Vasek Pospisil

In January, Pospisil underwent surgery to repair a herniated disk. Recovery from the surgery kept him sidelined until the 2019 Wimbledon Championships, where he lost in the first round to Félix Auger-Aliassime.

At the 2019 US Open, Pospisil beat ninth seed Karen Khachanov in the first round.

In the 2019 Davis Cup Finals, he and Denis Shapovalov teamed up to single-handedly take Canada to its first-ever Davis Cup final in the 119-year history of the event, defeating Russia, Australia, the United States and Italy en route to the finals.

Pospisil started his 2016 season at the Chennai Open as the seventh seed, but was defeated by Aljaž Bedene in the first round. A week later at the Auckland Open, he won his first match of the year against seventh seed Ivo Karlović, before falling to doubles partner Sock in straight sets in the next round. At the Australian Open, he lost his first-round match to world No. 15 Gilles Simon in four sets. At the Rotterdam Open in February, Pospisil won the sixth doubles title of his career, his first with Nicolas Mahut. At the Indian Wells Masters in March, Pospisil reached the second round in singles and the final in doubles.

Pospisil started his 2015 season at the Hopman Cup, representing Canada with Eugenie Bouchard. He won his three singles matches, but Canada finished third in their group and was eliminated from the competition. A week later, Pospisil entered the Apia International, losing to fourth seed Julien Benneteau in straight sets in the second round.

Vasek played his first tournament at age 6, competing at the under-12 level and still emerging as the champion. Approximately three years later, he participated at the under-9 Little Mo Nationals in San Diego. These victories made Miloš even more enthusiastic about his son's tennis career. As soon as Vasek's brothers reached high school and had played in several tournaments, he was given his first proper lessons. Along with tennis, he also played soccer, basketball, table tennis, and street hockey. Vasek quit soccer when he was only 12 due to injuries and because it got in the way of tennis. He said, "In some ways my heart was broken because I often times had more desire to play soccer than tennis." Pospisil frequently traveled to Kelowna—a 45-minute drive—in the winter so that he could play indoors. He made the trip nearly every day for six consecutive years. In the summer, on the other hand, he had to play with his brothers on the poorly-maintained courts of a nearby high school and occasionally took taunts from the students there.

Pospisil had to skip all tournaments in early 2013, including the Australian Open, due to mononucleosis. After recovery, he contributed to Canada's Davis Cup success by winning the doubles match against Italy with Daniel Nestor in April. At the beginning of May, he won his third ATP Challenger singles title and biggest to date when Michał Przysiężny retired in the third set in Johannesburg. Pospisil reached his first ATP semifinal in July at the Claro Open Colombia in Bogotá, but lost to local Alejandro Falla. At the beginning of August, Pospisil won his second ATP Challenger of the year at the Odlum Brown Vancouver Open, where he defeated Daniel Evans in the final.

He entered the Rogers Cup in Montréal as a wild card. In the first round against world No. 20 John Isner, he lost the first set, 5–7, but then won two tiebreaks to take the match. He followed this with a straight-set victory over Radek Stepanek, and then surprised world No. 6 Tomáš Berdych by upsetting him 7–6 in the third-set tiebreaker to reach the quarterfinals. This was Pospisil's first top-10 win. In the quarterfinals leading 3–0 in the first set, Pospisil's opponent Nikolay Davydenko retired due to illness, thus making Pospisil a semifinalist. In the semifinals, he lost to compatriot Milos Raonic after a third-set tiebreak. With this result, Pospisil was ranked in the top 40 for the first time in his career.

Pospisil has a 4–26 (13.33%) record against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10.

