"Obviously I'm a huge fan of his" - Shapovalov on win over Nadal

Denis Shapovalov was getting outplayed by Nadal easily but a foot flare-up in the 2nd part of the match hampered Nadal as the Canadian rose to the occasion.

When Rafael Nadal won the opening set 6-1 nobody in the stands thought he could lose the match but he did. A foot flare-up in the final set hampered Nadal's movement so much that he was mostly jogging at times and limping between points. The younger and healthier Shapovalov was able to take advantage of that and win the match saying afterwards:

"I was just trying to change something. He was completely outplaying me at the beginning of the match. Obviously the first set, the beginning of the second, I was just hanging in there. Definitely really happy to turn it around."

He further said:

"Obviously I'm a huge fan of his, growing up," Shapovalov said of the Spaniard. "I watched him play so many times. Growing up, I wanted to play and behave like him. So I definitely super look up to him and hopefully he's fit for [Roland Garros]."

Up next is Ruud and on that, Shapovalov said:

"Casper is extremely difficult. I've only played him one time and he got the better of me. He's an opponent with almost no weaknesses so it's going to be another challenging match for me."