Dennis Shapovalov Close But Not Good Enough

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Dennis Shapovalov Close But Not Good Enough
By Burton Vanderfliet, Lawn Tennis Analyst, Posted: Thursday, August 5, 2021 2:22am PST USA

London-- Today we look back to last month's men's Wimbledon semifinals where the tenth seeded Dennis Shapovalov of Canada led the top seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia 5-4 in each of their three sets in semifinal number two before losing 7-6(7-3), 7-5, 7-5 and leaving the court in tears.

The 22 year old left-hander Shapovalov used powerful groundstrokes to lead early in set one before Djokovic hit back to reach the tiebreaker.

The Canadian committed five groundstroke errors to send

Denis Shapovalov of Canada

Shapovalov led Djokovic 5-4 in each of their three sets before losing and leaving the court in tears.

Djokovic ahead 5-2.

The 34 year old Djokovic struck a crosscourt backhand winner to set up a set point before Shapovalov double-faulted to drop the set.

Then serving in set two at 5 all 30-40, the Canadian struck another unfortunate double-fault to drop his serve and trail 5-6.

Serving at set point, Djokovic struck an ace out wide to hold serve and take a two sets to none lead.

In the final set, Djokovic continued to showcase his defensive skills as he ran down several difficult balls to break serve at 5 all.

Serving for the match, Djokovic struck a crosscourt forehand volley winner to lead 15-0.

Shapovalov then faced match point after committing two backhand errors.

Djokovic struck an ace out wide to finish the one hour long set.

This year's Wimbledon semifinal showing from Shapovalov is his best career grand slam singles result.

In 2016, Shapovalov won the junior Wimbledon singles title.

Shapovalov, currently ranked 10 on the professional men's tennis tour, is scheduled to compete next week in Toronto, Canada.