National Post (National Edition)
DJOKOVIC TOO MUCH TO HANDLE FOR CANADA’S POLANSKY.
Life as a lucky loser hasn’t been terribly bad for Peter Polansky. Still, the Thornhill, Ont., native wouldn’t mind changing his luck just a bit fortheu.s.open,whichgets underway later this month in New York.
Polansky this year set an Open Era record, becoming the first man to gain entry in the main draw of three Grand Slams — Wimbledon, the Australian Open and the French Open — as a lucky loser, the tag given to a player who loses in qualifying but is given a spot in a tournament when another player withdraws.
“I kind of want to get in directly (to the U.S. Open, the final Grand Slam this season), but a small, a very small part of me wants to get in as a lucky loser and make history (by winning it),” Polansky said with a laugh on Wednesday.
“I would say I’m a little bit lucky, but at the same time I’ve had to put myself in that position to get into the last round of qualifying consist- ently every single time and also being one of the higherranked players losing.
“I’ve given myself a chance. That’s all you can ask for.”
Polansky’s participation in the Rogers Cup came to an end on Wednesday, before rain delayed play at the Avivacentreforafewhours, as he lost 6-3, 6-4 to ninthseeded Novak Djokovic in the second round.
Playing in Toronto as a wild card, Polansky said he was stymied by Djokovic’s serving ability but otherwise was happy with his match.
“What I found trickiest was his serve locations,” Polansky said. “He doesn’t have the biggest serve, but he’s putting every serve on the line or an inch from the line every time. That kind of got me.
“I felt like we were actually trading baseline points. It was pretty even. Even when I was able to get a forehand, I felt in control, which gave me some confidence against a top-10 player.
“I’ll take it as a good experience and look forward to the next event.”
While fellow Canadians Denis Shapovalov and Milos Raonic garner the majority of attention among tennis-loving Canucks, Polansky has been trying to put together a good season. He was ranked No. 121 in the world coming into the Rogers Cup after reaching a career-high No. 110 in June. None of his lucky loser appearances in the Grand Slams this season resulted in a match victory.
“Winning a round here, I think I have turned that around here a bit, and I’ve once again put myself in a good spot to get closer to the top 100, perhaps inside, maybe by the end of the year,” Polansky said. “Even though I haven’t had the results I wanted for the first four or five months, now I’m in a good spot.”
SHAPO’S SARCASM?
The rain delay resulted in the moving of Shapovalov’s match against Fabio Fognini off centre court and on to the grandstand court, much to the 19-year-old’s apparent chagrin.
Shapovalov, the highestranked Canadian at No. 26 in the world, took to twitter to seemingly express his frustration, tweeting “Got moved to grand stand” followed by an emoji of clapping hands and #welldone and #homeevent. The tweet wasn’t up long, as Shapovalov deleted it soon after.
This came after Shapovalov spoke on Tuesday night about his enthusiasm for “putting on a show” for his fans. Capacity at centre court is 10,600, while capacity on the grandstand court is 3,500.
BRIEFLY SPEAKING
Juan Martin del Potro, seeded third in the tournament, withdrew because of a left wrist injury. Replacing Del Potro in the singles draw was lucky loser Mikhail Youzhny, whose match against Robin Haase was among those interrupted by rain. When play resumed, Haase won 7-5, 6-2 … The 30-yearold Polansky, not unlike the other Canadians (and, for that matter, most others in general) on the pro circuit, holds Daniel Nestor in high regard. While the torch may have been passed from Nestor years ago, there’s a respect for Nestor that comes with the decades-long territory. Nestor, heading for retirement after this season, turned pro in 1991. “He has been the face of Canadian tennis up until Milos (Raonic, who turned pro in 2008) came around,” Polansky said. “And even then, he’s one of the guys you look up to. The longevity of his career has been outstanding. I can’t even imagine playing at his age (45) right now. That’s just not going to happen with my body.” … Djokovic had unique answer in response to a question about the 25-second shot clock: “I feel like there is more time now than before because the shot clock starts counting down once the chair umpire calls the score. Sometimes it takes several seconds before the chair umpire calls the score if it’s a long exchange or a good point and the crowd gets in.” … Pablo Carreno Busta, the 12th seed in the tournament, was upset in the second round by Karen Khachanov, 6-4, 7-6 (3).