Vasek Pospisil: The Next Canadian Tennis Star

Vasek Pospisil notched one of the bigger wins of his career this week at the ATP Rotterdam tournament with a straight sets victory over world No. 22 Philipp Kohlschreiber, 6-4 6-2. The win sets up Pospisil to face world No.4 and top seed Andy Murray, who topped Nicholas Mahut. A win Thursday would be huge for the Canadian is his attempt to make a impact on the ATP Tour.

Pospisil is in the prime of his tennis career and the results are beginning to show.

Pospisil’s parents immigrated from the Czech Republic to Austria in 1988 to escape from a communist regime and a year later relocated to a small town near Vancouver, Canada named Vernon. Vasek was born a year later. Pospisil was born into a tennis family and spent some of his first years walking as a ball boy for his older brothers. Vasek’s father, Milos, was his coach for most of his early years. At the end of 2012, Frederic Fontang came on as Pospisil’s coach and great results starting piling in.

At 24 years old, Pospisil is in the prime of his tennis career and he want to take advantage. In January 2014, Pospisil reached a career high of No.25 in the ATP Rankings. Last year he recorded wins over the likes of Rodek Stapanek, Lukas Rosol, Richard Gasquet, and Tomas Berdych. He reached his first ATP Final at the 500-level tournament in Washington D.C. In that final, he lost to fellow Canadian Milos Raonic, who has sucked most of the publicity away from his countryman.

More from Tennis News

Raonic is six months younger than Pospisil and has used a cannon serve and monster forehand to vault up the rankings all the way to No. 6. Pospisil has more of an all-around game. When he is clicking, he can compete with top-20 players and even put a scare into the elite. Kohlshreiber is a veteran who consistently reaches the later rounds of tournaments. The win over the German is evidence of Pospisil’s potential. In order to take the next step, Pospisil will have to hang with the likes of Murray in round 2.

Pospisil is a full-loving guy and a fan favorite. One of his mottos has become “Anything is Pospisil.” He takes that positive attitude with him on to the court as he sets higher goals for 2015. He will need that positive outlook and a lot more to pull off an upset against Murray. The ATP Tour and its fans better get to know Vasek. The time for Pospisil is now!

More from Lob and Smash

Home/Tennis News