US OPEN

September 6, 2020

Denis Shapovalov

Press Conference

D. SHAPOVALOV/D. Goffin

6-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Denis, you mentioned on court that you had done some work with a sports psychologist. Do you feel that work has been helping you some of these rough patches?

DENIS SHAPOVALOV: Yeah, definitely. I mean, huge, huge shout out to Vadim. He's helped me tremendously. I've been working with him the last five, six months. Mischa recommended to bring him onboard. I'm really glad that they're part of my team.

He's definitely been helping me with not just tennis stuff but life stuff, too. Definitely a lot on court. Definitely helped me so much in these matches.

Of course after the first set, it was a tough one for me to lose. I had so many opportunities. He played a tremendous tiebreak. I didn't have any chances there. I was definitely doing the exercises we work with with Vadim to calm down, regroup. Surely enough it helped me once again today.

I'm really happy with the way I've been able to kind of learn from them and grow as a player, as a competitor. It's just the start. It's only been five, six months of working with them. I know other players have worked with years for their psychologists. Hopefully it's nothing but upwards in terms of that.

Q. When you say 'them', you mean Vadim?

DENIS SHAPOVALOV: Vadim and Mischa.

Q. Talk about how it feels to make your first Grand Slam quarterfinal, what the keys were tonight.

DENIS SHAPOVALOV: Yeah, definitely super exciting to be in my first quarterfinals of a Grand Slam. Obviously I had the run I think it was three, four years ago making fourth round. To kind of get over that hump, make my first quarters, it's a huge boost for me to see that my hard work's paying off.

Of course, I knew going into it David is going to be a very tricky and tough player. I knew it was going to be a battle out there, a lot of long rallies. I tried to match his steadiness while still trying to play my game and be aggressive when I had the opportunity. I feel like all four sets I executed that really well.

I was getting a little bit unlucky in the first set. He was playing some great, great tennis, especially on the breakpoints. I had the tough hold right before the tiebreak. After I held my serve there, I kind of deflated and he raised his level. Just too good from him.

Q. Your thoughts on the situation with Novak Djokovic? You went through an unfortunate situation in your career. Would you ever reach out to Novak and share some of what you experienced?

DENIS SHAPOVALOV: Yeah, of course. First of all, it's just super unfortunate for everybody. I mean, I've been in that situation so I know exactly how Novak is feeling. Of course, he had no intentions to go after the lines woman. Thankfully she's okay. It could have ended up very, very bad. Luckily everybody is okay. Like I said, it's just super unfortunate for everybody.

Hopefully Novak can shake it off and move on. I mean, of course, he needs to grow and learn from this. But it's super, super unlucky as well. The ball could have went anywhere. It's just super unfortunate.

Q. Do you think Novak should have apologized publicly beyond the tweet?

DENIS SHAPOVALOV: Honestly, I'd prefer not to answer more questions about that. I just feel like I gave my statement, and that's enough. But, yeah, that was up to him. Sorry.

Q. I heard what you just said, and you don't have to answer this. You obviously went through an incredibly difficult situation...

DENIS SHAPOVALOV: If we could just focus on the tennis, that would be amazing. Thank you.

THE MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, Denis has answered the question. It is in the transcript. If we could focus the questions on tennis. I'm not going to tell you what to ask, but he has given his answer. Please let us move on to tennis questions.

DENIS SHAPOVALOV: Thank you, guys.

Q. I don't know if you're going to want to answer this one either. You said something pretty incredible on Ashe after the match on how your girlfriend has helped you grow as a person. Could you talk a little bit more about that, how she's helped you.

DENIS SHAPOVALOV: Yeah, I just think as soon as we started dating, it's kind of a reason for someone to want to man up. I felt like she's definitely inspired me to become a better person, a better tennis player.

But I didn't mean to take anything away from my parents or my team, as well. I feel like everybody's inspiring me. They're staying up at nights watching my matches. Everybody is supporting me. Throughout the start of my life, I mean, my parents have just been there always for me. I think it's everybody.

But, of course, she inspires me as well.

Q. I spoke with David. He basically said you were aggressive throughout the match, that you were stable. Sometimes you can be all over the place with your shots. Did you feel that way during the match? Do you feel like your game has been more stable?

DENIS SHAPOVALOV: Yeah, that was my mindset going into it. I knew that I can't just try to slap my way through the match and be over aggressive because he's just too good for that. He's too steady. Surely he would have waited for the opportunity where I'm missing a couple and taken advantage.

Yeah, it was definitely trying to play more steady. I feel like Mischa has helped me a lot with that, just not going out there and trying to blast balls left and right, but actually playing smarter and playing more crafty. He's such a crafty player. I'm thankful he's been able to teach me some of that, help me implement that in my game.

Q. 'We'll be back and we'll be playing the finals.' Those were your kind words to Felix in 2018. That could happen this year. What would it mean to you? Did you really think two years ago that it could happen?

DENIS SHAPOVALOV: Yeah, I mean, of course I thought it could happen. If I didn't think it could happen, I mean, I wouldn't say it. It's definitely a potential that it could happen this year.

It's still very far away. There's so many great players in the draw for both of us. It's going to be extremely difficult to get that far.

But I'm sure at some point in our careers we're going to be playing finals against each other hopefully. Yeah, I mean, that would just be amazing. To grow up with a really close friend, a guy that you've been battling against for years from juniors, to go through futures, challengers, everything together, all the way to the top of the Grand Slam major finals. It would be a movie.

Q. Your thoughts on your next opponent?

DENIS SHAPOVALOV: I played him I think four times. I think it's 3-1 for him. He's beaten me every time on hard courts. It's definitely going to be an extremely tough, tough challenge.

Obviously he's kind of like David: very solid, very stable from the back. It's going to be a similar matchup for me. Yeah, I think it's pretty much the same thing: I have to play my game but remain steady as possible.