Vasek Pospisil, the Canadian tennis player, said he got nervous when the Toronto Blue Jays asked him to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before a game last summer.
Why?
“That was the first time I held a baseball,” he said.
His brief foray into the gameis chronicledin the premiereepisode of his recently launched YouTube documentary series, whichfollows his life as a professional tennis player. Despite his nerves,the eight-minute episode has a happy ending: The 26-year-old makesitthrough his Blue Jaysexperience with a respectable pitch—if only just“a little short,” he saidto the camera.
Advertisem*nt
And hepicked up a souvenir.
“I did keep the ball,” he said. “I have it safe and sound.”
While he described himself as a“private person,” helaunched his new series of behind-the-scenes videos to give fans insight into who he is off the court.
“You have to really get close to me to get to know me,” he said.
Pospisil is one of Canada’s top singles and doubles players. He’s won amen’s doubles title at Wimbledon — he has six career doubles titles—and in 2014, he reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 25 in the world. But after a tough 2016, recordingjust 10 match wins all season, hisranking plummeted, falling out of the top-100.
On a busy day in Toronto, Pospisil (VP) sat down with The Athletic in the upscaledining room of Toronto’s Soho Houseto talk about his “complicated” 2016 season, his heated sibling rivalry and the first time he practised with his childhood idol Roger Federer.
1. Part of your video series is you documenting your life on the road as a tennis player and traveling all over. What is your no. 1 travel horror story?
VP:One time in Mexico, a few years ago, when my dad was with me and we were travelling. We were going home after a tournament and I stayed up kind of late on the very last night because I had two weeks off after. And then we took a really early bus in the morning to go to Mexico City, so it was like a eight-hour bus ride.
We got on the first bus on almost no sleep, thinking I would sleep on the bus. Then we had to stop because it malfunctioned. We had to change to another bus and then in the middle of the night we were going in the mountains and we were passing a truck and some cable snapped, and like all these medal cylinders it was carrying just dumped on our bus, and we almost went off the cliff and almost died – literally almost died.
From then the road like shut down. The ambulance had to come from the other side. We had to wait for like an hour. They picked us up. The ambulance ended up driving us to the bus station, but it was just a disaster of a day, honestly. The whole time I had like no sleep, feeling terrible, hungry in the back of an ambulance, windy roads.
2. Switching direction, recently Genie Bouchard made news after a Twitter bet led her to a date with a fan. What’s your most memorable interaction with a fan?
Advertisem*nt
VP: In China, I have a few really big fans, two girls in particular and they are just really nice, really sweet and they always give me these nice gifts. And they make these books with like my whole story of the year with all photos, and they draw in it. The amount of time that must have gone into that, I can’t even understand.
I’ve had some weird fan experiences, as well. I had some guy want me to sign his chest so that was the weirdest one [laughs].
3. Did you do it?
VP: I was actually really put on the spot. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do so I just did sign his chest [laughs]. It was the weirdest thing I had ever done.
Vasek Pospisil signing a ball for a fan, rather than a chest. Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
4. You grew up in Vernon, B.C. and I read you spent a lot of childhood years playing tennis with your two older brothers. How intense did those matches get?
VP: Pretty intense, but I think the intensity was more between them cause they’re the same age and I was a little bit younger. They were nice to me, but honestly we played a lot of sports outside of tennis and especially with the middle brother (Petr), he’s super competitive. We’re both super competitive so they got pretty heated. They got pretty heated [laughs]. But honestly they were huge, fundamental for my growth as a tennis player.
5. Assuming you can beat them in tennis, what is one game or sport you can’t beat them in?
VP: Oh my goodness, probably nothing. I think I beat them in everything [laughs]. That sounds very co*cky, but they don’t play sports anymore so I think I could take them now.
6. When did you first realize that you were really good at tennis?
VP: At a young age, I was playing well, doing well at local tournaments and then when I was 9 years old, I won U.S. nationals as a Canadian, which you can’t do anymore, but back then there was a loophole in the rule and you could. That was the first time, I guess I was 9 years old, where I realized: Oh wow. If I stick on the same path or if I work hard, I could maybe actually follow my dream and become a pro tennis player.
Advertisem*nt
7. Tennis is a tough sport. Physically, mentally. Why choose it?
VP: Well one I fell in love with it when I picked up the racketand why I picked up the racket, that’s the question really. And that’s because my dad was just a tennis fanatic, especially when they immigrated from former Czechoslovakia. When they moved, he just grew a tremendous passion for the sport, and started reading coaching books and watching it on TV. And naturally, as his son, I just kind of followed him with that and he started coaching me and that just became my sport.
8. Speaking of your dad, he was your coach for a long time. Do you still seek out advice from him now?
VP: I don’t. Not tennis advice. My family, we’re very close. I’m very close with my parents, my brothers. Like you mentioned, my dad, he coached me until I was 20, so for a long time. But now he’s just really taken the dad role without getting involved in the sport much. He’s just sitting back and enjoying the success cause it’s his success as well — almost more than mine in a way. So he’s just loving it. He drinks a glass of wine and watches my matches and then just sends me a text, you know ‘good job’ or whatever.
9. You’ve said 2016 was a bit of a frustrating year.Your ranking dropped out of the top-100 for the first time in a while. How do you assess how the start of your 2017 season has gone?
VP: It’s back on track. I think that would be the best way to put it. Obviously the ranking is going to take a little bit of time to get back up there. It’s always tough to do it, but I think now the process is set in stone again. I’m excited about what I’m doing. I have a new team around me. I’m motivated back on the court training.
