The serve swinging out wide, the forehand thumped into the open court and the lunging backhand volley stabbed over the net. Down 15-30 while serving for the biggest title of his career against Casper Ruud in Dallas, Denis Shapovalov stuck the landing.

Two points later, the 25-year-old Canadian fell to the floor in delight at the net after beating Norway’s Ruud, the second seed, 7-6(5), 6-3 on Sunday. It was his third top-10 win of this year’s ATP 500 Dallas Open, in which he beat the tournament’s top three seeds en route to lifting the trophy.

This time last year, Shapovalov was losing to Hugo Gaston in the first round of the Marseille Open in France while ranked world No. 127. He had returned to the ATP Tour the previous month, after six months out recovering from the knee injury that ended his 2023 season in the July. His form continued to flounder for much of 2024, before he made the quarterfinals of the Citi Open in Washington, D.C. in early August.

There, down match point to America’s Ben Shelton, Shapovalov swore in the direction of a spectator, appearing to say, “What the f*** are you talking about?” Umpire Greg Allensworth defaulted the Canadian, who lost his prize money and ranking points from the event before they were reinstated on appeal. Shapovalov said he “did not sleep for two days” during his news conference at the Canadian Open, and after early exits from the U.S. Open, Shanghai Masters and Basel Open, his season looked to be petering out.

Instead, in the same indoor hard court conditions as Dallas, Shapovalov won November’s Belgrade Open as a qualifier.

There in Serbia, the toughest draw he faced was world No. 31 Jiri Lehecka. In Dallas over the past week, he beat world No. 4 and 2024 U.S. Open finalist Taylor Fritz, then world No. 9 Tommy Paul and finally three-time Grand Slam finalist Ruud.

The tennis lottery that characterized his 2024 finally ended up on the other side of the court, with his opponents swept up in the Shapovalov whirlwind that never lets players know what will come at them next. His offensive power off both wings, ability to use the front of the court and attacking unpredictability are intoxicating when they click, and they clicked all week, never more so than that 15-30 point against Ruud that had the potential to turn the momentum of that final against the Canadian.

“It’s been a long road back, obviously, struggles to get some titles as well, get that momentum back on the court. My team, the people close to me, my family have been lifting me up, kept me on the right pathway when I’ve been down,” Shapovalov said in his on-court speech after the final.

Shapovalov also appears to benefit from the combination of slower balls and fast courts that so many ATP Tour players have rued for many months: the balls’ heaviness reins in some of his exuberance, while the fast courts amplify his ability to take time away from his opponents.

In a post-match interview at the Shanghai Masters in October, Daniil Medvedev, one of the most vocal opponents of fluffy tennis balls, said only Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz possess the power to hit them through the court. Shapovalov can too.

Denis Shapovalov’s aggressive play and raw power make him hugely dangerous. (Sam Hodde / Getty Images)

The challenge now is making it stick.

Shapovalov’s months lost to injuries and very early rise to near the top of the sport make him both old and young, mature and immature — in tennis and life.

By the fourth round of the 2017 U.S. Open, he was third-favorite for the title behind Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal; that season was also the most recent one in which he won over 10 more matches than he lost. Even in this remarkable week, he appeared easily rankled by seemingly minor issues, smacking a ball into a dead panel of pixels on the wall of the court (the ball duly rebounded into his face.)

He is now No. 32 in the world, and in line for a seeding at majors and 96-draw ATP Masters 1,000s that would protect him from facing strong players early on. It’s the kind of equilibrium that tennis players in the top 100 yearn for, but after a volatile several years, stability may still prove to be the hardest thing to find. Shapovalov’s ability to catch light won him this title and defines his tennis; the question for the future is how to avoid setting himself on fire.

(Top photo: George Walker / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)