Denis Shapovalov is out of the Australian Open in the quarter-finals after a 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3 loss to Rafael Nadal Tuesday.
But the Canadian went out with a bang, and a whimper.
Shapovalov called out Carlos Bernardes and his chair umpire colleagues for being “corrupt”, claiming Nadal benefited from special treatment during a match played in brutal, torrid heat and humidity in Melbourne.
It certainly felt to the 22-year-old as though he had to battle multiple opponents.
“Physically I feel fine. Emotionally, it just sucks to lose that one. Definitely felt like I had it on my racquet,” Shapovalov said in his post-match press conference. “Third, fourth, fifth set I felt like I was the better player, had more chances. Just one bad game for me [in the fifth set].”
WATCH | Shapovalov eliminated by Nadal in tough 5-set quarter-final:
Nadal eliminates Shapovalov in Australian Open quarter-final 5-set thriller
8 hours ago
Duration 4:05
Rafael Nadal eliminated Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3 to advance to Australian Open semifinals. 4:05
Shapovalov felt Bernardes was giving outsized latitude to Nadal on the time between serves, and the length of his between-set breaks.
In fact, the 2022 rules for a toilet break and a change of attire combined allow up to five minutes from the time the player arrives at and enters the off-court location. So Nadal didn’t particularly overstep.
“I mean, I think I misspoke when I said [Bernardes] is corrupt, or whatever I said. It’s definitely emotional, but I do stand by my side,” Shapovalov said. “I think it’s unfair how much Rafa is getting away with.”
Shapovalov was clear Nadal alone was enough of a challenge without the crowd applauding the Canadian’s missed first serves, and the umpire giving Nadal what he considered privileged treatment.
Late in the fourth set, as Shapovalov was surging, Nadal had the doctor and physical trainer on court for a consult. He was given some tablets to settle a queasy stomach.
7-minute delay
“At the beginning of the match I was playing great, and I know how difficult it is to play against a player like Denis. [Later] he was serving huge, and especially the second serve. I think I had my chances at the beginning of the third set. I didn’t get it. And then I started to feel a little more tired, and he pushed me,” Nadal said.
After Shapovalov forced it to a deciding fifth set, Nadal went off court for a change of attire, and a medical evaluation. They took his blood pressure and generally checked on his well-being, he said.
With all that, it was exactly seven minutes before play resumed.
You feel like you’re not just playing against the player; you’re playing against the umpires … [and] so much more.— Denis Shapovalov on his quarter-final loss to Rafael Nadal
Shapovalov’s momentum clearly was impacted even if nothing was amiss rules-wise.
And the Canadian noted that at last year’s Australian Open, he was refused a bathroom break because he had already asked for a medical time out.
“Where is the line? I respect everything that Rafa has done and I think he’s an unbelievable player. But there have got to be some boundaries, some rules set. It’s just so frustrating as a player. You feel like you’re not just playing against the player; you’re playing against the umpires, you’re playing against so much more,” Shapovalov said.
WATCH | Shapovalov expresses frustration with chair umpire:
Denis Shapovalov takes out frustration on chair umpire in Aussie Open quarter-final loss
8 hours ago
Duration 1:49
Frustrated by his opponent’s pace of play, Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., got into an argument with chair umpire Carlos Bernardes, and accused him of being “corrupt” during his quarter-final loss to Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open. 1:49
Later, Nadal said he felt Shapovalov was off-base in claiming the 20-time Grand Slam champion received special treatment.
He put that down to youth.
“I honestly feel sorry for him. I think he played a great match for a long time. Of course it’s tough to accept to lose a match like this. Especially after I was feeling destroyed and probably he felt that, and then I was able to manage to win the match, no?” Nadal said.
While the oven-like conditions were the same for both, the 13-years-older Nadal, the No. 6 seed, clearly was feeling the brunt of it.
20 major singles titles
But Shapovalov, seeded No. 14, was tight at the start. Flat.
“It was nerves. I didn’t feel comfortable. It was my first match in a while on Rod Laver [Arena] so he was definitely more comfortable out there. I wasn’t serving great, was struggling with the returns. So the rhythm was off,” Shapovalov said. “But yeah, I’m happy with the way I was able to fight and come back. I definitely found my game late in the third and in the fourth.”
Elsewhere, seventh-seeded Matteo Berrettini downed France’s Gael Monfils 6-4 6-4 3-6 3-6 6-2 to become the first Italian man to reach the semifinals and will face Nadal.
Nadal shares the men’s record of 20 major singles titles with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, and he’s got an inside run with the absence of his long-time rivals at Melbourne Park. Federer continues to recover from knee surgery, and Djokovic was deported for failing to meet Australia’s strict COVID-19 vaccination requirements.
Nadal was appearing in his 14th Australian Open quarter-final, tying him with Australian John Newcombe for second behind Federer (15).
Shapovalov, 22, was in his first Australian Open quarter-final. He came off a 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3 win over third-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany.
Nadal converted two-of-three break opportunities that allowed him to win the opening two sets and take early control of the match.
The two remained on serve in the third set until the 10th game when Shapovalov earned his first break to take it 6-4. Then in the fourth set, Shapovalov recorded his second break for a 3-1 advantage en route to a 6-3 victory to force a fifth and deciding set.
An early third break helped stake Nadal to a 3-0 advantage. Shapovalov held serve for the remainder of the set but couldn’t break Nadal, who was able to serve out the set and match.
Shapovalov finished with 20 aces and five double faults while Nadal had 10 aces and 11 double faults.
Canada still has a player alive in men’s singles. Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime will face Russian Daniil Medvedev also in quarter-final action.
Barty, Keys set for semis clash
The women’s quarter-finals were over in straight sets, with 2017 U.S. Open runner-up Madison Keys beating French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova 6-3, 6-2 in the Day 9 opener on Rod Laver Arena and top-ranked Ash Barty advancing with a 6-2, 6-0 win over No. 21 Jessica Pegula.
Barty is back in the semifinals at Melbourne Park for the second time in three years; Keys is back seven years after losing her first Grand Slam semifinal to Serena Williams in Australia.
Barty, who won the Wimbledon title last year and the French Open in 2019, wants to become the first Australian woman to win the Australian Open singles title since 1978.
Keys continued her resurgent 2022 season, extending her winning streak to 10 matches, including a title run in a tune-up event, and 11 overall for the year. She only won 11 matches in total in 2021, when her year-end ranking slumped to 56th.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
