"He needed three months to recover" - Mouratoglou claims Shapovalov was devastated after loss to Djokovic

Renowned coach Patrick Mouratoglou believes that Denis Shapovalov required a lot of time to mentally recover after his loss to Novak Djokovic at the 2021 Wimbledon Championships, adding that it was actually a positive sign for the Canadian.

Shapovalov lost in straight sets to Djokovic in the semifinals of the All England Club, and had a subpar performance during the rest of the season. Mouratoglou claims that the 22-year old needing that much time to recover after his Wimbledon loss was a sign he had higher expectations for himself.

“The fact that he needed, like three or four months to recover from a loss against Novak, I know it’s going to sound strange, but I see it as a very positive sign," said Mouratoglou. “I’ve seen players do a great result in one tournament and be extremely happy, and some others, like Stefanos Tsitsipas in the past, same for Denis, it’s never enough.

"It was his first semis in a grand slam. He loses against probably the greatest player of all time, Novak, and he is destroyed."

Mouratoglou compared Shapovalov's reaction to Stefanos Tsitsipas, who lost to Rafael Nadal at the same stage of the Australian Open a few years ago.

“Same with Stefanos, when he lost in semi-finals of the Australian Open a few years back against Rafa," added Mouratoglou. "He was destroyed that he lost this match. That’s a good sign. It shows that they put their goals extremely high."