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Denis Shapovalov bowed out of the Wimbledon Championships after suffering a four-set defeat against Russia's Roman Saifiullin. The Canadian, who started out strong, eventually lost steam and went down 6-4, 3-6, 1-6, 3-6 on Sunday, July 9.
Speaking to the media during his post-match press conference, Shapovalov addressed the knee injury that was hampering his movement. The youngster said he was hardly comfortable on the court and felt sore throughout the duration of the match.
Shapovalov went on to add that things got progressively worse for him as the match progressed and he reached a point where the pain was unbearable.
"Yeah, I mean, I felt sore the whole time," Denis Shapovalov said. "But actually, yeah, I was getting more tired in the glutes and around the knee, the quads and everything, from the beginning of the match. It was getting worse and worse."
"I think as soon as like, yeah, as soon as other parts get tired, just have more and more impact on the knee," he continued. "Yeah, as the match went on, it just became unbearable."
Elaborating on the injury, Shapovalov said it wasn't a big shock for him to have the knee bother him again as he had not yet done a full recovery on it. He was quick to add that he felt like he played good tennis and had his chances to make it to the Wimbledon quarterfinals.
"It's normal because I haven't done a full recovery on it. It's not shocking that it happened. It is disappointing, obviously. Obviously, it felt like I was playing good tennis, and had chances today to maybe, you know, get into the quarterfinals. Doesn't help that I have a cold as well."
Denis Shapovalov looks to recover from knee injury after Wimbledon exit
On being asked about his immediate future plans, Denis Shapovalov said he might consider taking time off after his exit from Wimbledon to deal with the knee injury for good.
"Yeah, definitely something that I need to fix fully. Maybe do the full treatment on it. Take more time off of tennis to really fix it."
Putting a timeline on his possible recovery, Shapovalov said he was looking at a minimum of two months.
The Canadian said he was looking to avoid undergoing surgery to fix the problem, given that such a procedure would put him out for a much longer period.
"Yeah, I think the minimum would be two months. Yeah, I mean, hopefully no surgery. Obviously, with surgery, it would be much longer, but I would say the minimum would be two months."
