Miami. Denis Shapovalov had an outstanding run at this Miami Open after he reached the semifinal. However, the Canadian seemed to be a bit overwhelmed to play in front of his childhood hero Roger Federer, and the Swiss took full advantage of this to win the match 6-2 6-4 in just 74 minutes.
Federer didn’t make me play my game. SHAPOVALOV
After the match, Denis commented
“Honestly, I don’t think I was able to play at 100 percent of my level today, but that’s why he’s so good. He didn’t let me get into my groove and get into my game. It shows how experienced and how good he is.
I was just trying to kind of get into the match. Obviously, I started off a little bit tight. He started off pretty strong in the first.
So in the second set, I tried to turn it around. Had a couple of chances I wasn’t able to convert.
I did what I could. And with that moment, it was just kind of a fun moment. I hit a ridiculous volley. I think even he said. ‘No way,’ or something. I just tried to get the crowd involved. Just have a little bit of fun.
It’s kind of surreal, being on the court against him. Obviously, I wasn’t trying to focus on the fact that it’s Roger on the other side.
I was just trying to play as good as I can, and he did a good job today. He played an excellent match. I wasn’t able to kind of stay at his level. So I’m just going to try to learn from this and move forward.”
That was a great lesson for the kid that is smart enough to remember for future success. He is just 19, and he will have a fantastic career.
Next step: Monte Carlo.
