Quote:
Originally Posted by Nadal Fan
I honestly think Shapo has the firepower to still go deep in slams and he's still young. He always gave Nadal fits whenever they played.
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His biggest issue has been and still is at times between the ears (that said, it was a pretty serious knee injury that put him out of action and cost him essentially a year). He does seem to be keeping his emotions in check a lot better of late, though.
As for his game, like most of the top players, when the serve is working, it takes a ton of pressure off the rest of your game. He didn't serve as well against Fritz as he did against Kecmanovic, but he was still +8 (15 aces to 7 double faults) on the night. As EE mentioned, he doesn't have to hit his 2nd serve as hard as he does sometimes, it is big enough even at 80% to get the job done and count down on the double faults.
As for the 80% rule, it applies to the rest of his game as well. Shapo plays his best tennis when he dials it back a bit and hits to big targets, he doesn't have to paint lines because he has plenty of power on both wings.
Tough one tonight agains Machac, but the win against Fritz last night has to give Denis a lot of confidence, let's go Shapo!!