The Canadian Chargers: Milos Raonic and Vasek Pospisil
Talk about sports in Canada and the discussion is most likely to get a mention of golf or ice hockey. Rarely would you associate Canada with tennis. Oh wait, isn’t Daniel Nestor a Canadian? Nestor, a Canadian born in Serbia, was world No. 1 for more than 100 weeks, completed a Golden Slam and won the prestigious Olympic gold. The only catch, he achieved all his feats in the double’s game.
He now has company from fellow countrymen in the singles game. Milos Raonic and Vasek Pospisil are two of Canada’s brightest prospect on the tennis circuit. Here’s a look at how the two have managed to make a name for themselves in the last couple of seasons and have become the flag-bearers for Canadian tennis in the years to come.
Milos Raonic
Milos Raonic,with an improved showing in 2013, ended the season with a World ranking of 11th .
A 22-year old powered by a strong serve, Raonic turned pro in 2008 and became the first Canadian to crack the top-10 on the ATP World Tour during the 2013 season. The Canadian had progressed steadily towards the top-10 rankings over the last three seasons.
In 2012, he won his second ATP title at the Aircel Chennai Open without dropping serve during the tournament. His third ATP title and second in a row was at SAP Open,San Jose and he also reached the final of the Morgan Keegan Champioonships for the second straight year. Because of his quarterfinal run in 2012 Rogers Cup, he entered the the world top 20 for the first time after being ranked 19. He reached the semifinals at the Barcelona ATP Open defeating world No.4 Andy Murray in straight sets in the quarterfinals.
His performance at the Grand Slams was disappointing as he suffered a third-round defeat in the Australian Open at the hands of Veteran Australian Lleyton Hewitt with a similar exit at the French Open. At Wimbledon he bowed out in the second round but seeded 15th at the US Open reached the fourth round before loosing to eventual Champion Andy Murray.
Raonic at the end of the year, defeated Andy Murray en-route to his third ATP World Tour 500 finals and eventually finished the year with a career high ranking of 13 in singles.
In 2013, despite a rather poor start to the season, Raonic achieved a milestone of the first Canadian to make the final of the the Rogers Cup since 1958. Raonic, captured his third consecutive San Jose(SAP Open) crown in February beating Tommy Haas in the final.
Raonic won the 2013 Thailand Open and had a reputation of giant killer with upsets to the World top-10 players.
Raonic won crucial matches for Canada during the Davis Cup in its first-round tie against Spain and quarter-final versus Italy. His lone defeat came at the hands of then-world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the semifinals in Serbia. He defeated top-10 players Richard Gasquet and Tomas Berdych on his way to claiming the ATP Thailand Open title in September. He missed qualifying for the ATP World Tour Finals losing to Tomas Berdych in the third round of the Paris Masters needing to finish at least as a Runner-up.
At the Grand Slams, Raonic’s strong 2013 season also included an appearance in the round of 16 at the Australian and U.S. Open tournaments, matching a career best finish although he had an early exit at the French Open (third round) and at Wimbledon(second round).
He was recently awarded a third straight Tennis Canada male player of the year award for his achievements. He finished the season ranked 11th. Currently being coached by the former World No.3 Ivan Ljubicic, Raonic is an exceptional talent, poised to enter the top-10 rankings in the next season and capable of causing an upset in the Grand Slams of 2014.
Vasek Pospisil
Vasek Pospisil ended the 2013 season with a career-high ranking of No 32.
After having won numerous ATP Challenger Tour and ITF Futures up-to 2011, Pospisil ended the year with career-high ranking of 119, rising from a rank beyond 1000 in a matter of 2 years.
2012 seemed a breakthrough year for the young Canadian as he won his first ATP Challenger title in March in Rimouski, Canada. The win helped him to enter world’s top 100. He won his second Challenger title at Granby, Canada in July, that lifted Pospisil to world no. 85. He was unable to qualify for the Australian and US Open and went out of the French Open and Wimbledon in the first round itself. In the London Olympics, he lost to David Ferrer in the singles first round and could manage to reach the second round in doubles partnering Daniel Nestor. With nothing much to play for in the remaining part of the year, he finished the year at singles ranking at No. 125.
2013 started promisingly as the 23-year-old enjoyed good form(despite being unwell at the beginning of the year missing the Australian Open), reaching his first ATP World Tour semi-final at the Claro Open, Columbia before leap frogging to a career-high World No. 71 in the Emirates ATP Rankings after winning the Vancouver Challenger title.
He represented Canada in Davis Cup semifinal against Serbia, losing to Djokovic and Janko Tipsarevi? in singles rubbers and partnered David Nestor to 10-8 fifth set doubles win over Nenad Zimonji?-Ilija Bozoljac.
With a breakthrough performance at ATP World Masters 1000 Montreal(Rogers Cup) he defeated World No. 20 John Isner, No. 6 Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek en-route to the semi-finals and rose 31 spots to career-high World No. 40 before losing to countryman Milos Raonic.
Pospisil had a great run at the 2013 Rogers Cup until he was defeated in the semi-finals by compatriot Milos Raonic.
His stint at the Grand Slams wasn’t impressive as he bowed out in the 1st round at the French and US Open and only managed to reach the second round at Wimbledon.
He reached third ATP World Tour semi-final at Basel but lost to Roger Federer in three sets. He finished the 2013 season at a career-high ranking of No. 32 that helped him earn the most improved player award by Tennis Canada after climbing nearly 100 spots in the rankings.
The future is looking brighter and brighter for Canadian men’s tennis thanks to the success of Raonic and Pospisil. For the first time, there are two Canadians ranked in the World top-40. It is remarkable to think that just two years ago,Canada which was not even part of the World Group and is now one of the top four countries in the premier men’s team in the Davis Cup. The country has its rising stars to thank for the incredible feat.