"He's toying with me" - Denis Shapovalov recalls strange training incident with Bernard Tomic

Several ATP stars often practice together on their off-days during the season, leading Canadian Denis Shapovalov to recall a bizarre story that involved him training with Australian Bernard Tomic.

After his breakout season in 2019, Shapovalov has seen his form dip significantly over the past few years. However, the Canadian may be on the verge of righting the ship, as he won his second career title at the Belgrade Open a few months ago.

In an interview during the Ultimate Tennis Showdown finals, Shapovalov looked back to when he had a practice session with Australian Bernard Tomic ahead of the 2020 season.

“I was doing pre-season in the Gold Coast and I was super confident, I made Paris [Masters] finals, so I’m working so hard,” began Shapovalov. “[Mikhail] Youzhny was saying [Bernard] Tomic is here, maybe we should set up a practice.
“I’m like is he hitting? How good is it going to be? He’s like no he says he’s good, he said let’s do two hours tomorrow.
"We start hitting and everything is good, ten, 15 minutes in, he’s like hey can we grab a drink, I’m gassed, he’s on the bench saying this is my first hit in six months or something like that.
“He’s like guys I can’t do much more. And we’re saying ok, so Youzhny says hey can you stand on one side and move me? He’s like, yeah, yeah, no problem, I can do another ten minutes of that, no problem.
“After 30 minutes, he’s like yeah guys I’m done, I can’t go anymore, and Youzhny asks can we just play a quick tiebreak or ten points to finish practice? He’s like yeah, yeah sure let’s do it."

Shapovalov would go on to describe his utter disbelief at what happened next.

"Dude the guy crushes me like 10-4,” said Shapovalov. “Insane, I wasn’t playing bad, the guy was passing me, playing ridiculous, and I was like low-key ******. I’ve been putting in all of this work, the guy comes in, hasn’t hit in six months and he’s toying with me.
“I remember he comes up to me on the bench after that and he’s like so are you going to practice this afternoon? I’m like yeah I’m back on the court in a couple of hours, what about you? He’s like nah, I’m going to go surfing.”