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Denis Shapovalov is enjoying a bit of a resurgence in the second half of 2024.
The 25-year-old Canadian burst onto the scene in 2017, cracked the top 15 in 2019 and peaked at World No. 10 in 2020 and made a Wimbledon semifinal in 2021, but it’s been choppy waters for Shapovalov since that run.
After turning in a decent season in 2022, Shapovalov endured an injury-plagued 2023 campaign.
The Toronto native sat out the entire North American hard-court season.
A shot-maker who plays a high-risk, high-reward game, a lengthy absence would always be a killer for Shapovalov.
If he’s making too many unforced errors or is out of rhythm, he can’t play to his strengths.
That’s why Shapovalov’s slow start to 2024 shouldn’t be a surprise.
It would take about six months for Shapovalov to start showing some form, but it does look as if he has started to turn a corner.
He put together some encouraging results on the grass and then responded to a loss to David Goffin at ATP Atlanta with impressive wins over Roberto Bautista-Agut and Adrian Mannarino at ATP Washington.
Shapovalov’s recent form has turned heads enough to make him a -175 favorite over Miomir Kecmanovic in Thursday’s quarterfinal in the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington, D.C.
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There is still too much volatility in Shapovalov’s game to lay this kind of juice on a moneyline, but if Shapovalov is fully fit and firing, he could absolutely play Kecmanovic, who is out of form, off the court in this contest.
That puts some value on this being a whitewash for the high-flying Canuck.
THE PLAY: Shapovalov -1.5 sets (+140, DraftKings).