Denis Shapovalov: 'I watched videos of Rafael Nadal on clay'
Denis Shapovalov still needs to work a lot in order to deliver his best tennis on clay. This year during this part of the season the Canadian has won just two matches on the surface and in an interview to the French Open programme, he said: "When you are from Canada, you know the grass, that's a surface you played on but for example I do not know a lot about clay, which intrigues me. I spent time watching videos featuring Rafael Nadal in order to learn. French Open is the ultimate tournament."
On his new coach Adriano Fuorivia, Shapovalov added: "I think it's just good working with Adriano because he knows me so well. And I think beyond the coaching relationship, we're almost like family. We're really close. And when we're separated for a couple of years, in that time, I mean, we've still maintained a really close relationship. We're always hanging out in Toronto, you know, and yeah, it goes beyond tennis. But I think he's a great guy to have on my side just because I can always speak so openly with him. If I'm feeling something, if I think we got to work on something here, you know, he's the guy that's going to listen and tell me straight up. And I think another important thing is that he -- as I said, he'll tell me everything straight up. He's not going to sugarcoat anything. If he thinks I'm not putting in the work or not doing something right, he's going to be there to tell me. And I think that's so important for me to have that, have that kind of -- you know, this kind of people on my team. And, yeah, I mean, I think it's been really good so far. We've been really putting in some good work in the clay court season. We've been going the extra mile. Obviously, it's not paying off, but I don't think it ever pays off right away. It's going to take time. It's going to take three, four months, and I'm sure I'm going to see a lot of changes in my game. And I'm very confident and I think he's a great addition."
from Tennis World USA https://www.tennisworldusa.org/tennis/news/Rafael_Nadal/71267/denis-shapovalov-i-watched-videos-of-rafael-nadal-on-clay-/
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