Mikhail Youzhny: There were many comments about Dani Medvedev, that he is on the decline, that he is not playing …

Canadian Tennis Mentor Denis Shapovalova, Russian Mikhail Youzhny, in interview to “Championship” talked about working with his ward.

– Mikhail, how was 2020 for the World Tour? There were a lot of negative things, but there was something positive as well?
– In this situation, in which the world, and tennis in particular, found itself positive, I think, we can call the fact that ATP groped for a model for holding tournaments and in such a situation was able to hold a fairly large number of competitions at the end of the year. This is what gives a certain positive for the future. After all, even in such a situation, with all the input data, the tournaments still take place.

– How did the players manage to keep their psycho-emotional state for tennis in such a situation?
– It’s very hard for the players. And in fact, from the outside it is not so easy to understand how difficult it is for them. Because the first thing is that you are in prison. Let’s call a spade a spade. You live in a prison, and a tennis stadium, a tennis match is a walk for you. And it is clear that none of the tennis players are used to what is happening now. Plus, you mostly play in front of empty stands. Plus tests, plus constant waiting. If you look, no one has had much of a long global series. One can only mention Andrei Rublev. And it so happened that someone played well, then a decline, then another rise. You can analyze the performance of top players. Many, like Nadal, played very little. He missed tournaments in America, and his first start was in Rome. Moreover, he did not play for himself in the best way – he lost to Shvartsman in the quarterfinals. Then he won at Roland Garros, after which he did not play anything until the Masters in Paris. And it turns out that he performed after a pause in only four tournaments, and they played with varying success.

– For Djokovic, too, everything did not just go away after the restart of the season.
– Yes. What happened at the US Open happened. But if you look closely at his psychological state, although he later won the Masters in Rome, but how much emotion it cost him … Or the same final of Roland Garros. So if you dig, then without a trace all this for the emotional state did not pass. Djokovic really wanted to end the year with the first racket of the world and secure all this already in Vienna, but when he achieved this, one might say, he played these two matches on his teeth, how he then played against Sonego … This also says a lot – how hard it all is it was given to him. He just didn’t play this match anymore.

– Is it possible, for example, to compare the quarantine in which the players found themselves in the middle of the season with a situation when a tennis player was out for six months due to injury, and then began to gain shape?
– No. Because when you have an injury, you still have an understanding of what happens, what is allowed and what is not. What will and what won’t. When, for example, to try to play the first match, when to reach the peak, when to do something concrete. And when you train, because it seems like it is necessary, but why, to what – it is not clear … We are simply not used to such a training process. As I understand it, for other sports, where there are starts 2-3 times a year, and the rest of the time they recover and prepare, they know what to do and how to let themselves down. This is one thing. And tennis players had the maximum rest in a year for two months, in which we could afford to relax and then train, prepare and that’s it – we went to play in a circle all year. Therefore, on the one hand, this is an instructive topic, but, on the other hand, it was psychologically a very stressful situation for tennis and players. I think somewhere even more than for any other sport.

– Some criticize the ATP and WTA for the rating system, thanks to which points do not burn out for a whole year and do not need to be protected. How do you personally feel about this?
– This is normal. In the situation in which the tour found itself, this is probably the most acceptable solution – just freeze everything for now and watch how everything will develop further. Otherwise, for some, everything is on fire, others are gaining something, but you cannot dial anything. After every week, someone would scream that this is not fair. In terms of points, I think the decision is understandable in principle. Protecting glasses is generally useless. If we talk about glasses, then they must be recruited. To do this, you need to improve the game. There will be a game, and the points will come. It has always been this way, and it always is.

– But for those tennis players who were low in the rating list last year, like Rublev or Shapovalov, it was more difficult for them to get to the top, bypassing those who already had a frozen rating.
– It’s not quite like that. Those who froze, they had these results for the last year. And Andrei Rublev was already far away. Of course, he would have climbed better if it had been a full season. But last year he missed Roland Garros altogether, and this year he played and scored. The US Open also added. For Dana Medvedev, yes, it was hard to recruit. And then he typed. Ultimately, it turned out to be perfect for him. Unless Roland Garros did not work out. And so all the tournaments that he played better last year, he, relatively speaking, did not confirm these points there – that is, he remained with the best result. But on the other hand, the tournaments where he played very poorly last year, he has now played to the maximum. Although, it would seem … So there is no such thing that it is harder for someone, but easier for someone. All were in the same difficult conditions. There were additional ATP 250 tournaments in which anyone could score points. This is if we are talking about the echelon, which is below. New challengers have appeared, if we talk about the echelon, which are even lower. It is clear that the thresholds began to rise, for example, to get into the top 100, because the glasses do not burn out and everything goes to a plus for everyone. But I believe that everyone was in approximately the same conditions. What can I say – the situation is difficult for everyone.

