LONDON — Canada's Denis Shapovalov was ousted from the men's draw at Wimbledon after suffering a fourth-round, four-set loss to Roman Safiullin of Russia on Sunday.
Safiullin, ranked 92nd in the world, downed Shapovalov, of Richmond Hill, Ont., 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 on the No. 2 Court at the All England Club.
The Canadian struggled with a knee injury and laboured through the final three sets. A limp was noticeable as he walked off the court following the loss.
"I felt sore the whole time. 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 other parts get tired, just have more and more impact on the knee," said Shapovalov. "As the match went on, it just became unbearable."
The 24-year-old Shapovalov says the injury is years old, but it has been flaring up in recent months.
"(It's) 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. Because, (doctors) basically said until I get stronger it's going to kind of be like this. That's if I want to keep playing," he said.
Shapovalov, who hopes to avoid surgery, believes a full recovery would require him shutting down for at least two months.
"Obviously with surgery it would be much longer," he said.
Shapovalov was the last Canadian competing in the singles competition at Wimbledon.
Leylah Fernandez, of Laval, Que., and Dutch partner Wesley Koolhof advanced to the second round in mixed doubles with a 7-5, 7-5 win over Angel Chan of Taiwan and Fabrice Martin of France on Sunday.
Fernandez and Koolhof will next play the British duo of Jonny O'Mara and Olivia Nicholls.
Earlier Sunday, Fernandez and American partner Taylor Townsend were eliminated from women's doubles play after losing their second round match 6-4, 7-6, 6-3 to Caroline Garcia of France and Luisa Stefani of Brazil.
Garcia also knocked Fernandez out of the women's singles draw on Thursday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 9, 2023.
The Canadian Press
