LAST MAN STANDING
Advances to Grand Slam round of 16 for the first time
Gutsy comeback extends Pospisil’s Wimbledon run Down and almost out, British Columbia native Vasek Pospisil rallied to defeat British wild card James Ward in Wimbledon’s third round on Saturday. Rosie DiManno,
WIMBLEDON— There are 11,429 fans crammed cheek-by-jowl in the stands of Court 1 and maybe five (5) of them are cheering for you.
The rest are excitedly pulling for their homeboy. So local and likeable and unpretentious that last week he was travelling to practice at SW19 from his London apartment on the Tube, just an unrecognizable strap-hanger. And what do you do?
If you’re Vasek Pospisil, you bring that yearning audience to the anxious edge of its seat, you give them reason to hope by dropping into a 2-1 set deficit, and then you un-holster that big-serve Magnum for a three-hour-plus five-set triumph, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 8-6.
And for the first time in your career, you’re bound for the Round of 16 at a Grand Slam.
That about sums it up for Pospisil, the only Canadian still standing at Wimbledon.
Eugenie Bouchard was gone in a flash. Milos Raonic got his hat handed to him by a brash majors-crasher.
But Pospisil, the just-turned 25-yearold from Vernon, B.C., endures.
On Saturday, Pospisil eliminated wildcard James Ward in the third round of the tournament, taking some of the glow off the bright sunshine that flooded the court, and a whole bunch of the rosy anticipation from a crowd that, while not overtly hostile, was definitely trying to get in the head of the carpetbagger from the Colonies.
In fact, on paper assessment, Pospisil — with a world ranking of 56 versus Ward’s 111 — was the match favourite. But a hometown house can beat the odds.
Didn’t bother the Canadian one bit, as he fired 19 aces and 57 winners.
“In terms of the crowd, that’s something you’ve got to be prepared for,” he said later, after holding serve in the decisive 14th game of the fifth set, after letting out of shriek of victory, after punching his fists towards the sky. “If you’re prepared for that mentally before the match, then it won’t surprise you.
“I’ve had a lot of experience playing in front of crowds like that with the Davis Cup and I always seem to play well even if the whole crowd is against me. So I wasn’t nervous about that.”
And Wimbledon isn’t that intimidating a venue for him anyway. He copped the doubles championship here last year with American partner Jack Sock. He’s wizened, too, upsetting No. 30 seed Fabio Fognini in four sets in the second round.
On this afternoon, he nearly lost his focus before regaining it in time.
“I just kind of went all in and went for it mentally,” he explained of rallying from the 2-1 set arrears.
Pospisil had broken Ward in the seventh game of the first set, courtesy of a knifed backhand. Then Ward played himself back into the match by dominating the second and third frames as Posposil’s error count started to levitate. He began the fourth set by engineering three break points and when Ward dumped a forehand into the net on the third of those, decider was on.
“I lost my balance a little bit in the second and third sets,” said Pospisil. “When your back’s against the wall in the fourth set, if you lose that set it’s over.”
There was little separating the players through 12 games in the fifth until, at 6-all and trailing 15-40, Ward’s volley found the net again, leaving Pospisil just a service hold from his finest singles acquittal at a major.
“I was not serving well at all throughout the match, then I found my rhythm again and started serving really well and picking my spots again. That was key.”
Come Monday, he’ll have to contend with No. 22 seed Viktor Troicki.
The big Serbian didn’t have the crowd at his back on Saturday either, ousting Cinderella favourite — can a guy be called Cinderella? — cool dude Dustin Brown, the German-Jamaican with the splendid waist-length dreads (hasn’t cut his locks since 1996) who sent Rafael Nadal packing.
The three other men — all ranked outside the top 100 — who dusted off Nadal here in the last three years all lost their subsequent Wimbledon matches.
That same fate befell Brown, who came up short 6-4, 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 against an opponent who serves better than the Spaniard. Thus Brown had less success with his eccentric assortment of half-volleys and drop shots, including one ridiculous return that spun back over the net to his own side of the court.
“Everyone smiled, which is a good thing,” said Brown.
The 30-year-old qualifier, who had so entertained Wimbledon this year, was scheduled to jump on a flight late Saturday to play a club match in Cologne.
“The plan from the beginning was that if I’m not in the tournament, I will be there for the team and play (Sunday). What state I’ll be in is a different situation.”
He leaves, however, having lifted his ranking to around the 80-mark, which should guarantee direct entry into the U.S. Open in September. Also, $120,000 (U.S.) for making the third round — about three-quarters of the total prize money he’d earned for 2015 coming into Wimbledon.
At some point soon, he’ll light down in Jamaica to more fully savour what happened this past week.
“When I’m in Jamaica, then I can have a Red Stripe and say ‘Great. Great year, Dustin. You played great.’ There’s no time for that now.”