Goffin on Shanghai run: 'I want to show my daughter I can still play tennis'

pa href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/david-goffin/gb88/overview'David Goffin/a credits his resurgent form at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/shanghai/5014/overview'Rolex Shanghai Masters/a to the desire to prove to his three-week-old daughter that the level of tennis that propelled him to No. 7 in the PIF ATP Rankings was still in reach./p

pGoffin produced a vintage performance on Wednesday to upset second seed a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alexander-zverev/z355/overview'Alexander Zverev/a, prevailing 6-4, 7-5 to reach the quarter-finals of an ATP Masters 1000 since 2021. The 33-year-old Belgian, who is currently World No. 66, became the fourth-lowest ranked quarter-finalist in Shanghai tournament history./p

blockquote class="twitter-tweet"

p lang="en" dir="ltr"An incredible moment for a href="https://twitter.com/David__Goffin?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@David__Goffin/a as he stuns No. 2 seed Zverev 6-4 7-5.a href="https://twitter.com/SH_RolexMasters?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@SH_RolexMasters/a | a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RolexShanghaiMasters?src=hashamp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"#RolexShanghaiMasters/a a href="https://t.co/nZU2LJq2e1"pic.twitter.com/nZU2LJq2e1/a/p

mdash; ATP Tour (@atptour) a href="https://twitter.com/atptour/status/1844033652726063320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"October 9, 2024/a/blockquote

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pHaving largely competed on the ATP Challenger Tour, Goffin has recently begun to resurrect the form that drove him to the final of the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/nitto-atp-finals/605/overview'Nitto ATP Finals/a in 2017./p

pldquo;I wanted to show my daughter that I can be a good tennis player,rdquo; said Goffin, who will face a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/taylor-fritz/fb98/overview'Taylor Fritz/a for a spot in the last four. ldquo;We tried to find a few more years to show her that I can still play tennis, and thatrsquo;s the case for the moment. Even if she doesnrsquo;t realise yet, hopefully she will come and watch a little bit./p

pldquo;Sometimes you have doubts about your fitness and your head. If you're not 100 per cent there, mentally, itrsquo;s tough to compete with those guys - the level is so high. I have put a lot of hard work in [over] the past few months and there is no [surprise] the tennis came back and I am really happy to be back again in the quarter-finals of an ATP Masters 1000.rdquo;/p

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pGoffin, who was hampered by injuries following the 2021 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/us-open/560/overview'US Open/a, has shown glimpses of his best tennis over the past few months. After making the semi-finals at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/winston-salem/6242/overview'Winston-Salem Open/a, Goffin produced a strong run to the third round at Flushing Meadows./p

pThis week in Shanghai, Goffin ousted 15th seed a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/lorenzo-musetti/m0ej/overview'Lorenzo Musetti/a in a thrilling battle before denying Zverev in his quest for a second title in 2024./p

pldquo;I have built confidence from the beginning of the tournament. Match after match, I was playing better and I just came on the court and tried to play my best tennis,rdquo; added Goffin. ldquo;[I tried] to stick to the plan that I had with my coach and it worked. Even though he came back with some good rallies, I just tried to stay positive because I was on the right way to winning the match. It paid off in the end with a really good service game to finish, so I am really happy with the win.rdquo;/p

p /[NEWSLETTER FORM]