US OPEN

August 28, 2025

Denis Shapovalov

Press Conference

D. SHAPOVALOV/V. Royer

7-6, 3-6, 7-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You've got Jannik next. You've already played him once at the Aussie Open. I wonder what your memories are of that match. Does anything stand out in your mind from that occasion?

DENIS SHAPOVALOV: Yeah, I remember it was a very tough match back then. I believe I won in five in the end, but it was a lot of back and forth, and was a very difficult first round for both of us, I think.

Yeah, definitely a great match to look back on, but of course, a lot has changed. I think Jannik has improved tremendously since that, as well, and I believe so have I. It's been, yeah, a few years now. Definitely looking forward to another matchup with him.

Yeah, these are the type of matches that I kind of live for. You know, I enjoy playing it, so I'm looking forward to it.

Q. You said Jannik has improved a lot since then. What do you consider his greatest strengths, and what do you consider the biggest challenges for you when you face him?

DENIS SHAPOVALOV: I mean, he's got a lot of strengths, you know, being the player that he is. Yeah, he doesn't have many weaknesses. Obviously, he's solid from everywhere. I'm going to have to dictate and try to play my game and, yeah, go for my strokes.

He's not going to give too much away for me in the match. Yeah, I just have to take what I can with him, take my opportunities as well when I get them, and try to stay aggressive and not let him dictate too much.

Q. So much of this game -- every player talks about it -- is confidence. Where would you say your confidence is at this point and sort of where has it been throughout the year I guess starting with Dallas?

DENIS SHAPOVALOV: Belgrade.

Q. Excuse me?

DENIS SHAPOVALOV: Belgrade last year.

I would say my confidence is very high. I would say it's different than when I was young and the confidence would be high, but it would be pretty fragile, I would say.

I think now -- and you can see with my results -- that the confidence is there. Even if I have a bad few weeks or unlucky draws or a couple of tough matches, I'm able to bring it back and play at a high level when the next week comes.

I think that's why I have been able to win three titles in less than 12 months, and that's why I've been able to have so many great weeks recently. I definitely think that the confidence is there.

I'm playing great tennis. Today was not an easy match by any means. It was super high level and very difficult, and I was able to pull through playing some incredibly big tennis, especially in that third set tiebreak there.

Yeah, I think it's kind of a more solid confidence that I have in myself. I think it comes with age, but also, you know, knowing with the work that I've done and the team that I have around me. You know, they're all putting in 100%. That also brings a lot of stability and a lot of, yeah, confidence in each other.

Q. When you look back at maybe the last couple of years where your ranking slipped and definitely not due to your talent, but to do with a lot of physical issues, how do you maybe look back and reflect? What lessons do you take from those years? Does that eventually make you better than ever having lived through that?

DENIS SHAPOVALOV: 100%. I think I'm very grateful for going through what I did with my knee. It was definitely the toughest challenge I've ever had. First of all, not knowing if I would ever be back on court pain-free. There was a lot of doubtful days and tough moments.

It was a long road to get back. Even when I started back up, there was a lot of difficult matches, wasn't getting the wins, and I was up in the matches or the pain would come back in the knee. So it was a really, really tough road, but I'm very grateful for, like I said, my team and the close ones around me, because they kind of kept me going forward and kept reassuring me that the results and everything will come.

I had to stay very, very patient last year. I only got the result I wanted the last week of the year with winning Belgrade. It was definitely worthwhile. Honestly, that title meant 100 times more to me than the first title that I won in Stockholm. It was huge for me.

Yeah, it's been a road to get back. It's never easy to climb back in the rankings. There's a lot of new, young guys coming up. Your name is not as fearful as -- when you're 10 in the world, it has a little bit more emphasis than when you're climbing back in the rankings.

I've definitely had to work to where I am. I think I'm in a great spot, winning two titles this year, playing some great tennis, into the third round here. I have a shot against a guy like Jannik. It's great for me. Yeah, I look forward to it.