Denis Shapovalov: "I feel like I can beat any player"

Denis Shapovalov will have his sight set on the trophy for the 2021 Estoril Open as he's the highest-seeded player in Portugal.

The young Canadian enters the draw as no. 1 seed with a clay-court specialist Christian Garin being no. 2 in Estoril. Denis Shapovalov admitted that clay is not his favorite surface, but he has still qualities to prove that he's the strongest at this year's Estoril Open.

“It doesn’t matter who’s on the other side, I’m going to play my game and when it clicks, then it clicks,” Shapovalov said. “I don’t know if it’s ever a specific moment or not, but it just happens.”

“You get a win here or there and then you start feeling super confident,” he said. “That’s where I think I can be dangerous; when I start getting those couple wins under my belt, start feeling my game, then I feel like I’m able to beat any of the players.”

“No expectations, I just try and take it one match at a time and really just focus on myself,” Shapovalov said. “I do think I could go deep in these tournaments. I love to play no matter where I am, no matter against whom, I just love to play, I love to dominate and play aggressively.”

“If I’m being completely honest, I prefer other surfaces,” Shapovalov said. “I do love the feeling of playing on clay, the sliding. It is more gruelling, it’s longer points. I think my favourite is grass. There is just practically no rallies, so it’s awesome. It is just serves and returns, it’s perfect.”

“You try to build the points a little bit more, you try to be a bit more patient, construct a bit more on the clay because obviously a lot of guys are far back and it’s much slower so it’s tough to just hit and come in,” Shapovalov said. “You have to really pick the right ball. But nonetheless, on hard courts or on clay courts or whatever surface I’m playing on I’m trying to be aggressive and come in, so it doesn’t really change at the end of the day.”