Denis Shapovalov to Partner Mikhail Youzhny For US Open 2019

The former World Number eight, Mikhail Youzhny made his last professional appearance at 2018 St. Petersburg Open and over there he called off his tennis career. Presently, the 37-year-old, Youzhny was sighted working with Denis Shapovalov at Winston-Salem Open 2019 and later, he confirmed his partnership with the young Canadian tennis player. And both of them will be working together for the US Open series.

When the Russian tennis player culminated his tennis career, he said, “I like Denis Shapovalov’s game the most. [The rest of them] play pretty much the same—someone serves better, someone makes fewer unforced errors. But Denis’ game is more interesting.”

For a long time in his career, Denis Shapovalov trained under his mother, Tessa Shapovalov. Last year, he added Rob Steckley to his coaching team. He replaced Martin Laurendeau because Laurendeau could no longer travel with them due to back issues.

This will be the first coaching experience for the Muscovite, Youzhny and their partnership should make a difference in the Canadian’s performance on the circuit. Both Youzhny and Shapovalov have a one-handed backhand. And Youzhny’s backhand was considered to be the most unusual backhands on tour.

This year, the Israel-Born tennis player, Denis Shapovalov showed up in the semi-finals of Miami Open 2019 and lost to the eventual champion and his idol, Roger Federer. It was their first meeting ever. Post that, he just won two matches during the European clay-court season and no matches during the grass season.

He was the home-favorite during the Montreal Open 2019 and over there he lost to Dominic Thiem in a tight three-set match and his poor run continued in Cincinnati where he fell to Lukas Pouille.

The second seed at Winston-Salem Open 2019, Shapovalov will be playing against Tennys Sandgren who earlier defeated the Brit, Andy Murray in his opening round match in North Carolina.