Anything is Pospisil: Retiring B.C. tennis star says 'if you set your mind to something you can achieve it'

CBC

3 days ago

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Vasek Pospisil has hung up his racket.
On July 27, the 35-year-old from Vernon, B.C., played his last professional match in the Canadian Open against Argentina's Facundo Bagnis. While he lost the match, he certainly won the hearts of those in the stands, who rose for a standing ovation.
He described his final moments in professional tennis as "perfect."
Pospisil's retirement comes after nearly two decades of playing professionally. He's played in two Olympics, won a Wimbledon title and won the Davis Cup — Canada's first Davis Cup, that is.
Tennis Canada has referred to him as "one of the most important Canadian tennis players of all time."
And while Pospisil is now retired, he said tennis will always be part of his life.
"I'm definitely going to stay close to this sport," he said. "I'll have a soft spot for the rest of my life for this sport for sure."
He spoke with CBC's The Early Edition after his final match.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What was that final match and that standing ovation like for you?
I feel very grateful that I had the opportunity to play my final match on home soil in front of my family and friends, and fans. It was just as much of a family project as it was my own. So it was just important to me that my family was there for the last one.
It was perfect. I feel like it went just the way it was supposed to go. I was grateful for the opportunity and very grateful for the career that I've had.
What are some highlights from your career?
Off the top of my head immediately, the first one that comes to mind is my breakthrough event in Montreal in 2013, where I made the semifinals, the Masters there and had my first top-10 win.
That was just incredible because it just kind of came a little bit out of nowhere. I mean, I was building momentum, but it was my breakthrough event. So that was very special. And then the other two would be winning the Wimbledon title. And then, of course, Davis Cup, that one probably felt the most special of all.
What was it like in the early days in Vernon, playing tennis?
It was interesting. There were not very many players, at least back when I was growing up; it was very tough to find good competition and improve. My dad and I would go in and play on the public courts, and he would just feed baskets side to side, and you just have to kind of grind. Then, when I was 12 years old, I left Vernon and started travelling more, playing internationally and trying to develop the game, which was extremely important. It's definitely unusual for a tennis professional to be coming from a town like Vernon, that's for sure.
Who did you look up to as a young tennis player?
When Roger Federer started coming on tour, he was my favourite for many years. You know, before that, it was Patrick Rafter; I was always a huge fan of his game. Within Canada was Daniel Nestor. It was a dream of mine to represent Canada. From the beginning, it was just something I really, really wanted to do. To meet Daniel for the first time was crazy. And playing doubles with him for the first time. So he was a big role model and someone I looked up to a lot in the country.
Tell us more about your dad's role.
He coached me for 15 years. And when I was 20 years old, I started working with another coach, which was his decision. So that was good. I would have never fired my dad, probably. So it's a good thing that he passed the torch. From that point, he never really got overly involved, took a back seat. He's a very smart man. He did everything the right way.
What would you say to a young kid in Vernon who has just started their tennis career now?
Anything is possible. If you put in the work and you persevere through tough periods, and you really set your mind to something — a goal or dream or vision — you can achieve it. It's really just about mindset. Making the right decisions along the way is obviously easier said than done, but you have to always, always make the best decision that you know that you can at the time.
And whether that's potentially leaving a town like Vernon at a certain age to enhance your development, that would be considered one of the decisions you have to be very careful about. But it doesn't matter where you're from. If you set your mind to something, you can achieve it.
You and Novak Djokovic founded the Professional Tennis Players Association in 2019, and just this March, the group filed an antitrust lawsuit against the women's and men's tours, the International Tennis Federation, among others. What's the main issue?
The main point is monopolistic control that the tours have attained, which is unfortunately stifling the growth of the sport. It's created a lack of proper representation for players, price fixing, schedule abuse. There are many different things, but those are kind of the primary.
I've been around for many, many years in the sport and tried to represent my peers as best I could when I was on the council. But going through that whole journey, that whole process was very, very evident that you can't really get anything done.
Players don't really have a voice, and we're not treated as business partners the way that we should be in such a global business. So it's something that's very, very important for the sport.
Just knowing how much you have to sacrifice, how much work goes in from a young age, you know, to get to the top of the game. I kind of felt like it was my duty that I had to fight for that. I was fighting for myself, and I started obviously in my late 20s, but I was also fighting for my peers.
And now at this point, it's fighting for the future of the sport in the next generation. So I think it's very important that people are bringing a certain amount of value to whatever business or industry that they get, that their compensation is reflected accordingly and that they have some kind of voice within their industry.
What's next for you?