Former Wimbledon champ Pat Cash likes what he sees in Canadian Denis Shapovalov

LONDON — Former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash picks Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov as one to watch at this year’s tournament.

In a Sunday Times column under the headline titled “Where is the next Boris Becker,” Cash says tennis needs a young pretender to Roger Federer’s Wimbledon crown.

The 53-year-old Australian, who won Wimbledon in 1987, muses over what’s better for tennis — “a ninth title for Roger Federer or a new champion, say the exciting Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov or maybe even Australia’s Nick Kyrgios keeping body and soul together to come through and take the spoils?”

Cash likes what he sees in the 19-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ont.

“The Canadian is coached by an old buddy of mine named Marty Laurendeau and I’ve got to know quite a bit about the kid over the past few months,” he writes. “He is exciting, has a lot of flair and hits a very hard ball.

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“Add to that, he is left-handed and plays with a single-handed backhand. Various old-stagers have drawn comparisons with Shapovalov and (John) McEnroe apparently sees a lot of his younger self in the 19-year-old.”

Shapovalov, seeded 26th, takes on 46th-ranked Jeremy Chardy of France in the first round Tuesday.

The young Canadian won the Wimbledon junior event in 2016 but had a tough senior debut last year, losing 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 to Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz in his opening-round match.

Shapovalov went on to reach the round of 16 at the U.S. Open.

Milos Raonic, ranked 32nd, and fellow Canadians Vasek Pospisil and Peter Polansky are also in the Wimbledon’s men’s main draw which starts Monday.

The Canadian Press