Denis Shapovalov wins Junior Wimbledon

JACK MILNER

He was born in Tel Aviv in 1999 from Russian immigrant parents and his mother, Tessa, played tennis professionally in the country in 1997 and 1998. She stopped playing professionally after Denis’ birth, but she has always coached her son.

The family moved to Canada when Denis was nine months old and as a kid Denis was keen on playing ice hockey. His parents, however, were afraid he would get hurt and he started playing tennis at the age of five.

His mother runs as a tennis school in Richmond Hill, Ontario, where they live and Denis’ junior boys’ singles championship last weekend, came after years of hard, dedicated work.

Canadians went into Sunday at Wimbledon brimming with hope. They had a shot at three championship titles but Shapovalov was eventually the only winner, beating Australia’s Alex De Minaur 4-6 6-1 6-3 in the boys’ singles final to start the day on the No. 1 Court.

Milos Raonic, looking to become the first Canadian to win a Grand Slam singles title, lost 6-4 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-2) to Andy Murray of Scotland later in the day on Centre Court. After that, Shapovalov and Montreal-based Félix Auger-Aliassime lost their boys’ doubles final 4-6 6-4 6-2 to Estonia’s Kenneth Raisma and Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Things didn’t start off well for Shapovalov in his match against the Australian as he lost his serve to love. He broke back in the second game, but then was broken again to fall behind 2-1 and went on to lose the set.

“I was very nervous, to be honest,” he said at his press conference. “I started off making a lot of errors in the first couple of games. I managed to break him back at the start, but I got broken once again.

“After I got broken the second time, I just told myself to ‘calm down a little bit’. Started making some longer rallies. By the end of the first set, I gained my confidence back. I was ready to go in the second.”

The All-England Club gives the juniors a great experience in having them play their final on No 1 Court – a big court with a lot of history, and a lot of running room. There is always a good crowd on hand, too. Until then the juniors are banished to the outside courts which are much smaller and have a transient crowd. The move to a massive court takes quite a bit of adjustment.

“Before the match, I just went into the stands a little bit, sat there for a couple of minutes. But I didn’t get a chance to be on the actual court which is, yeah, one of the reasons I started off tight,” Shapovalov said. “It’s very, very difficult. It’s completely different. The atmosphere… it’s massive. It’s a huge stadium, lots of people watching. Obviously it was very nerve‑wracking.”

After that life got a lot easier and after taking the second set and after going up a break in the third game of the final set, young Shapovalov set sail for the winning post.

He has become only the second Canadian to win a boys’ Grand Slam title after Filip Peliwo, who won both Wimbledon and the US Open in 2012. Eugenie Bouchard is the only Canadian girl to win a junior singles Grand Slam title, doing it at Wimbledon the same years as Peliwo.

Shapovalov called his parents back home before he went into the interview room. “I just wanted to thank them, actually, because of all their support they’re doing. I also want to thank my mom who opened up her own training club where I’m training.

“They’re extremely happy. Yeah, I mean, I couldn’t see, but it sounded like they even had tears in their eyes. For sure it’s very exciting for them. Hopefully we have a nice dinner when we get back. It will be good.”

On Sunday night he would have had to attend the Champions Ball, where the backwards baseball cap was not going to be considered appropriate attire.

“It’s funny. Actually Adil Shamasdin (a 34-year-old Canadian player), when I went as a hitting partner for Davis Cup, I didn’t have a suit. I didn’t know what to do. He gave me one. He said: ‘Hopefully you’re not going to be asking me for a suit this time.'”

Shapovalov won’t rest long. The talented left-hander has received a wild card into the Citi Open in Washington, which begins next week, from the owners of the tournament.

He hasn’t signed with an agency and turned pro – yet.