"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."

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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."