The Miami Open has been a breakthrough tournament for the #NextGenATP with Shapovalov (19), Felix Auger-Aliassime (18) and Frances Tiafoe (21) all reaching the quarter-finals.
And in the semi-finals, Shapovalov plays 37-year-old Roger Federer and Auger-Aliassime takes on 33-year-old John Isner.
Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have combined to dominate men’s tennis for over 15 years.
Several pretenders to their crown have come and gone but there is genuine optimism that the likes of Shapovalov, Auger-Aliassime, Tiafoe, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas can take tennis to the next level in the years to come.
The young players have all grown up watching Federer, Djokovic and Nadal and consider them to be their idols.
But Shapovalov believes change is coming for the sport.
And speaking ahead of his semi with Federer, the Canadian teen said the young talent are gunning for the big boys.
He said: “Yeah, there is definitely a lot of young talent coming in.
“You know, it’s just that point in the ATP, you know, you still have kind of the legends, you know, Rog, Rafa, still there on top, but you have a lot of newcomers with talent kind of gunning for them.
“Every week it feels like someone new is making a breakthrough and playing well.
“I think it’s really healthy for the sport to see a couple new stars in the game, and, you know, the fans get to kind of watch something new other than the top 4.”
Federer agreed with Shapovalov by admitting how much he enjoyed watching the young generation.
“They’ll carry the sport when we’re long gone, and we’ll be sitting on the couch watching those guys slug it out,” Federer told ESPN.
“They’ll be a joy to watch because not only are they great, great players, but they’re good people, too.
“I love to see that about them.
“This year and especially last year as well, they really started to break through and won some big events and started to beat the top guys, too.”