‘I broke myself’- Denis Shapovalov takes blame for disappointing display

Denis Shapovalov is disappointed in himself following an underwhelming defeat in the third round of the final Slam of the season.

The Canadian was stopped in his US Open run by South African Lloyd Harris, who overcame the world number 10 in straight sets 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

While Harris undoubtedly performed well, Shapovalov believes he beat himself in the end, pointing to numerous chances in the match.

“I was my own opponent today,” Shapovalov told TSN following the loss. “[I was] struggling a lot with the serve and really I beat myself. I mean the match obviously shows that.

“I was up. Had a lot of chance in the first set, up in the second and third, and I broke myself. So, it’s super frustrating, but it is what it is. [I’ve] just got to continue to work and try to get better.”

Shapovalov secured early breaks in the second and third sets to go up 2-0 in each, but went on to surrender them soon after before being broken once more at 4-4 in each case to give Harris the chance to serve out the set and the match respectively.

“In terms of fighting, I think I did a great job of bouncing back after the first set, bouncing back after the second set,” Shapovalov conceded. “But when the serve’s going on like that it’s very difficult to compete against a guy like Lloyd (Harris) where you know you’re not gonna have  a lot of break opportunities.

“You gotta win your service games and focus on that. It sucks, but like I said I just need to continue to work and get better.”

Shapovalov’s best Slam result of the season, and his career, came at Wimbledon where he reached the semi-finals.

The third round is not where the 22-year-old would have wanted to exit, having made the quarter-finals, a career-best, in New York in 2020.

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