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© Getty Images Sport – Shaun Botterill
Denis Shapovalov has seemingly reacted to Mikhail Youzhny’s interview from this week, describing his former coach’s comments as “awful.”
In 2019 August, Shapovalov hired former world No. 8 Youzhny as his coach. During his stint with Youzhny, Shapovalov reached his first Grand Slam semifinal at 2021 Wimbledon and achieved a career-high ranking of No. 10.
But just months after his Wimbledon semifinal result, Shapovalov went separate ways with Youzhny. The two split after the 2021 season but Shapovalov called Youzhny to rejoin his team in 2022 August.
In an interview with Tennis Majors, Youzhny said he felt Shapovalov wasn’t fully doing what he needed to be doing and that the Canadian wasn’t putting tennis as his priority all the time.
“Awful how can someone can go out of their way to say I’m not giving everything for my tennis when I’ve dedicated my whole life to it from the age of 5. Not to mention being injured since Wimbledon, rehabbing and doing everything I can every single day just to get back on court,” Shapovalov wrote on X.
Awful how can someone can go out of their way to say i’m not giving everything for my tennis when i’ve dedicated my whole life to it from the age of 5. Not to mention being injured since Wimbledon, rehabbing and doing everything I can every single day just to get back on court.
— Denis Shapovalov (@denis_shapo) December 29, 2023
What did exactly Youzhny say of Shapovalov?
“We spoke a lot in New York, then we had numerous phone conversations afterwards, but my feeling was that nothing changed. I felt like I can’t bring him the change he needed – he is listening, but he is not fully doing what he needs to do in order to be a top player. Two or three years ago, he was one of the guys who could consistently be in the top 10, but for that to happen, he needed to change a few things outside tennis,” Youzhny told Tennis Majors.
“He must be healthy 100 percent, first and foremost, and physically better. Main thing – he has to try to put tennis as his priority. It is his priority for most of the time, but in my opinion, he made some wrong decisions where he didn’t make tennis as the priority.”
Currently, Shapovalov is working with coach Matt Daly.
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