In January 2012, Pospisil qualified for the Aircel Chennai Open and lost in the first round of the main draw to Andreas Beck. He won his first ATP Challenger title in March 2012, defeating Maxime Authom. After this win, he entered the world's top 100 for the first time. His second Challenger title (Granby, Canada) followed in July 2012, lifting Pospisil to world No. 85. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, he lost to David Ferrer in the first round of singles play and reached the second round in doubles with Daniel Nestor. He reached the second round of the 2012 Rogers Cup for the second straight year after upsetting world No. 26 Andreas Seppi. He lost to world No. 10 Juan Mónaco in the next round.

At the midway point of 2011, Pospisil captured three Challenger doubles titles and two Futures titles, including one in singles. In March at the Rimouski Challenger, he won the doubles title partnering Treat Conrad Huey. Two weeks later, Pospisil captured the doubles title of USA F8 partnering Nicholas Monroe. Two weeks later, in April, he won his third straight doubles title, the 2011 Tallahassee Tennis Challenger playing with Bobby Reynolds. In May 2011, Pospisil won his ninth career ITF Futures singles title, Korea F2. In June 2011 at Wimbledon, attempting to qualify for a Grand Slam tournament for the first time, Pospisil lost in the second round. The following week, he teamed with Reynolds, as the second seeds, to capture the title of the Jalisco Open. In September 2011, Pospisil was instrumental in seeing the Canadian Davis Cup team come back from two rubbers down to win a Davis Cup tie, for the first time. The win allowed the team to face Israel, in September, in a World Group play-off. Missing through injury their two top singles players, Milos Raonic and Frank Dancevic, Pospisil played No. 1 singles and doubles. He lost his first rubber in four sets, to Iván Endara. With fellow British Columbian Philip Bester also losing, Pospisil and veteran doubles specialist Daniel Nestor had to win their doubles match to keep the tie alive, and did, in three close sets. Perhaps buoyed by this win, Pospisil looked like a new player in beating Júlio César Campozano comfortably. Bester then won the tie-deciding rubber, also in straight sets. In July 2011, Pospisil won his tenth ITF Men's Circuit singles title in Saskatoon, without dropping a set. In August 2011, Pospisil upset world No. 22 Juan Ignacio Chela in the first round of the 2011 Rogers Cup, but lost in the second round to third seed Roger Federer. In doubles, he and partner Adil Shamasdin lost in the first round. He also reached the second round of the 2011 US Open where he was defeated by Feliciano López.

At the China Open in October, Pospisil won his second doubles title of the season when he defeated, with Sock, fellow Canadian Daniel Nestor and Édouard Roger-Vasselin in the final. The next week, Pospisil reached the second round of the Shanghai Masters, losing to 11th seed Richard Gasquet in three sets. In doubles, Pospisil and Sock were knocked out in the first round by the Australian pair of Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic. At his last tournament of the year, the Valencia Open, Pospisil reached the semifinals, where he lost to João Sousa.

In mid-March 2010, Pospisil was the top seed in singles at the Canada F3 in Sherbrooke. He lost only one set in capturing his fifth ITF tour title, defeating Raonic, the second seed, in the final, in three sets. In the second week of April 2010, Pospisil won the doubles title of the Abierto Internacional del Bicentenario Leon, partnering Santiago González as the top-seeded pair. In August 2010, Pospisil lost in the first round of qualifying for the Rogers Cup to eventual qualifier Illya Marchenko. He played doubles in the main draw as a wild card, partnering Raonic. Together, in the first round, they became, and remain, the only team to ever defeat the doubles team of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. This was his first win in an ATP Tour main draw event. After two weeks off, he, as the tournament top seed, took the singles title at the ITF Mexico F6, defeating fifth seed David Rice in the final. Pospisil won a second consecutive singles title, Mexico F7, by defeating second seed Adam El Mihdawy in the final. In October 2010, Pospisil again was the top seed in singles at Canada F5 in Markham, Ontario and captured the title, defeating fifth seed Nicholas Monroe in the final. It was the eighth Futures singles title of his career.

