-10 player Tomáš Berdych before being defeated by former champion Stan Wawrinka. After a dismal opening loss to Mikhail Kukushkin in the Open 13, Shapovalov turned his attention to Indian Wells. He defeated former U.S. Open champion Marin Čilić before being stopped by Hubert Hurkacz in the Round of 16. His Miami Open campaign was more fruitful as he was able to defeat fellow NextGen players Stefanos Tsitsipas and Frances Tiafoe on the way to the semifinals. Although he and fellow Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime were semifinalists and had a chance to face off in the finals, both were defeated by veteran champions; Auger-Aliassime by defending champion John Isner, and Shapovalov by eventual champion Roger Federer in their first singles match. This propelled him for the first time to Top 20 in the world. On 20 October 2019, Shapovalov won his first ATP title at the Stockholm Open, defeating Filip Krajinović in straight sets. At the Paris Masters, the tour's final tournament of the year, Shapovalov secured a top 20 year-end finish after beating Gilles Simon, Fabio Fognini, Alexander Zverev, and Gaël Monfils to reach the semifinals. There, due to a last-minute retirement from Rafael Nadal, he reached his first Masters 1000 final, where he lost to Novak Djokovic in straight sets. He finished the season at a career-high ranking of number 15.

In the 2019 Davis Cup Finals, Shapovalov and Vasek Pospisil teamed up to single-handedly take Canada to its first-ever Davis Cup final in the
119-year history of the event, defeating Russia, Australia, the United States and Italy en route to the finals.

2020: First Grand Slam quarterfinal, top 10 debut

Shapovalov began his 2020 at the ATP Cup in Brisbane, where he was the No. 1 player for Team Canada and pit against the Greek, Australian, and German teams in Group F. In his first match, Shapovalov beat Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight tiebreak sets. He and compatriot Félix Auger-Aliassime later defeated the Greek duo of Michail Pervolarakis and Petros Tsitsipas to bring Canada to a 3–0 record over Greece. Next, Shapovalov met Australia's Alex de Minaur, and despite being a set and a break up, he lost the match in three sets. In his last round-robin match, Shapovalov beat Germany's Alexander Zverev in straight sets, giving up just four games. Together with Auger-Aliassime, they also beat German doubles team Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies to take Canada through to the quarterfinals as Group F's runner-up. There, he faced Serbia's Novak Djokovic but he was ousted in three sets, and Canada was eventually eliminated from the tournament. Following the defeat, Shapovalov headed to the ATP Auckland Open as the second seed and defeated compatriot Vasek Pospisil in straight sets, but lost to eventual champion Ugo Humbert in straight sets in the quarterfinals after double faulting on the first set point and on match point. Shapovalov concluded the year's Australian swing as the thirteenth seed at the Australian Open, but he suffered a disappointing exit in the first round at the hands of Márton Fucsovics in four sets.

Three weeks later, in February, Shapovalov embarked on the European indoor hard court swing, and entered the Open Sud de France as the third seed. He faced Pospisil in his first match there in the second round, but lost in straight sets. Then, he entered the Rotterdam Open as the eighth seed, and again, lost his first match there in straight sets, this time to Grigor Dimitrov in the first round. But in the doubles tournament in Rotterdam, Shapovalov performed better, having reached the semifinals with partner Bopanna after toppling fourth seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecău in the quarterfinals before losing to finalists Henri Kontinen and Jan-Lennard Struff. Shapovalov entered the Open 13 next as the fourth seed and snapped his three-match losing streak after fending off Marin Čilić in three sets in the second round to reach the quarterfinals and join Auger-Aliassime and Pospisil, making it the first time three Canadian men had reached the quarterfinals of an ATP Tour tournament together since 1990. However, he lost to Alexander Bublik in three sets after converting just two of ten break points he had on Bublik's serve while only saving six of nine on his own. He and Bopanna also reached the quarterfinals of the doubles tournament after beating Jannik Sinner and Simone Bolelli, but the duo lost to Frederik Nielsen and Tim Pütz.

