Federer made Shapovalov feel “like a junior on the court” during Miami Open 2019 semis

Denis Shapovalov faced Roger Federer only once in his career, losing in straight sets

Switzerland’s Roger Federer in action at Wimbledon Image Credit: AI / Reuters / Panoramic

November 27, 2024

No player would have liked to face Roger Federer on the tennis court, given the Swiss dominated his opponents with his precise and elegant shot-making as long as he competed professionally. Denis Shapovalov realised the same about playing Federer during the 2019 Miami Open semi-final showdown — the Canadian’s solitary face-off with the Swiss.

Shapovalov reached the final four in Miami on the back of convincing wins against No 8 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, Russia’s Andrey Rublev and American Frances Tiafoe but failed to win a set against Federer in the semi-finals.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion defeated Shapovalov 6-2, 6-4 before clinching the Masters 1000 trophy in Miami by taking out local John Isner in the final.

During a round-table chat with Thanasi Kokkinakis and Dominic Thiem ahead of the 2024 UTS Grand Final, Shapovalov recalled the 2019 meeting with Federer:

“Federer can literally make you feel like a junior. I played him in Miami semi-finals, dude, I beat good players, I beat Rublev, I beat Tiafoe on the way there, I beat some other guys and I felt like a junior on the court. It was insane.”

At this, Kokkinakis, who interestingly got the better of the Swiss (3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4)) in the 2018 Miami Open Round of 64, chimed in:

“No one can make you look more ridiculous than him. Like, I’ve never seen him sweat dude. His hair just stays like… ‘Sweat bro!’ He’s got the biggest calves ever, if he’d shave his legs, it’d been game over for everyone. And also, he’s not even trying, he’s just taking the piss.”

Kokkinakis compares Federer with Nadal and Djokovic

Kokkinakis then differentiated Federer from Nadal and Djokovic for his effortless style of play:

“At least when Rafa plays, he’s like grunting… you feel like he’s getting pushed around. Nole’s like sliding and stuff. Federer just looks like taking the piss.”

Shapovalov, who has a negative head-to-head record (4-2) against Nadal, claimed feeling helpless on the court despite anticipating the Spaniard’s moves.

“But to me, they’re so different. Rafa was like so predictable, you knew exactly what he’s going to do but he’s just so good at it that you can’t do anything,” the Canadian added.

Dominic Thiem too praised the Swiss Maestro, who walked away from professional tennis in 2022, saying:

“With Roger you feel like, ‘Okay I’m going to play full heavy spin on his backhand.’ And then first point, like, you play a really good one to his backhand, and he steps in and he goes down the line.”