In May 2009, Pospisil and partner Adil Shamasdin won the Mexico F4 and F5 doubles titles, as the tournament top seeds. In July 2009 at the USA F17 in Peoria, Illinois, Pospisil reached his first professional singles final, losing to Michael Venus. In doubles, he and Raonic, again the top seeds, won the title, defeating Matt Reid and Dennis Zivkovic in the finals. In August 2009, Pospisil lost in singles in the first round of qualifying for the Rogers Cup to fifth seed Jan Hernych. The following week, he and partner Marius Copil, the top seeds, took the title of the Romania F14 without dropping a set. In September 2009 at the Italy F28, he and partner Marcus Willis, the top seeds, took the title. The following week, Vasek captured the singles title of Italy F29, his first singles title, defeating third seed Francesco Piccari in the final. Two weeks later, Pospisil was in top form, capturing his second title in singles in as many tournaments, Italy F30, and without dropping a set or even reaching a tie-break. He was the seventh seed, and in the final he beat second seed Matteo Viola. After being off for three weeks, Pospisil, as second seed in singles, won Mexico F12, again without dropping a set. In doubles, he and partner Nima Roshan of Australia, the third seeds, also took the tournament title. The following week, Vasek won Mexico F14 as third seed in singles, saving his best tennis for the latter rounds, as he defeated sixth seed Daniel Garza in the semifinals and fifth seed César Ramírez in the final. This was Pospisil's fourth consecutive title and third without dropping a set. Two weeks later, Pospisil, the top seed, lost at Mexico F15 in the semifinals. This loss snapped his 23-match winning streak. After a week off, Pospisil and his partner Adil Shamasdin won the doubles title at the Challenger Britania Zavaleta.

Australian Open: 1R (2008) French Open: 2R (2008) Wimbledon: 1R (2008) US Open: 2R (2007)

Australian Open: F (2008) French Open: SF (2008) Wimbledon: 2R (2008) US Open: F (2007)

In November 2008, he won the Challenger Banque Nationale de Rimouski doubles title with compatriot Milos Raonic and two more ITF Futures doubles titles.

Pospisil won two more European events that summer in doubles and was finalist three more times. He capped his summer off by reaching the 2007 U.S. Open boys' doubles final, partnering Grigor Dimitrov. The pair lost to Jonathan Eysseric and Jérôme Inzerillo. In December, he and partner Roman Jebavý won the doubles event at the prestigious Dunlop Orange Bowl.

In March 2007, Pospisil won his first professional tour tournament singles match, at the Canada F1 Futures event, defeating Guatemalan No. 1 Christian Paiz. In the second round, he lost to compatriot Rob Steckley in straight sets. Two weeks later at the Canada F3, he captured his first career title, in doubles, partnering compatriot Érik Chvojka. In June 2007, he and Chvojka lost in the first round of the UniCredit Czech Open, which was Pospisil's first ATP Challenger event.

Initially playing USTA at the age of 7, Vasek won his first 12-and-under tournament. He continued to beat high-ranked and respected players such as Ryan Farber. Pospisil reached the doubles final of his first junior International Tennis Federation event, the 2005 Canadian U18 ITF World Ranking event, with compatriot Graeme Kassautzki. He and Kassautzki won the doubles event. Partnering another star junior Canadian, Milos Raonic, Pospisil won his second doubles title in December 2006, the Prince Cup in the United States. He also won back-to-back doubles titles in the Czech Republic in January and February 2007, as well as the Guru Cup in Italy in May.

Pospisil traveled to play under-14 tournaments in Europe for Tennis Canada in the spring of 2003 with three other players. Being younger than most of the players there, he was quickly defeated by his opponents in the early rounds of the main and consolation draws. He faced a knee injury in the process, something that would trouble him for the 18 months that followed. Pospisil would make the same trip as an older player, but would still see little success. In 2004, he won the Canadian Nationals at the U14 level, securing his spot as the best player in the country for his age group. When Vasek was 14 years old, his father decided to return to coaching his son. Miloš left his brewery, moved to Vancouver, and became Vasek's full-time coach, training him at local high school courts once again. Vasek wears Asics shoes.

