With so many withdrawals, this year’s men’s Queen’s Club draw is wide open for a new champion.
Tommy Paul will naturally fancy his chances of reclaiming the title, and with no Carlos Alcaraz or Jack Draper to challenge, there’s cause for optimism across the board.
Stars like Alex de Minaur and Jiri Lehecka also make outstanding candidates.
However, there was one name who should have also seen this as a golden opportunity, and yet has spurned that chance.
Now, Pat Cash has criticised Denis Shapovalov for his limp defeat to the aforementioned Aussie, before actually offering to coach him.
Pat Cash offers to coach Denis Shapovalov after watching him at Queen’s
Speaking live on BBC Sport’s coverage of Queen’s, as he watched Shapovalov lose to De Minaur, Cash delivered his scathing assessment.
However, mixed within was an offer of help, as he claimed: “We know his plan A. It’s smashing serves and hitting spectacular shots, but when things aren’t going well, what do you do?
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“You’ve got to have a plan B if you get punched in the face a few times. His plan B is more of plan A. He would be the most frustrating player… I would love to sit down with him and work with him for a bit and bring out some toughness.
“When you say he has all the shots, he actually doesn’t have all the shots. He has big swings, but he doesn’t have that median shot that is good under pressure but not a complete defensive shot.
“Tennis is a game of controlled aggression. You teeter on that, sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less.”
Shapovalov was told he needs to ‘grow up’ at last year’s US Open, and it seems his penchant to self-destruct remains even now, just shy of a year on.
John McEnroe once predicted Denis Shapovalov to win multiple Grand Slam titles
Back in 2021, there was incredible excitement surrounding Shapovalov, and with good reason.
After all, it had been a meteoric rise for the Canadian star, who had become the youngest man to ever reach a Masters 1000 semi-final in Canada, and followed that up by reaching the Paris Masters final just two years later.
A top-ten player not long before, Shapovalov was taking all the right strides towards becoming a true threat on the ATP Tour.
And, before arguably the greatest run of his career to date, John McEnroe made a prediction about Shapovalov that did not seem so bold at the time.
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He claimed, speaking about both him and Felix Auger-Aliassime: “I think both of them are going to win majors at some stage in the not-too-distant future.”
Shapovalov went on to reach the semi-finals of Wimbledon just a month later, but has struggled for consistency ever since.
