Denis Shapovalov says he is living “a super fun and happy life” and for that he credits his “amazing” girlfriend Mirjam Bjorklund.
Shapovalov, a former world No 10, has been dating fellow tennis pro Bjorklund since 2019.
“I think a big part of that is obviously Mirjam [Bjorklund], my girlfriend. First of all we’ve just been able to spend a lot more time together and do fun stuff. I feel like wherever we are, we always think of fun things to do, things to see and restaurants and stuff like that to go to. I just feel like life is super fun. I’m enjoying it a lot, being by her side. I think she’s an amazing person and she makes me very happy. Not much more you can ask for,” Shapovalov told the ATP website.
Shapovalov recently called for the end of the gender pay gap in tennis
On International Women’s Day, Shapovalov’s post for The Players’ Tribune was published.
In his post, Shapovalov revealed that he was shocked when his girlfriend told him how less compared to the men they were earning.
“I used to be naive about tennis. “When I started out, I kind of assumed that male and female pros were treated the same way. It just made sense, you know? I mean, why would it be any different? Then I met my girlfriend, Mirjam Björklund, and she really opened my eyes. She’s a pro tennis player as well, top 150 in the world. Last year she qualified for a WTA 250, the fifth-highest tournament level on the tour below the Slams, the WTA Finals, the WTA 1000s and the WTA 500s. “I said to Mirjam, ‘Oh, great! You’ll get at least $7,000 just to be in the main draw.’ She just looked at me like I was completely new to tennis. I’ll never forget it. She was like, ‘Denism I think it’s like a thousand dollars.’ I was like, ‘What are you talking about? How is that possible?,'” Shapovalov revealed to The Players’ Tribune.
In his column, Shapovalov praised tennis for increasing prize money in WTA tournaments in recent years but highlighted that “overall the gap is still huge.”
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