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Denis Shapovalov struggled with a knee injury as he exited the 2023 Wimbledon Championships, going down against Roman Safiullin in four gruelling sets, 6-3, 3-6, 1-6, 3-6.
The 24-year-old Canadian, who only had one win on grass coming into this year's tournament, looked good in the early rounds of the grasscourt Slam.
Speaking about playing through the pain during his post-match press conference, Shapovalov said he never stops a match unless he gets to the point where he's unable to walk.
"No, I never stop if I start a match," Denis Shapovalov said. "I don't stop unless I can't walk or I can't -- yeah. If something really happens, then I'll stop. But yeah, I was taught if I, you know, step out onto the court, I finish the match."
Calling the knee injury a "big setback", Shapovalov said while the issue wasn't new, it was as bad as it had been in a long time. The youngster said he will need to consult specialists to gauge the exact magnitude of the injury.
"Yeah, don't really know," Denis Shapovalov said after his Wimbledon exit. "After today it's a little bit difficult. Pretty big setback. Towards the end of the match, I couldn't even walk let alone play."
"Yeah, that's probably the worst that it's been in a long time," he continued. "Yeah, need to talk with the team. Need to try to see some more specialists and see what I can do."
"I've had an issue with it years ago" - Denis Shapovalov on knee injury that hampered Wimbledon campaign
Denis Shapovalov refused to give details about the knee injury, claiming that he prefers to keep the information private.
"I mean, I don't want to go into details," Shapovalov said. "I think everybody keeps their things pretty private in tennis so I prefer to keep my stuff private as well."
Shapovalov stated that he struggled with the same problem years ago, but it went away before resurfacing in Vienna last year. He lost the final of the 2022 Vienna Open against Daniil Medvedev.
Shapovalov also said that he decided to compete at Wimbledon because his doctors had told him that the injury was unlikely to get worse.
"I've had an issue with it years ago, and it went away," Denis Shapovalov said. "Last year in the finals of Vienna I started to feel it again. Then Paris was very bad. Yeah, so I was hoping that with the offseason I can kind of regroup it. But it's been on and off since Vienna last year."
"The biggest reason why I've continued is they said, yeah, it's very good chance it's not going to get worse. It could get very painful but it's not going to get worse," he added.
