NEW YORK -- When his US Open run had come to a close, Denis Shapovalov put his bag down on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court and acknowledged the crowd.
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He bowed, waived and blew kisses to the near 23,000 fans who had vocally supported him during his time here.
"Honestly, it was so much fun to be part of that atmosphere and the match and this whole two weeks," the 18-year-old Canadian said after his fourth-round loss to No. 12 seed Pablo Carreno Busta, 7-6(2), 7-6(4), 7-6(3). "You know, it's another life-changing event for me, and first of all, it's thanks to the crowd. They have been having my back these past couple months. They have been really carrying me. Without them, surely enough, it wouldn't be possible.'
👏 on the close of a great US Open run for @denis_shapo. Thanks for a great 2 weeks, Denis. Congratulations! #USOpenhttps://t.co/JQCarKb0B2 pic.twitter.com/kkd4snR48d
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 3, 2017
While Carreno Busta moves on to his second major quarterfinal of the year without having dropped a set, Shapovalov will look ahead to a Davis Cup tie against India in two weeks and then to the Laver Cup, where he will play for John McEnroe's World Team and Bjorn Borg's Europe Team in Prague.
"He is on fire," said Carreno Busta, still the highest-remaining seed on the bottom half of the draw. "He is playing with a lot of confidence. He is very young so maybe in the future he will be one of the best."
After winning three qualifying matches and three main-draw matches, Shapovalov had his chances in the fourth round. He led 5-2 in the first set and later had three set points but could not convert against the steady Spaniard.
"There's always points that you would wish or want to change," Shapovalov said. "I don't know. I don't think there is one specific moment that changed the match. I had a lot of chances and so did he. But he just played better in the big moments."
Shapovalov was the fourth straight qualifier Carreno Busta played but he didn't compete like one.
"Of course Shapovalov is not a normal qualifier," he said. "His level is better than a qualifier level."
After dropping two tiebreaks in the first two sets, Shapovalov led 3-0 in the final set and looked like he might extend the match, but he gave back the break in the fifth game and then bowed out in a third straight breaker.
"I mean, it's tennis," he said. "It's a sport. You don't know what's going to happen the next point, so it's always a roller coaster ride."
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Looking ahead, he has goals on several levels.
Having drawn a huge amount of attention both in Canada and the U.S. -- he told the tale of meeting a young American boy in Central Park who was so excited to meet him "he was shaking" -- he hopes to insire a young generation of Canadians.
"My goal is to raise the level of Canadian tennis and just have more kids picking up a racquet instead of a hockey stick," he said. "I think I have definitely helped to do that, and hopefully, you know, I can keep doing it. I know a lot of people were tweeting towards me that don't even follow tennis, and they're starting to get into the sport, you know, because I have been doing well.
"It's really inspiring for me. It makes me really want to keep working hard so that, you know, I can keep motivating these kids to try to, you know, pick up a racquet and hopefully become, as a player, like Milos [Raonic] or Vasek [Pospisil] or even me."
As for his own game, Shapovalov has earned the respect of his peers no the tour, commentators like McEnroe and figures to make a major jump in the rankings going frowrad.
Now the new tennis sensation from Canada looks ahead to repeat and improve upon this run at future Grand Slam events.
"I think I really need to get back to work, and my team is making sure that, you know, first of all, I'm staying healthy, and second of all, I'm always trying to get better so that hopefully in the future I can make some more runs," he said. "Hopefully, eventually, in the long term, lifting up a cup."
Adam Zagoria is a tennis and basketball insider based in New York. Follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria.