Shapovalov brings on familiar face as new coach with aim to further potential

The new coaching voice in Denis Shapovalov's ear is a fellow Canadian he's known since he was a young boy, who hails from the same hometown.

Peter Polansky is also a coaching newbie, who still considers himself an active player.

So if Shapovalov, now 23, is an outside-the-box type of tennis player, his decision to make 33-year-old Polansky of Richmond Hill, Ont., his new full-time coach is appropriately out of the box.

Hiring Delgado to start the 2022 season — for better or worse — was the first decision Shapovalov made as he takes ownership of his career.

"It's not that things didn't click, It wasn't something that he was doing wrong, necessarily," Shapovalov said.

"I think he's a great coach. I think he's an amazing guy. And we got along really well. But just something was missing. And it's kind of indescribable."

"Sometimes it's just a little bit of intuition, a little bit of feeling. My gut was just telling me to go and go full-time with Peter just because I feel so comfortable. I can feel how much I'm improving when he's on the court with me, so it was really tough for me not to take that opportunity."

The arrangement with Delgado, Shapovalov said, was a trial run this spring through Miami.

The British coach wasn't scheduled to be on board during the clay-court season, other than perhaps a few weeks, as Shapovalov evaluated turning the trial run into a permanent gig.

Before the Rome tournament earlier this month, Shapovalov said he called Delgado to say he was proceeding with Polansky alone.

Also along for the clay is Adriano Fuorivia, who is Shapovalov's longtime junior coach and a man he considers family.

For Polansky, a former top junior who has been grinding it out at the various levels of pro tennis for 15