Denis Shapovalov responds to criticism of his former coach

Denis Shapovalov apologized on Friday for comments made by his former coach Mikhail Youzhny, who said in a recent interview: On the main tennis website That the Canadian tennis player “listened, but did not give everything he could to be one of the best players in the world.”

Chabo said on his account on

He added: “Not to mention that I have been injured since Wimbledon, that I am in the rehabilitation phase and that I am doing everything I can every day to get back on the court.”

Youzhny, a former player, coached the Canadian player between 2019 and 2021. Their collaboration has proven fruitful, contributing significantly to Shapovalov's run to the final round of Wimbledon two years ago. Then he lost to Serbian Novak Djokovic.

“Bad decision”

In his interview with Tennis Majors, the Russian privately said that he does not feel able to bring about the change that 'Chapo' needs.

“Two or three years ago he was one of those players who could be in the top 10 consistently [il a été 10^e, en septembre 2020]. But for that, he had to change some things outside of tennis.

“He had to be 100% healthy, first and foremost, and physically better as well. But above all, he had to make tennis his priority. This happens most of the time, but in my opinion, he was making poor decisions which meant That tennis was not his priority.

Recovering

The 24-year-old Ontario native, now coached by Matt Daly, has not played since a fourth-round defeat at Wimbledon last summer. Then he said he needed to take a break for several months to treat a knee injury.

He has returned to training in the past few weeks, but this long absence has caused the former member of the top 30 to drop to 109.^H Rank on ATP.