Peter Polansky has taken over as Shapovalov’s top coach after Shapovalov split with  Jamie Delgado. Peter Polansky is a former Canadian tennis player whose top singles ranking peaked at world number 110.

Canadian tennis star Denis Shapovalov is previously coached by Jamie Delgado. Jamie Delgado was Andy Murray‘s coach for more than five years. Delgado played a key part in Andy’s Murray’s second Wimbledon title and helped him reach the top of the world rankings.

Prior to working with Delgado, Shapovalov worked with former Top 10 player Mikhail Youzhny. Youzhny has been widely credited with bringing discipline to Shapovalov’s game. Before his partnership with Youzhny, Shapovalov played flashy tennis, which often resulted in high number of unforced errors.

Mikhail Youzhny is a two-time grand slam semifinalist who reached a peak ranking of world number 8 in 200. He won 10 ATP titles in his career.

Between 2018 and 2019, Denis Shapovalov was coached by Rob Steckley. He then worked with Adriano Fuorivia, who coached him as a junior.

Shapovalov was introduced to the sport by his mother Tessa Shapovalova, who is a tennis coach. She was part of the Soviet Union national tennis team. She still travels with Shapovalov to tournaments and is a key member of his team.

The tennis world has been focused on Novak Djokovic‘s vaccine status and whether he will get vaccinated to play the Australian Open. But France’s Pierre-Hugues Herbert became the first player to take a vaccine stance – he will not compete at the 2022 Australian Open because he is not vaccinated.

Pierre-Hugues Herbert told the French publication L’Alsace

Personally, I am not vaccinated and the trip to Australia was not an option for me

I do what I can. But because of my singles ranking, it may have been a bad thing (to go to Australia) for a good start.

He is currently ranked outside the Top 100 in singles ranking and would have had to play the qualifying rounds to get into the main draw in singles.

Hugues Herbert was realistic and accepted that he may not be able to remain unvaccinated for long  because it’s required by many countries and tournaments. He said:

Yes, for my part, it is a personal choice not to be vaccinated. I don’t know how long it will last, I don’t know if it’s feasible today to be a tennis player without being vaccinated.

There is not only Australia. Today, there are the United States, Austria … it is a rather complex topic.