Shapovalov on changing his return for clay swing "Definitely improved my clay game"

Denis Shapovalov is entering the clay part of the season with great expectations and the young Canadian spoke about the upcoming swing.

It has been an okay season for Shapovalov so far who has reached a semifinal in Dubai before losing in Miami to eventual champion Hubert Hurkacz. For the incoming clay season, Shapovalov has high expectations due to his improved comfort level on the surface. The reason is a change to his returning technique:

“I’ve improved standing further back on the returns on the clay court, on the red dirt, just to give myself more time and start the point going a bit heavier, deeper and just moving into the court after that. I feel like it’s definitely benefitted my clay-court game.”

It's a very noticeable change for Shapovalov who said he stands about three steps further back than usual. Explaining in depth his reasoning for doing it he said:

“It just gives me time for the ball to come down so I can hit it back up heavy and work myself into the point. I also feel on clay there are a lot of tough bounces and on the serve. If there’s a little bit of a [tough] bounce, then it’s pretty impossible when you’re standing close. But if you’re far back, you can still react to it.”

As far as his adaption to clay he said it's tough because the surface is so unique compared to others. He said:

“I think it just takes time [to adjust to it]. It’s longer points, longer rallies and you really have to get used to the sliding and feeling the surface. That in itself takes longer to get used to. Usually, points are pretty short, but going onto the clay, you’re expecting long points.”

He will play Jeremy Chardy later today at the Barcelona Open and on the event he said:

“It’s definitely just one of those tournaments that I wanted to get in on to get used to the clay. It’s the first tournament on the surface this year, so I’m just trying to get my feet wet on it.”