New coach, new luck? Shapovalov back on track under Mikhail Youzhny
Denis Shapovalov is busy at the ATP Tour 250 tournament in Montpellier this week. The Canadian's shape curve has been rising again since Mikhail Youzhny joined his team.
by Robin Huiber
last edit:
Feb 05, 2020, 07:46 pm
Even if things weren't going as well as the Canadians would have liked at the Australian Open this year, it is still a successful start to the tennis year 2020 for Denis Shapovalov. With two victories against top ten players (Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas) and a strong performance against Novak Djokovic (loss in the third set), the current number 16 has definitely drawn the world's attention.
It was all the more surprising that Marton Fuscovics was eliminated in the first round of the Grand Slam tournament in Australia, although his performance should not be diminished. The Hungarian then even reached the round of 16. But apart from the first round, Shapovalov can still see an improvement in shape. His new coach Mikhail Youzhny certainly has a big part in this. The Russian, who has been a professional tennis player on the tour for 20 years, has been working with his new protégé since August last year. The improvement can be seen in last year's figures: Shapovalov's victory-loss record before Youzhny started was 17-18. After the start of the collaboration, the Canadian recorded a balance of 21:10 for the rest of the year.
Shapovalov with the first 1000 finals
Under Mikhail Youzhny as coach, Shapo also won his first title at the Stockholm Open and reached his first ATP Masters 1000 final in Paris-Becry. Youzhny and Shapovalov agree that such a coaching change definitely has a positive effect, but is not a magical panacea, according to which you can play much better directly. In an interview with ATPTour.com, Mikhail Youzhny said that apart from the immense talent of his protégé, above all his willingness and willingness to try new things, he was impressed. An example of this is the Canadian backhand return. He has been blocking or slicing this more since the end of last year and brings more returns into play through this safe variant.
Shapovalov is already going this week. The number 16 in the world starts at the 250cc tournament in Montpellier and is in third place there. In the second round (first round of walk-free) he meets his compatriot Vasek Pospisil. Gael Monfils is the number one of the tournament.