Photo by Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports
Denis Shapovalov may have started to make a name for himself on the professional men's tennis circuit in 2017, but for some, said name is still (and will likely always be) hard as shit to pronounce.On the court Tuesday, the current No. 51 ranked dropped his first match of the new year to the 50th-ranked Kyle Edmund, a player he defeated in the Round of 32 at the US Open in September. Off the court, Shapovalov's 2018 didn't jump off to a clean start, either, as the absolute demolishing of his last name by this announcer at the Brisbane International would indicate.
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Shapovalov, who helped explain exactly how to pronounce his name during a presser a few months back, is hoping to build off a breakout season in which he climbed 200 spots in the ATP world rankings, dropped Rafael Nadal in front of his home fans at the Rogers Cup in Montreal, and became the youngest player in nearly 30 years to reach the round-of-16 at the US Open.It seems like he's on the path to (nearly) international name recognition. Doesn't mean it will ever get easier to pronounce, though.