Denis Shapovalov’s former coach, Mikhail Youzhny, recently revealed in an interview why his partnership with the Canadian player ended. He also talked in length about what exactly the 24-year-old did outside tennis that was sabotaging his career. Apart from that, the 2-times ATP semifinalist also praised Novak Djokovic for his sensational campaign in 2023.
Mikhail Youzhny was the coach of Denis Shapovalov between 2019 and 2021. During this period, the youngster made it to the semi-finals of Wimbledon in 2021 and it was hands down the most successful period of his career so far. Back then, he had even achieved a career-high ranking of World No. 10. Skip to 2023; the Canadian has a ranking of 109. Thus, the youngster has seen a massive downfall in his career lately.
Youzhny seemingly unlocked Shapovalov’s vast potential, but there were some differences between the two regarding scheduling decisions and practice sessions. The Russian started to feel more like a sparring partner than a coach and thus they had a mutual split.
After his loss to Alex de Minaur the following year, Denis Shapovalov called Youzhny to be his coach again and he agreed. However, it seemed like nothing had changed. The Canadian was trying to change himself but not fully doing what he needed to do.
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. Mikhail Youzhny said via Tennis Majors
Mikhail Youzhny says Denis Shapovalov needs to prioritize tennis
The former Russian tennis player thinks that Denis Shapovalov does not have tennis very high on his priority list and that needs to change if he wants to become a top player. He said that the Canadian was focused most of the time, but some wrong decisions that he made led him to be distracted.
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.
Youzhny also went on to praise Novak Djokovic for how much he has transformed his game over the years. He particularly talked about how well the Serbian used his energy throughout the game to his advantage.
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