In the fall of 2002, the family had to move to Vancouver so that they could find a tennis coach for their youngest son. They had to leave Miloš behind, as he had to stay in Vernon to work at his brewery, but he would make the four-hour drive on weekends to see them. The decision was also made because Vasek's oldest brother, Tom, was already attending the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, and Petr was hoping to start going to the same school. Unlike his siblings, Vasek had been homeschooled since he was 7 years old to prioritize tennis. He said, "I miss my friends a lot [from school] but the home schooling is better. I can do my work almost twice as fast. We thought it would be better to train here. It's a really good club." Vasek was coached by Russian-born Vadim Korkh, who had experience working with players such as Andrei Chesnokov while he was a professor of tennis at the Central Sport Academy in Moscow. Korkh said of Pospisil, "With his dedication and talent there was no question he would succeed. He’s a great example for all my students. They all ask about Vasek and I tell them how much dedication he had and I show them his [youth tennis] schedule and they see how hard he worked." Under Korkh, Vasek studied for school and did fitness training as well as practicing tennis. He played with Korkh five days each week, each practice lasting four hours. In November 2002, Vasek went to Florida and won the Prince Cup, defeating several of the best under-12 players from Europe. He also reached the quarterfinals of the Orange Bowl.

Vasek Pospisil (/ˈ v æ ʃ ɪ k ˈ p ɒ s p ɪ s ɪ l / VASH -ik POS -pih-sil; Czech: [ˈvaʃɛk ˈpospiːʃɪl] ; born June 23, 1990) is a Canadian professional tennis player. Pospisil has a career-high world singles ranking of No. 25, and No. 4 in doubles. Along with partner Jack Sock, he won the 2014 Wimbledon Championships and the 2015 Indian Wells Masters men's doubles titles. He also reached the quarterfinals in singles at the 2015 Wimbledon Championships.

Vasek was born on June 23, 1990 in Vernon, British Columbia, to Miloš Pospíšil and Mila. In 1988, before Vasek was born, his parents and older brothers unlawfully drove from Czechoslovakia to Austria to escape the Communist regime. Before moving, Miloš worked as the plant manager of a dairy factory, and Mila taught in a kindergarten. Both had experience playing recreational sports such as tennis with their sons and in local tournaments.

The family lived in northeastern Austria and saved up to move to Canada despite working long hours for low wages. In the summer of 1989, they finally moved to Vernon, British Columbia, a city in the Okanagan Valley, because Miloš's brother was living there after escaping his home country in the years prior. It had a population of only about 38,000. The entire family had a meager understanding of the English language upon their arrival. Miloš worked two jobs, at a flour mill and as a machinery operator at a brewery. He began taking more interest in the game of tennis after the birth of his third son. He coached Vasek's older brothers on community tennis courts, recorded matches on television, and found tips and guidelines in tennis magazines. When Vasek was about 3 years old, he started acting as his brothers' ball boy when they practiced with their father. He also would "drag a mini tennis racquet all over the house."

At Wimbledon, Pospisil reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time in his singles career. Pospisil beat French qualifier Vincent Millot, 30th seed Fabio Fognini, local wildcard James Ward, and 22nd seed Viktor Troicki. All matches extended to five sets except the one against Fognini. He was defeated in the quarterfinals by world No. 3 Andy Murray in straight sets. In doubles, Pospisil, who was the defending champion with his American partner Jack Sock, lost to the 13th seeded and eventual runners-up Jamie Murray and John Peers in the third round.

In singles, Pospisil won the ITF Flevoland Junior Championships in the Netherlands in February, the 25th All-Canadian ITF Junior Championships in April, and the Canadian U18 ITF World Ranking Event, the last one without losing more than four games in any set.