What’s next for Canadian tennis up-and-comer Vasek Pospisil?

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – That player out on Stadium 6 playing against Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan Sunday certainly looked like Vasek Pospisil.

He wore Vasek Pospisil’s Asics clothes, played with his Wilson racquet.

But that’s where the resemblance ended.

This imposter was like Zombie Vasek, a pale imitation of what the 23-year-old from Vancouver looks like when he’s in full flight on a tennis court.

The 6-0, 6-2 score was a little misleading; a reasonable facsimile of the real Vasek Pospisil only ambled onto court when the score was already 6-0, 4-1 for his opponent.

The first thought from his followers was that the disc issue in his back that prevented him from participating in the first-round Davis Cup tie against Japan was acting up.

Fortunately, that wasn’t the case. The back held up well enough.

The immediate concern, then, is getting his bearings back after a month off the court.

Pospisil is the worrying kind. He tends to doubt himself. That confidence here, at the top level of the pro game, is still a work in progress and is fragile.

It’s not that he’s forgotten to play tennis; he’s been playing tennis his whole life. But his situation is quite different from that of his countryman Milos Raonic, for example, who missed even more time with an ankle tendon injury and is by nature a far more confident chap.

Raonic has been playing at the top level for a few years now; perhaps that bank of muscle memory helped him squeak through his first match in two months, against Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France.

By the time he played Alejandro Falla in his next match, he looked as though he had never been gone. And then he goes and beats Andy Murray Wednesday.

“I can practice normally. I know what adjustments I have to make now. But after being out for a month, not playing, I’m just kind of nervous that other guys were playing tournaments and practicing (while he wasn’t). It just bothered me that I wasn’t getting better – on the court working on my game.”

The back is not 100 per cent; there are moments where Pospisil felt a little pain this week, both in practice and on the doubles court, mostly after sudden, unexpected and quick moves. But he knows what he has to do, both off the court and on, to manage that.

And Pospisil has been able to practice fairly normally for several weeks now.

Coach Frédéric Fontang said the only solution was to get back to work, really, building up that confidence again.

And for that, he needs matches.

Pospisil entered this week’s Challenger-level event in Dallas several weeks ago – a just-in-case kind of move, in case things didn’t go well here in Indian Wells.

It’s back to a bit of a comfort zone, a brief step back to a slightly lower level (even though there are some very good players in the draw) before heading to Miami next week for another Masters 1000 level event.

“I have the tennis in me, we know it ‘s just a matter of time; I just have to play some matches,” Pospisil said.

He’s the top seed in Dallas, and will play veteran Benjamin Becker of Germany in the first round.

Next after that would be Paolo Lorenzi of Italy or Guido Pella of Argentina.

Pospisil also is playing doubles with Oliver Marach of Austria. They’re the third seeds.

“I’m still new to the scene and all that. It’s a bit about confidence, too. When you’re playing well in practice, you’re not doubting yourself. If you’re going into a tournament and you’re doubting yourself and you’re rusty, some issues can come up,” he said. “Not totally confident in myself this week, and combining that with the rust, just not a performance I’ll want to be remembering.”