– What have the representatives of the new generation added this season – Medvedev, Rublev, Denis Shapovalov. What did they do better than they did last season?
– I don’t really want to go into details. I will unite them all and say that each has matured at his own level, each has matured a little more. And it brings results. For some, the results go faster, for others a little slower. I think this is the main one. Then you can go into details – delivery, game. But the main thing is that the guys “matured”. Not quite matured, but mothering slowly. They add. This is evident from Dana. Remember the beginning of the season, the middle. There were many comments about Dani, that he is on the decline, that he is not playing. And so on and so forth. Although it turned out, as it is already clear now, that there was no global recession. How can you say about a person that he has a recession if he plays the US Open semifinals? Then, yes, he had a bad earth streak this year. So what? But then there was a rise. I repeat that the conditions were very difficult, the year was difficult. Guys, everyone you named, everyone took a step forward. I would especially mention Andrei Rublev. He’s probably one of the hardest hit players this season, I would say. It is not known how it would have turned out if it had been a whole season and how he would have walked through it. But by the way he went at the beginning of the season and how he played the ending, not the whole ending, but to Paris and London … So he might be most offended. Although, what’s offensive here – five titles!

– Some of the players you played with continue to play. Others, like you, have already become coaches. Let’s say Massu, Ferrer, Vicente. Are you communicating the same way as before? Or already another communication.
– There is no constant communication. There is no such thing that you communicated as a player, and now as a coach. Yes, I just now have, I would say, more free time. I will explain in what more – free to communicate, with coaches, with players. Because when you play, you are still more concentrated. You have trained and you still have a lot of things to do – you worked with Physio, did something else. Etc. And now it’s different. Yes, Denis and I trained and worked. But still there is more time. You don’t need to recover, you don’t need to warm up. I started watching more matches. This is both interesting and useful. I watched more matches – I got more information, more communication, because you just started spending more time on the courts, compared to the time when you were a player. Therefore, there is a little more communication.

– How do you manage to combine both family life and touring tournaments?
– To be honest, I hope this year is not indicative, because when I finished playing, I thought that everything would be a little different. It didn’t go like that at first. Yes, I still had trips, they stayed. But there was a clear understanding – when, where and how much. I knew exactly when I left and when I returned. And this year, for example, unfortunately, I was stuck for 3 months in America. Just when the season stopped. I was in Miami, and after that Denis and I trained there for another 3 months. I couldn’t fly away. The situation was not easy. In general, Denis and I do not go to all tournaments, his mother often accompanies him. We share. But because of this situation – because of quarantines and so on, it turns out that since you left with the player, it is easier to go with him in a pair to all tournaments than to fly back and then connect again. But I hope that when the situation returns to normal, then I will be more and more clear.

– During the season Denis was one of the leaders in double faults. What went wrong? How can this be fixed?
– Well, what about fixing – we need to train. But again, I would not want to go into details. There were a lot of doubles this season. But again, if you start to analyze, then, in principle, any analyst or anyone who wants to can find out when these problems began. I believe that Denis has no problems with serving as such. And this is just a consequence of some other things. That’s all. If we jointly eliminate these reasons, then, accordingly, he will leave the leading position in this indicator.

– Denis said that he was trying to persuade you to play with him in pairs. Is it real? Do you have a desire?
– In general, I have a desire to play tennis. I enjoy playing tennis. But too much has to happen. Well, first of all, I don’t see any point in this, except for some kind of fan. Personally, it’s cool, but nothing more. And one more thing – since when I finished, I signed the official paper that I was leaving, then before playing any ATP tournament – alone or a pair – I need to notify the ATP six months before the match that I am going to return. And then you need a wild card, because I don’t have a rating either. Therefore, I think that it would be better if Denis plays a pair with someone else. It will work out better. By the result, for sure.