Canada's Denis Shapovalov during his third round match against Great Britain's Andy Murray at Wimbledon on July 2, 2021.PETER NICHOLLS/Reuters
When Denis Shapovalov stepped on to Wimbledon’s centre court for the first time on Friday to face British legend Andy Murray, many pundits thought the young Canadian would crack under the pressure and succumb to the resurgent Scot.
Instead it was Murray who couldn’t keep up as Shapovalov ran the two-time Wimbledon champion ragged and cruised to a straight-sets victory – 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 – that took only 2 hours 17 minutes.
Shapovalov, 22, took charge from the start, putting so much pressure on Murray that he fell twice in the opening two sets. A change of footwear didn’t help and by the fifth game Shapovalov had won two break points and Murray looked frustrated.
The crowd did its best to get the former world No. 1 going with constant chants of, “Let’s go Andy,” but as the match wore on it was Shapovalov who showed more grit. At one point in the second set, Shapovalov slipped, fell and still managed to return a volley that Murray misfired into the net.
By the third set Shapovalov was in complete control. He jumped out to a 5-1 lead as Murray began to sag and make uncharacteristic mistakes, including a rare double fault. Shapovalov struggled with his first serve in the opening sets but he blasted eight of his 13 aces in the final frame and ended the match with a blinding serve that Murray could only watch. He finished the match with 45 winners compared with 16 for Murray.
“I think it’s probably one of my best performances even outside of Wimbledon,” Shapovalov said afterward. “I think I definitely played really flawless today and just super solid.”
The victory went a long way toward proving Shapovalov’s status as a rising star. Although he’s seeded 10th in this year’s tournament, he’d never been beyond the second round at Wimbledon. Now he’s into the fourth round and poised to go further next week.
To be sure this wasn’t the Andy Murray of old. Murray, 34, is ranked 118th in the world and last played singles here in 2017. Since then he’s endured years of injuries and two hip operations, including a “hip resurfacing” procedure that involved inserting a metal plate. And yet he made a valiant return this week and rekindled visions of former glories with two dramatic wins in the first and second rounds.
On Wednesday he fell behind two sets to one to German qualifier Oscar Otte before rallying to win 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. Two days earlier he nearly blew a two set, 5-0 lead to Nikoloz Basilashvili, the 24th seed, but clawed back to win 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. Each time the crowd willed him on, cheering relentlessly and inspiring him to push harder.
But the toll of those matches – both more than three hours long – clearly showed on Friday and Murray acknowledged afterward that he still had a long way to go to compete with young hotshots such as Shapovalov. “For me to be able to compete with guys at his level, you know, my game needs to be spot-on,” he said. “I’m going to have to spend a lot of time on the practice court working on stuff.”
Before the match, Shapovalov talked about how he’d dreamed of playing Murray on the centre stage of a big tournament. Friday’s match didn’t disappoint.
“It was an incredible experience,” he said. “It was a dream of mine to, you know, to grow up one day and play on the centre court at Wimbledon. So to go out there today and to play a guy like Andy, who is also just such a legend, and to beat him today, you know, with the tennis I was playing, it was incredible for me.”
He’d never played Murray before and when the match ended, Shapovalov rushed to the net and the two embraced. “I just told him at the net that he’s my hero,” Shapovalov said. Then he smiled and added; “I was just like a kid out there. It was just like my dream always to be on that court. Every point I was just having my moment, having my dream, and I just wanted it to last as long as possible. It was just so much fun.”
Shapovalov, of Richmond Hill, Ont., faces No. 8 Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain on Monday in the grass court Grand Slam’s round of 16. Agut reached the semi-finals in 2019. Montreal’s Félix Auger-Aliassime, seeded 16th, takes on Nick Kyrgios of Australia in the third round Saturday.