VIDEO: Long before he beat Rafael Nadal, Denis Shapovalov was his mascot at the 2008 Roger's Cup

Denis Shapovalov became a household name for any Canadian sports fan in the span of 24 hours.

On Thursday, he shocked the tennis world by beating world number two and the Roger Cup’s top seed, Rafael Nadal.

But the two players’ paths crossed on the court long before that. Nine years ago, in fact.

Back in 2008, Rafael Nadal was at the top of his game as a 22-year-old. He already had 5 major titles to his name and was the number one player in the world.

Denis Shapovalov, on the other hand, was nine-years-old and got the chance to be a mascot at the tournament, which is one of the kids who comes out to meet the players during the pre-match coin toss.

Before Nadal’s third round matchup with Russia’s Igor Andreev, Shapovalov just happened to be one of the two mascots that got to come out, be part of the action and, of course, meet Nadal.

Back to the future: that time @denis_shapo was a mascot for Rafael Nadal in 2008...#CoupeRogers pic.twitter.com/Tl4toivrGh

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 11, 2017

Coupe Rogers 2008. Le gamin avec la casquette rouge (Denis Shapovalov) a battu Nadal hier, 9 ans après cette photo pic.twitter.com/pLxNLDqaOY

— Photos Histoires (@PhotosHistos) August 11, 2017

Fast forward nine years and the two were back on the Roger’s Cup court, but this time as opponents.

Despite basically being written off against the world’s number two player, Shapovalov gave Nadal all he could handle and pulled off a historic upset.

On Friday, when Tennis TV tweeted out the long lost video of their encounter in 2008, Shapovalov responded on Twitter by saying “that’s amazing.”

It truly is, and what a ride it continues to be for the 18-year-old.

The kid does it, 💪

AGAIN!

Denis Shapovalov is the youngest player to ever reach a Masters 1000 semifinal. #CoupeRogers pic.twitter.com/txVMP6H78l

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 12, 2017

Less than 24 hours after beating Nadal, the Richmond Hill, Ont. native took out France’s Adrian Mannarino in another epic, comeback win.

Not only is he making history at his home country's tournament, but Friday's win also makes him the youngest player to reach the semi-finals in a Masters 1000 tournament, which is any tournament on tour excluding the majors and tour finals.

The kid, as we should probably start to call him, continues his Roger’s Cup run on Saturday against the winner of the match between Alexander Zverev and Kevin Anderson.

At this point, it’s safe to say that a lot of Canada will be watching.