It’s a fallacy that young professional tennis talents struggle with pressure and nerves more than experienced players. Most of the gifted teens have mental advantages. They have skills and power, and know that they no one expects them to beat high-ranked players in top tournaments. Rather than worry about anything, a teenager can swing freely and apply pressure—and on their best days, win historic upsets.
On Thursday evening in Montreal, 18-year-old Denis Shapovalov beat Rafael Nadal 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) for the biggest victory of his young career. He’s left-handed with a strong serve, a one-handed backhand, and a forehand that he hits hard and deep. And no matter the score against Nadal, Shapovalov played aggressive. He even trailed 3-0 in the third set tiebreaker, before pummeling Nadal 7-points-to-1 the rest of the way.
Shapovalov, who will play in the quarterfinals Friday evening, is the youngest quarterfinalist in an ATP Masters 1000 tournament since these events began in 1990. He’s also the youngest player in a Rogers Cup quarterfinal since Bjorn Borg, who was 18 when he made it here in 1974.
“I played really well in the big moments,” Shapovalov said after the match. “I’m not sure why. I just played really free in the tiebreaker.”
Nadal knows why: It’s good being young and extremely talented. Nadal was once like this. He won the French Open at age 19, the first time he entered the tournament. On a hard court as a 17-year-old, Nadal crushed Roger Federer in a Miami event for top players. Now, at the age of 31, he knows how much tennis changes in your mind as your career builds.
“In my opinion, is much more easy when you have 18 [years] than when you have 30. [Shapovalov] has nothing to lose,” Nadal said. “If he loses in straight sets, already he played a good tournament. If he wins, he’s amazing. He won. Is amazing for him.”
Nadal said the match wasn’t so thrilling for him. “Probably the worst match of the year for me,” he said. “When you play bad, you have to win these matches. I didn’t today.”
Shapovalov was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, but only lived there for nine months, when his parents—Viktor and Tessa—moved the family to Canada. He started playing at age 5 with his mother, who is a tennis coach. Clearly she teaches beautiful strokes and Shapovalov listened.
Shapovalov seems to have all the tools a player needs to succeed, but give him time—a lot of time. Like Nadal said, playing as an up-and-coming star is easy against top-ranked players. Shapovalov is currently ranked #143 and was given a wildcard into the event.
Plenty of other young players over the last generation have looked just as gifted as Shapovalov, but so far they haven’t won majors and displaced the sport’s five top stars: Federer, Nadal, Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, and Stan Wawrinka. That will change one day; Father Time remains undefeated in the long run.
It’s nice, though, to see an upcoming young player win against the best in the sport. If anything, it shows that tennis can still grow in terms of strategy and ability—and that even the best can be beaten.