After a six-month suspension of the 2020 ATP Tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Shapovalov entered into the first tournament to return, the Cincinnati Masters. The twelfth seed beat Čilić in straight sets in the first round, but lost to Struff in the second round in three sets. Next, Shapovalov embarked on the US Open as the twelfth seed. He fought off Sebastian Korda in the first round and Kwon Soon-woo in the second round, both in four sets. In the third round, Shapovalov prevented nineteenth seed Taylor Fritz from serving for the match in the fourth set and sealed the match in the fifth set to reach the fourth round and match his best performance at the major. By doing so, he joined Auger-Aliassime and Pospisil to make it the first occasion three Canadian men had reached the second week of a major. He encountered seventh seed David Goffin in the fourth round; after losing the first set tiebreak 0–7, he gained the momentum of the match by converting his first break point in the second set and opening the third set with another break. He then closed the fourth set and the match by breaking Goffin's serve on match point to reach his first major quarterfinal. The victory made him the first Canadian man to appear in the quarterfinals of the US Open in the Open Era. There, he faced twentieth seed Pablo Carreño Busta; after sealing the first set, Shapovalov lost the next two in tiebreaks and gave his opponent a bagel in the fourth set before he double-faulted on a break point in the fifth set, placing him at a deficit he could not recover from, which allowed Carreño Busta to serve out the four hour-long five-set match. Overall, Shapovalov made more winners and earned seven more points in total, but also made thirty-five more unforced errors. After the match, Shapovalov summarized, "I came out tight. I played tight in the tiebreakers. I'm sure the next time I'm in the situation, I'll be more comfortable with it." Additionally, Shapovalov and Bopanna reached their first Grand Slam doubles quarterfinal as a team after beating sixth seeds Krawietz and Mies in the second round. The duo ultimately lost in straight sets to semifinalists Rojer and Tecau.

Moving onto the year's postponed clay swing beginning in late-September, Shapovalov embarked on the Italian Open as the twelfth seed. After defeating Guido Pella and Pedro Martínez in straight sets, he faced his first three-set challenge in Humbert and was able to close the match after he lost the first set in a tiebreak. The win earned Shapovalov his first quarterfinal appearance at the tournament, where he faced Dimitrov, and in three sets, he notched his first career win against his opponent and landed in the semifinals. His semifinals match pit him against Diego Schwartzman, and after a final set with six total service breaks between both players, Shapovalov lost the deciding set tiebreak and thus, the match, after he had initially served for it at 5–4. Shapovalov also played the doubles tournament with Bopanna and the pair made the quarterfinals after notching an upset win over top seeds Juan Sebastián Cabal and Robert Farah. In the quarterfinals, the team lost to eventual finalists Jérémy Chardy and Fabrice Martin. Upon the conclusion of the tournament, Shapovalov made his top 10 debut in the ATP singles rankings by moving up four spots and reaching a new career-high of No. 10. He closed out the year's clay swing with his third bid at a major in the year at the French Open by defeating Gilles Simon in four sets in the first round, but losing to Roberto Carballés Baena in the second round in five sets after twice serving for the match. Following the unexpected disappointment, Shapovalov explained, "The conditions were as tough as possible for me to play against here, with the balls being just so heavy and it being really cold."

In the abbreviated year's final swing, Shapovalov took on four last indoor tournaments in Europe to close out his season. Among them, he found his best success at his first venture, the St. Petersburg Open. The second seed reached the semifinals without dropping a set and passed through Viktor Troicki, Ilya Ivashka, and Stan Wawrinka before he lost to eventual champion Andrey Rublev in three sets. Next, just three weeks after their prior encounter, Shapovalov faced a rematch against Simon at the Bett1Hulks Championship in his first match at the tournament, but the third seed lost this time after a poor serving performance that included thirteen double faults. Shapovalov ended the season with two more first-match losses, with the first at the Vienna Open to Jurij Rodionov in straight sets, and the second at the Sofia Open to Radu Albot in straight sets as well, despite being the top seed, a first for him in his career at a tournament. Throughout the final run of tournaments to close out the year, Shapovalov was bidding to cement a position among the lineup for the 2020 ATP Finals, but the three consecutive early defeats ultimately kept him as an alternate for the field. He ended the year ranked No. 12.

2021: First Grand Slam semifinal

Shapovalov started his season at the ATP Cup, where he lost to Serbia's Novak Djokovic and to Germany's Alexander Zverev. At the Australian Open, he beat Jannik Sinner and Bernard Tomic before losing to Félix Auger-Aliassime in the third round. In March, Shapovalov entered the Qatar Open, where he beat Vasek Pospisil in straight sets before losing to Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals. At the Dubai Tennis Championships, he reached the semifinals but fell to qualifier Lloyd Harris. Entering the Miami Open as the sixth seed, Shapovalov lost in the third round to eventual champion Hubert Hurkacz.

In the clay season, Shapovalov began at the Barcelona Open