Heat is on Pospisil in Oz
Vancouver ace enters Australian Open seeded No. 28
Some like it hot. Just ask Vasek Pospisil.
While the withering heat of an Australian summer can bring down some of the fittest players in tennis, Pospisil is hoping it can be something of an ally in his first Grand Slam event of 2014.
Seeded 28th in the Australian Open — the first time Pospisil won’t have to qualify for one of the four majors in world tennis — the 23- year- old from Vancouver was forced to withdraw in the semifinals of the Chennai Open last Saturday and passed up the Sydney International this week because of a back injury.
But the heat this week in Melbourne, where Pospisil is recovering and training for the Australian Open, has been something of a balm for the fastrising Canadian player.
Bring it on, Pospisil says, so long as the sun doesn’t turn brutal — and in Oz, one never knows. Temperatures in Melbourne can get searing, igniting brush fires and buckling train tracks. Oven- like conditions at Rod Laver Stadium sometimes force organizers to close the roof to prevent heat stroke.
“Actually, I like the heat,” Pospisil said, in a telephone interview. “I like it when it’s hot, the balls are flying faster, my body feels warm and I’m moving well. I do prefer a hotter climate. Humidity is something
else. Right now, the temperature is just about right for me.”
Pospisil is alternating between practice court and physio work as he tries to get his body in shape for the physical demands of the gruelling hard- court tournament which begins Monday in Melbourne. He’ll face Samuel Groth of Australia, ranked No. 127 in the world, in his openinground match. Pospisil won the only previous meeting between the two.
Canada’s top- ranked player, world No. 11 Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., is also seeded No. 11 for the Aussie Open and will meet No. 80 Daniel GimenoTraver of Spain in his first test.
Eugenie Bouchard of Westmount, Que., Canada’s leading player on the WTA tour, is
seeded No. 30 on the women’s side. Her first opponent is Hao Chen Tang of China.
Pospisil pulled out of his first ATP tournament of the season — the Chennai Open — after reaching the semifinals against Stanislas Wawrinka, the top seed, with the Swiss ahead, 6- 4, 5- 5, in the second set.
“I was in a lot of pain,” Pospisil explained. “It was getting really bad and I couldn’t put a lot of weight on my left leg. I probably stayed in the match two games too long, but I was kind of getting the upper hand. I had to pull out and retire. It could be a positive thing. There is a bigger tournament ahead. Hopefully, I’ll be 100 per cent by the time it starts, I’ll be ready and I can get my revenge.”
Despite his forced exit, the points Pospisil achieved for reaching the semis at Chennai moved him two spots further up the world singles rankings to No. 30.
A year ago, he was in the process of recovering from a bout of mononucleosis and missed a chance to qualify for the Aussie Open. But when his health returned, he rocketed up the ATP rankings in meteoric fashion. Entering 2013 at No. 128, Pospisil jumped nearly 100 spots to finish at No. 32 in the world at the end of the season.
In so doing, the Vernon native became the second- highest seeded Canadian in the history of the ATP computer rankings. Only Raonic has achieved better.
Modest and grounded, Pospisil admitted he hoped to crack the top 70 when he entered 2013. But he came on so dramatically — knocking off four players ranked in the top 20 and reaching the semifinals of the Rogers Cup in Montreal — that he far exceeded his objective.
From here on in, however, he knows he’ll be matching skill and wit with many of the world elite in high- stakes matches, if he hopes to rise higher and solidify his status as a comer.
“For sure, every move up from here is much more difficult,” he conceded. “Top 30 is a nice milestone for sure. I still have lots of room to improve, and we’ll see where the rankings go. I’d like to finish the year in the top 20. After a breakthrough year, I know my work is cut out for me. It’s going to be incrementally harder. But if I’m healthy, improving and sticking to the process, trying to get better every time, doing the best that I can, to win as many matches as I can, I feel I can play to the level that will allow me accomplish it. I know what to expect.”
Being a seeded player ( top 32) at the Australian Open means that Pospisil won’t have to go through a qualifying process and he won’t likely face an opponent ranked ahead of him for the first two rounds. He goes in with less pressure. The self- imposed pressure is something else altogether.