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ROGERS CUP

August 11, 2017

Denis Shapovalov

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

D. SHAPOVALOV/A. Mannarino

2-6, 6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You're able to sit down tonight.
DENIS SHAPOVALOV: That's a positive (smiling).

Q. What would you say was the difference between your game yesterday and your game today? How were you able to adjust?
DENIS SHAPOVALOV: Yeah, felt like yesterday it was just a longer, more physical match. Sorry, I'm a little bit cold.

Yeah, I started off pretty slow. Just drained from yesterday. Rafa took a lot out of me. But Adrian did a good job of, you know, playing fast with me in the first set, really taking it to me.

Yeah, I felt like he was just really solid, wasn't giving me anything. I felt a little bit rushed. I tried to slow things down in the second. Obviously the rain delay helped me.

During the rain delay, I kind of told myself, you know, This could be a really good turning point. It's giving him a little bit of time to think about his game. He got a little bit cold. It's always tough to come out and serve after having, you know, 11, 12 minutes off.

I knew at that point it could be a turning point. Yeah, took advantage there. After I broke him, I kind of felt confidence again, and I ran with it.

Q. Are we finding out this week that you like to have your back up against the wall in order to perform your best, show the ice in your veins, the way Gretzky said it?
DENIS SHAPOVALOV: No, I guess. But obviously I'd rather win 2-2, 1-1.

Yeah, I've been, like you said, against the wall a couple times this week. Yeah, you know, I'm very happy I've come out several times just playing really good tennis in those situations.

Yeah, I think it really shows how I've improved mentally along with, yeah, just finding my game at the right moments.

Q. This win means that you should reach around 66 in the rankings. That could mean a change in objectives, because you said you wanted to get into the top 100 by the end of the year, and that's gone. Also you will be able to access a lot more tournaments than before. I understand it's only been a few minutes, but what is going to happen in the future?
DENIS SHAPOVALOV: Yeah, I don't know (laughter). It's tough to think about that right now. I mean, I'm taking it one match at a time.

Yeah, when I beat Rafa, I got top 100. Today, you know, I'm 66, like you said. It's a lot of changes happening within a couple days. For now, I'm ranked 144, till the end of the week.

Yeah, we'll plan after the event. It's going to be a little bit of a change now. Probably playing more ATPs, fewer challengers.

But yeah, I mean, I still have to discuss that with my team and my coach.

Q. You've had some good and long battles in the last four days. How physically and mentally drained are you right now?
DENIS SHAPOVALOV: I feel good. Like I said, I started off pretty slow today. You know, just physically drained from Rafa. When you play against him... It took everything out of me to try to compete with him.

Yeah, I feel good right now. Physically speaking, I feel fine. I mean, yesterday I was cramping up a little bit. Today I felt good on the court.

In the third set, I felt like I was starting to move well again. I was kind of finding my range. Mentally speaking, I feel fresh. I took last week off. I've been winning some tough battles.

But, yeah, mentally speaking, I feel really good.

Q. Last night you came at midnight. Describe what happened after media. When did you go to sleep? Did you sleep well? When did you manage to erase the Nadal match and think about the upcoming match?
DENIS SHAPOVALOV: Yeah, after media, I can't even remember. Well, I got a massage, worked with my physio and stuff. I went home, saw Felix. Everyone was waiting up. Nobody could sleep. Yeah, we chatted in the living room for a couple minutes.

Tried to head to sleep around 1 a.m. Didn't sleep until 3. Tried to put the phone down and go to bed. But, yeah, it was just like a little bit of a struggle.

But, yeah, I found some sleep. I think I slept until 10 or 11, so I got some pretty good sleep. Yeah, we decided just to take it easy today since I was cramping a little bit yesterday. It was just a draining match. So we took it easy.

Like I said, I slept in. Had breakfast pretty late. Came here, had some lunch. Took another nap for an hour or so. I got my rest in. Then I had a light hit. I felt a little bit heavy on the legs, but I felt pretty good.

Yeah, then just got ready for the match.

Q. The match against Nadal yesterday, everybody was talking about that today, how did you manage to erase the from your mind and focus on the other one?
DENIS SHAPOVALOV: Yeah, I think from the morning, it was kind of, Okay, that was yesterday. Now I have to focus. It's a big match against Adrian.

I think from the morning, I kind of made the focus for today's match. Obviously it was a little bit hard with ATP and you guys coming up with those memories of when I was a little kid shaking Nadal's hand. That was pretty funny (smiling).

Yeah, it was a little bit tough to refocus. But I think from eating lunch, from the warmup, I kind of got into today's match.

Q. Shaking Nadal's hand, did that ever go through your mind before you played the match yesterday?
DENIS SHAPOVALOV: No, it didn't actually. I can't remember who posted it. Someone posted it. Yeah, after I kind of remembered. I didn't even remember that happened. Well, I remember the day, right? But it just didn't come to my head until someone posted a picture.

Yeah, I remember that day really well. Actually, me and Judd (phonetic), who is the other kid in the picture, were actually supposed to play for five minutes before the match. Tursunov and I think it was James Blake, they took such a long time to finish the match, it was ridiculous, their match, so we didn't get a chance to play. I was a little bit bummed out because I thought Rafa was going to watch me play before his match, yeah.

Yeah, I mean, we got to take a picture with them, which was very cool for me.

Q. You weren't a ball boy?
DENIS SHAPOVALOV: No, yeah, me and Judd (phonetic) were coming up. I actually remember that match. Andreev, he actually rolled his ankle a couple games into the match. Yeah, it's crazy how vividly I remember that day. But, yeah, he tried to battle it out, but he was struggling with his foot.

Q. This afternoon Roger Federer said that he watched the whole match last night between you and Rafa. He was very amused. He said he could see that you have a higher gear than the normal. How do you feel with this kind of endorsement?
DENIS SHAPOVALOV: A higher what?

Q. Gear.
DENIS SHAPOVALOV: Yeah, I mean, first of all, Roger watching my match, that's an honor for me. Roger is my hero. He's my idol. Just seeing him here in the locker rooms, like I said, I still get shellshocked. To have him speak so highly of me, it's a huge honor. It's a huge confidence boost, you know, to have someone that's so good at the game say such nice words about my game.

Q. What are you most proud of about what you've accomplished so far here?
DENIS SHAPOVALOV: Yeah, I think just my fighting spirit. If I don't save those match points in the first match, there's no chance of being here.

Yeah, I think just, you know, having to battle every day. I've had several tough matches. Just getting through it every day, it's really motivating.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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