It’s a style and a catchphrase: let it rip. And tennis’s most dynamic rising superstar, 18-year-old Canadian lefty Denis Shapovalov is showing people what it means. American golfer John Daly — the crowd-pleasing, long-hitting, mullet-wearing blond who once stormed golf’s inner sanctum was famous for his grip-it-and-rip-it style. Now Denis Shapovalov is bringing the same excitement to the tennis tour — wearing long blond hair and letting it all hang out on the court — while having a rip at every groundstroke as if his life depends on it and covering the court as thoroughly as paint.
Tennis Hall of Famer Mats Wilander thinks Shapovalov is a lethal combination of Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal, telling Eurosport that Shapovalov is on a “completely different level” from any other young player in tennis. He brings the grace and shotmaking of Federer with the unrelenting will and exhaustive court coverage of Nadal. Like Nadal, Shapovalov is a lefty, but like Federer he employs a fierce and elegant one-handed backhand. Shapovalov is the player to watch at the 2017 US Open, where he sent veteran Jo-Wilfried Tsonga home early. Nobody in the men’s draw is hitting the ball harder and more dynamically than Shapovalov.
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