Pospisil into Round 3 at Wimbledon
Vasek Pospisil’s second-round match was only a few minutes old when he got a full demonstration of what it is like to play Fabio Fognini.
The 25-year-old from Vernon, B.C., had just put away a nice volley at the net to go up 3-0 in the first set, which he punctuated with a shout of “C’mon, baby!”
Fognini, the Italian with a wellearned reputation as one of tennis’s more demonstrative players, took considerable exception to the holler.
“It’s the third game of the first set,” he spat out as the players passed by each other during the changeover. “Shut up,” he said, not to Pospisil directly, but it was clear where the comment was aimed. Fognini was given a warning by umpire Mohamed Lahyani. Fognini insisted that the Canadian shouldn’t be yelling. The umpire lectured him back. Pospisil sat in his chair, having something to drink, like a kid trying to ignore bickering parents.
Pospisil, ranked 56th in the world and unseeded here, would keep pumping his fist, keep shouting, keep being himself, really, and along the way he played enough great tennis to upset Fognini, the 28th-ranked player and 30th seed, in four sets (6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3).
The win moved Pospisil, who won the men’s doubles title last year at the All England Lawn Tennis Club with American Jack Sock, into the third round of the singles draw for the first time in his career.
“Played well, served well,” Pospisil said after the match. “I brought the intensity right from the first point.”
Pospisil wasn’t just playing his opponent, he was up against whatever distractions Fognini managed to provide. Not long after his first argument with the umpire, the Italian took issue with, um, something, after Pospisil successfully challenged a serve that had initially been called out.
It was unclear what Fognini was upset with: perhaps that Pospisil had waited a beat before requesting the challenge. After another heated exchange with Lahyani, Fognini requested the presence of the supervising official, not unlike the unhappy child who takes their case before the second parent.
“I was taking that as a positive thing,” Pospisil said, a big smile stretching across his face. “I was really happy about that. I was like, the longer he goes, the better. If it throws him off, I’m fine with that.”
That business over with, Fognini mostly settled down, although the irony of his complaining about an opponent’s chatter became more evident as the match continued.
Fognini muttered and chattered constantly, sometimes to himself and sometimes in the direction of his coach. At times, he was jawing right up until the moment when Pospisil was about to serve.
Pospisil certainly didn’t play like he was distracted. He used his big serve — kind of Milos Raonic-like — for 23 aces against only four double faults, and he won more than 80 per cent of the points off his first serve. That told the story of the match, as he had trouble getting it in the third set (35 per cent), which he lost, but landed it in about two-thirds of the time in each of the other three sets.
“Obviously I didn’t bring the same energy or the same intensity into the third set,” Pospisil said. “It got away from me pretty quick, and I regrouped and got back to the things I was doing well in the first two sets.”
Asked if there was a technical thing that was causing him to hit so many wonky serves in that third set, Pospisil said it was “just the energy overall that kind of dropped big time.”
“I wasn’t pushing with my legs, and I was just kind of going through the motions.” He said he’s working on trying to stay focused mentally on every point.
Pospisil also hit more winners and had fewer unforced errors than his higher-ranked opponent, although some of that comes with a little asterisk as Fognini is notoriously hot-andcold in his play, in addition to his temperament.
Next up for Pospisil is likely a second-round doubles date with Sock on Friday, although the American will be playing with a recently fractured finger. Pospisil said he’s not sure how effectively Sock will be able to play, but as the defending champs they plan to give it a shot.
In singles, the Canadian now has an excellent opportunity ahead of him, as he would likely have run up against 8th seed David Ferrer in the third round, but the Spaniard withdrew before play began this week with an elbow injury. Instead, Pospisil will play James Ward, ranked 111th in the world, but who comes with one significant caveat: he is British. The match against Ward will be in front of a hostile crowd, and almost certainly on one of the biggest courts on the grounds.
“I tend to play well when the crowd is against me, it’s funny,” Pospisil said. “I think I just tend to play well in front of big crowds. Even if they’re not cheering for me I just embrace the situation.”