ATP: On the last groove in Paris

Denis Shapovalov finished his year on the ATP tour. The Canadian’s performance in his two-set defeat against Julien Benneteau was marked by a certain amount of exhaustion.

Whoever starts the tennis year in Happy Valley and finishes in Milan in a few days has done many things right, maybe even everything from a professional point of view. Even though the last few metres of the route for Denis Shapovalov are more like a tedious dragging away than a spurt with the incredible dynamics that distinguished the Canadian in the summer of 2017. The match between Shapovalov and Julien Benneteau on Monday evening at the Palais des Omnisports in Paris did not do justice to the 18-year-old’s actual performance. Or maybe they do. After all, the ascent from 250th place in the world rankings to the top 50, in which Shapovalov will probably be found after the end of the year, leaves its mark on a player.

In the concrete case, these were impatience and rather weak setbacks, two flaws that Martin Laurendeau, coach Shapovalovs, will seek to eliminate in the much-anticipated off-season. Günter Bresnik, whose academy Denis Shapovalov spent a few days training last year, was positioned as an interested spectator in a few rows about Laurendeau. With Dominic Thiem at his side – also a man who can clearly feel the strains of the season. Even if at a much higher level than Shapovalov.

He played his way into the limelight in the summer, first at home masters in Montréal when he defeated Rafael Nadal, only to be defeated in the semi-finals by Alexander Zverev. But then especially at the US Open, where Shapovalov did not finish until round four against Pablo Carreno Busta. After that, not much has happened since then, experienced players such as Adrian Mannarino in Basel, Viktor Troicki in Shanghai or Benneteau in Paris have found effective remedies against Shapovalov.

Who doesn’t have this performance curve exclusively. Players such as Karen Khachanov or Andrey Rublev, also qualified for the #NextGen Masters in Milan, are also on their last legs. Rublev recently tested the stability of the course limits in Vienna at his performance against Dominic Thiem, but Khachanov at least tormented Jo-Wilfried Tsonga a little bit.

The freshest of the new generation is currently a man who will probably arrive in Milan as a reserve: Stefanos Tsitsipas, as well as Denis Shapovalov, who has only been on the professional tour for a year. Top 100 already. The goals of many youngsters are therefore the same, only the starting positions are slightly different: Tsitsipas has started his season not in Happy Valley, but in Noumea, New Caledonia.

Here the single panel in Paris