Something wonderful is happening at this year’s Wimbledon: a terrific kid, who happens to be a Canadian, is having a marvelous tournament.
His name is Vasek Pospisil. He is 25 years old. From Vancouver. He is tall, blond, handsome, talented, just a tad goofy, and–from all evidence–generous of spirit.
All those things I knew. I have watched him play for the past four years.
What I didn’t know until Monday was the size of his heart, the depth of his determination.
A very brief recap: Pospisil spent five hours and 58 minutes on the courts of the All-England Club Monday.
He played a total of ten sets in singles and doubles–upsetting an opponent to advance to the fourth round in singles and then losing a heart-breaking five-setter (6-8 in the fifth) in men’s doubles with his American partner, Jack Sock.
Through it all, Pospisil never gave an inch. (Neither, for that matter, did Sock. They are, in fact, the reigning Wimbledon doubles champions.)
In both matches, Pospisil found the inner and physical strength to fight back from two sets to love deficits to take make to the fifth.
His singles win over Serbia’s Viktor Troicki, the world No. 24, made Pospisil just the fourth Canadian to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, after Robert Powell (at the turn of the 20th century), the current Canadian No. 1, Milos Raonic, who lost to Roger Federer in the semis last year, and Eugenie Bouchard, who lost in last year’s ladies’ final.
It marked the first time in Pospisil’s career that he was able to come back from two sets down to win, and the first time he’s made it to the quarter-finals of a major tournament. It was also the third of his four singles matches at this year’s Wimbledon that has gone five sets.
He played beautiful, inspired tennis and was a joy to behold.
On Wednesday, he moves a step up in class when he faces Andy Murray, the world’s No. 3 and the 2013 Wimbledon champion.
I will make no predictions, but I do know this: the kid will not go down–if he does go down–without a fierce fight.
He has proven that now to both fans and–more important–to himself.
Stephanie Myles, who has contributed to this site many times, is at Wimbledon. She is as good as it gets when it comes to providing tennis insight. She has followed Pospisil for several years and was there for both of his matches on Monday.
(Before I speak with Stephanie, permit me to apologize and correct an error I made in Monday’s Wimbledon story on this site.
I wrote that the great Canadian doubles player Daniel Nestor had been eliminated from the tournament following his loss in men’s doubles.
That’s wrong. Nestor and his French partner, Kristina Mladenovic, won their second-round match in the mixed on Monday, defeating Ken Skupski and Johanna Konta, both of Britain, in three sets.
Nestor and Mladenovic have won two Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. They remain in the hunt for a third.)
Stephanie Myles spoke to me Tuesday from the All-England Club.
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