Last year was a very complicated year. It wasn’t just ‘oh I had a bad year.’ There were a lot of things that were going on that distracted me. Personal, professional, you name it. It was a lot of things. And that was one of the reasons why I think, in my opinion, I dropped out cause you go through dry spells every year. Even for the four years I was ranked up there, I had a dry spell every year. But it was always much more simple. You could pinpoint it and say it’s this one thing and you fix it. But last year I just felt like it was too many things – too many distractions. But now I would say, 2017 – it’s the revival. I’m hoping. Now I feel like everything is back to where it should be and I’m working hard and enjoying the process, that’s the main thing.
Vasek Pospisil at the 2016 U.S. Open. Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports
10. This year you’re playing a mix of Challenger level (the circuit below the ATP World Tour) and ATP World Tour events. What’s the biggest difference between the World Tour and the Challenger Tour in terms of amenities, hotels, that kind of stuff?
VP: In terms of the glamour part? There’s definitely a difference. The ATP events, there’s more money, it’s more luxurious hotels; the sites are better. But you know, the Challengers, there’s some good ones too. Especially in general, I’m not picky. I’m very simple. I grew up in a small town. I don’t care; I don’t look at those things very much. For me, it’s more about I want to be playing the big events because that’s where the most people are. I just love playing in front of people. I love what I do. I want to be successful in what I do. But definitely the smaller events are less glamorous that’s without a doubt. But it doesn’t affect me as much as it might somebody else.
11. The Davis Cup a few weeks ago was a great event for Canada, and for you. But obviously it ended on a bit of a sour note with Denis Shapovalov inadvertently hitting the umpire after he struck a ball in frustration.In general, do you think there needs to be a crack down on on-court outbursts?
VP: We’re humans. We’re people. I think it’s tough to be strict. Obviously if there’s a mistake, yes you can have rules. But we do get fines or we do get penalized for doing things like that. But personally, I think for somebody to say, ‘there’s no place in the sport to have that,’ I don’t agree with that. I think we’re human beings, it’s emotional. People like to see emotion, as well. It’s just human nature. We don’t want to have tons of robots out on the court.
12. I imagine it feels pretty good to smash a racket?
VP: Yeah. It does. But you kind of always feel guilty after, regardless. It’s like, oh I shouldn’t have. You should control your emotions better. …Letting your emotions out is a good thing. You just got to do it in the right way. A safe way, obviously.
Advertisem*nt
13. How quickly can you get over a loss?
VP: I can get over a loss as quickly as 30 minutes. Usually it’s not that quick. Sometimes it can take days. It just depends on what kind of loss it is. Obviously throughout my career, I’ve lost so many matches. We’re used to losing, as tennis players. So you get used to it. Obviously some will hurt a lot more than others, but we definitely have to learn to deal with that pretty well.
14. What was more nerve-racking: Playing Andy Murray on Centre Court at Wimbledon or playing in front of Will and Kate in the Royal Box?
VP: I didn’t think about that at all [laughs]. No offence to them or anybody. I did not think about that at all…So to answer the question, which one would make me more nervous? It would be the fact that I’m playing a tennis match rather than who it’s in front of. I don’t really care who’s watching, unless it’s some girl that I like or something [laughs].
15. What about tennis royalty? I read Roger Federer was one of your childhood idols. How did you interact the first time you met him?
VP: I warmed him up for a match when I was a junior. I was 17 years old. That was the first time, my first interaction. …And it was before one of his Australian Open matches and he was like a huge idol back then, still. I think I was 16 or 17 – and I was so nervous hitting with him. I don’t think I missed a ball, but I must have been hitting them like 10 miles an hour or something [laughs] because I didn’t want to miss.
“I must have been hitting them like 10 miles an hour or something,” Pospisil said of his first hit with Roger Federer. Photo courtesy of Vasek Pospisil.
16. When you’re entering a tournament is there ever a player where you’re like, ‘please don’t let my first round be against him?
VP: Probably Novak (Djokovic) and I know every player thinks the same thing. If you want to do well, if you want go out on Centre Court and play in front of people and have a good match and entertainment, then OK, it’s not bad. But if you want to do well in a tournament, you don’t want to play the best player in the world. Obviously right now, he’s not ranked the highest. Andy falls under the same category. Those few guys at the top, you don’t want to play them in the first round. Better to play them in the quarters. Then that’s great cause you have to beat them at some stage, if you want to go further in the tournament. But first round is not fun.
17. With the current situationin the U.S. and Canada, as someone who has seen the immigrantexperience with your parents and your brothers, do you sympathize with that experience?
VP:All I’ll say is that we were very fortunate, and I’m very proud to be Canadian and very grateful to the government and to Canada for bringing us in and providing us that opportunity. And now, I’m proud to be Canadian. I’m proud to represent Canada. And I feel as Canadian as anyone.
18. What is the number one thing you miss about Canada when you’re away?
VP: First thing I think of is my family because they’re here in Canada and I never get to see them. Other than that, like a consumer product or food or something, I don’t know. Would be…[long pause]. Drawing a complete blank right now. I feel like everything that’s here is kind of in the States as well, now that I think about it. I felt like there would be something very obvious, but I don’t eat like the typical Canadian things necessarily, like maple syrup, poutine or something. I can’t think of anything.
19. Get any Tim Hortons?
VP: I do enjoy Tim Hortons. That’s for sure. But I’ve been kind of hooked on Starbucks because that’s more global. Tim Hortons is in Canada, and now I’m kind of a Starbucks addict. But I love always used to love Tim Hortons. I still do. Especially the donuts. Oh yeah, Tim Hortons’ donut. There we go.
20. You should go now. It’s Roll Up The Rim time.
VP: Is it Roll Up The Rim To Win? [eyes light up]. Oh my gosh. I always used to love to rrrrroll up the rim to win. [laughs]
