Canadian tennis star Shapovalov is sticking with an aggressive fashion beneath a brand new coach

Canadian tennis star Denis Shapovalov is aware of what pundits and followers assume he must do to seek out success: put the ball on the courtroom extra usually.

However the present world No. 58 believes his ferocious taking pictures is what units his sport aside.

“I put a variety of stress on my opponents. I wish to take time away from them and actually attempt to make them really feel like they do not have a variety of room to breathe. That is the kind of participant I’m,” stated Shapovalov forward of the Australian Open, which begins on Sunday in Melbourne.

“However there have been a variety of guys who’ve tried to inform me to play secure, this and that. It simply takes me off my sport.

“Once I was within the top-10, I used to be taking part in aggressively, and I used to be hitting a variety of photographs. I used to be all the time affected person, however I performed aggressively. That is the kind of tennis I’ve to attempt to hold taking part in.”

Shapovalov begins his Australian Open on Monday towards robust, constant Spanish veteran Roberto Bautista Agut.

The 25-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ont., defeated Bautista Agut twice on the arduous courts in 2024.

Shapovalov is amongst a robust group of Canadians within the first Grand Slam of the season.

Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime is on a excessive after successful the Adelaide Worldwide on Saturday. He enters as quantity 29 and can face Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany within the first spherical.

Gabriel Diallo, additionally from Montreal, will face Luca Nardi from Italy.

On the ladies’s aspect, Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino takes on twenty second seed Katie Boulter of the UK

Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., will likely be in attendance. She enters because the quantity 30 seed and can face Ukraine’s Yuliia Starodubtseva to start out.

Later, Fernandez will play girls’s doubles with Nadiia Kichenok of Ukraine. The 2 start their match towards wild playing cards Talia Gibson and Maya Joint, each from Australia.

Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski is again with associate Erin Routliffe of New Zealand, and the 2-seeded pair will face Individuals Danielle Collins and Desirae Krawczyk to start out.

Vasek Pospisil of Vernon, BC, will workforce with Jordan Thompson of Australia in males’s doubles. They entered as playing cards and can face Greoire Jacq from France and Orlando Luz from Brazil within the first spherical.

Shapovalov goes to the Australian Open with a brand new coach – 40-year-old Serb Janko Tipsarevic.

He’s the newest in an extended line of coaches to work with the Canadian powerhouse, together with countryman Peter Polansky, former Davis Cup captain Martin Laurendeau (now teaching Diallo), Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny, Brit Jamie Delgado, Spain’s Javier Piles, and American Matt Daly (now teaching WTA star Coco Gauff).

Tipsarevic reached No. 8 as a participant and gained 4 ATP Tour titles earlier than retiring on the finish of 2019.

He started working with Shapovalov in Dubai in December following a one-week trial on the ATP match in Basel, Switzerland final October.

This new coach just isn’t attempting to get rid of aggression in his new fashion of play.

“It is apparent that he likes my sport loads. You assume I want to remain aggressive and hold taking part in the best way I am taking part in,” Shapovalov stated. “Then, clearly, we’re attempting to make a bit adjustment right here and there – whether or not it is footwork, whether or not it is shot choice. to get the appropriate shot. However you need me to maintain your identification. So I believe that is why up to now we have had an excellent begin collectively, “.

After an injury-plagued 2023 season wherein he went 13-13, final yr marked Shapovalov’s comeback.

He began to sink to quantity 140 within the rankings final July, till he collected the title and took the title on the match in Belgrade in November.

“Tennis retains getting higher because the yr goes on,” Shapovalov stated. “I felt like I had an excellent week, or an excellent run. Clearly, you by no means know when it comes. It was the final week of the yr for me, so I am actually pleased about that.”

His 2025 marketing campaign acquired off to a rocky begin in Hong Kong, the place the Canadian got here down with a virus earlier than falling to Japan’s Kei Nishikori within the spherical of 32.

“I used to be locked in my room, I had a fever, I used to be shaking, and I used to be doing every part I may to attempt to get off the courtroom that week,” Shapovalov stated, noting that a number of different gamers died from the virus. “I felt a bit higher in Adelaide (this week), and I really feel higher each day as I’m going on.”

As he seems to be to boost the bar, Shapovalov will likely be striving to be constant – and play his sport, no matter what others say.

“It is simple to seem like I am hitting tanks or simply throwing away matches when issues do not go my method as a result of I nonetheless need that.” It might look dangerous from the surface however in the long run, that is how I win and the way I lose matches. I play good tennis, and after I play my kind of tennis, it’s tough to play towards me. “