Shapovalov’s injury troubles continue with frustrating first-round exit from NBO
MONTREAL — Denis Shapovalov’s run at the National Bank Open presented by Rogers was cut dramatically short on Tuesday afternoon when he hobbled off centre court at IGA Stadium after injuries forced him to concede his first-round match to USA’s Zachary Svajda.
The Richmond Hill, Ont., native came to Montreal following his best result in an ATP tournament in the last year. His appearance in the final of the Los Cabos Open in Mexico last week gave him hope of finally fulfilling the promise he first showed on these courts back in 2017 when he beat Rafael Nadal, then lost in the semifinals — becoming the first Canadian man to win on home soil since Robert Bedard last did in 1958.
But that hope was promptly dashed as soon as Shapovalov felt a twinge in his right leg.
It came in the last game of the second set and then nagged the 27-year-old enough through the first three games of the third for him to finally walk to the net and shake hands with Svajda, who was credited with a 4-6, 6-4, 3-0 win.
The loss for Shapovalov took him as far away from winning this Masters 1000 event as he’s ever been.
“Playing in Canada, I wanted to make my best effort playing in front of the fans,” Shapovalov said. “Unfortunately, I just couldn’t get past the finish line. It felt like other parts of my body were starting to go.”
It’s been a familiar feeling for him since a knee injury suffered in 2023 sidelined him for six months.
Shapovalov has struggled with that ailment ever since — and with several others that have derailed his once-promising career.
This year, it started with a fractured rib sustained at Queen’s Club in June. He tried to play through it at Wimbledon but ended up suffering a shoulder injury that forced him to withdraw during Round 1.
“It’s part of the sport,” Shapovalov said on Monday after arriving in Montreal on a bum ankle. “You have so many guys nowadays that are struggling with injuries. It’s a gruelling season, it’s a gruelling sport, so it’s not easy. There’s a lot of things we have to fight.”
There have been too many for him since he first made a name for himself by vaulting from 143rd in the world to 67th with wins over Rogerio Dutra Silva, Juan Martin del Potro, top-seed Nadal and Frenchman Adrian Mannarino nine years ago in Montreal.
Shapovalov captivated thousands of fans — Wayne Gretzky among them — in what was his second appearance in the Canadian Open, and a semifinal loss to Alexander Zverev hardly dulled optimism he could quickly become the nation’s best player. He snapped his chariot-whip forehand to great effect and ripped tantalizing one-handed backhands on the run that week, showing the promise of a top-tier shot maker in the process.
But Shapovalov hasn’t been past the second round of the Canadian Open more than once since then, and his rise to 10th in the world in 2020 feels like a blip on the radar when contrasted with the injuries and inconsistency that have ruled his career over the last six years. Triumphs — like his 2025 tournament win in Dallas, which was earned with wins over Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul and Casper Ruud, who were all in the top 10 and were the three top seeds that week — have been overshadowed by tribulations, and this latest result in Montreal feels like more of the same.
It came after wins over Rinky Hijikata, Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez, Dalibor Svercina and Cameron Norrie propelled Shapovalov to a final he dropped to Arthur Gea in Mexico last week. And though it appeared improbable after he cruised to a 6-4 opening-set win against the 87th-ranked Svajda in just 40 minutes, it became inevitable one hour later.
“Been struggling with an ankle injury since the finals,” Shapovalov revealed. “Seems I sprained it or did something during the finals of Los Cabos, so it’s been pretty painful the last few days. It felt like other parts of my body were starting to go. I started having muscle tension and problems in my hamstring and my quad, started to feel my knee. It was just a combination of things that got pretty bad from overcompensating for the ankle. So yeah, frustrating.”
That made Shapovalov the third Canadian bounced from the tournament’s opening round, with nearby Newmarket’s Liam Draxl becoming the fourth shortly after his withdrawal from the match with Svajda.
Now the country’s hopes of crowning a first homegrown champion of the ATP’s Open Era rest solely with Montreal’s Gabriel Diallo and Felix Auger-Aliassime.
The former, who’s currently ranked 108th in the world, won his opening match over Kyrian Jacquet 6-7, 6-3, 6-2 on Monday but is a heavy underdog in Tuesday’s second-round match against 22nd-ranked Luciano Darderi. The latter was a quarterfinalist at both the French Open and Wimbledon and has the best chance of ending the 68-year drought.
Auger-Aliassime also ranks fourth in the world and is seeded second behind Zverev, who won the French Open but lost the Wimbledon final to World No. 1 Jannik Sinner. After receiving a first-round bye, Auger-Aliassime will play his first match Wednesday night against France’s Titouan Droguet (119th).