Vasek Pospisil looks to turn around season, starting at Toronto's Rogers Cup

TORONTO — Vasek Pospisil’s pre-tournament Rogers Cup press conference opened up with a reporter asking the Canadian player to assess his game right now.

He gave the answers one would expect. He’s training hard. Playing well in practice. Working on the right things. He’s feeling optimistic about the weeks and months ahead, he said.

“I feel like things are, you know, going to turn around soon. I haven’t had a very good year,” he said, adding that would “be an understatement I guess.”

Indeed, 2016 hasn’t been kind to Canada’s second-ranked male tennis player. He’s recorded just five wins thus far this season, along with 18 losses. He heads into the Rogers Cup having exited his last two events — Wimbledon and Washington — in the first round. His ranking, currently No. 98, dropped substantially after the points fell off from his 2015 run to the Wimbledon quarter-finals.

Certainly, Pospisil is looking to get his season back on track — and here, at the Rogers Cup, on home soil, would no doubt be an ideal place for that to happen, he said.

“Obviously, I don’t want to go into this event like, ‘oh I got to do it here because it’s at home,’ but that would be awesome for sure to do it at home,” he said. “I feel like I’ve been playing pretty well the last few weeks, just looking for a little bit of momentum, a little bit of confidence in certain situations.”

That situation could come Tuesday night when Pospisil will take on Frenchman Jeremy Chardy in the first round of the Toronto tournament. Pospisil is sandwiched in the middle of a back-to-back-to-back Canadian showcase on the Aviva Centre’s main stage with 17-year-old Denis Shapovalov, from Toronto, playing Monday evening and Milos Raonic highlighting Wednesday’s night session.

Success at the Rogers Cup is nothing new to Pospisil, either. Three years ago in Montreal, Pospisil advanced to the semifinal before being ousted by countryman Raonic, who went on to lose the final to Rafael Nadal that year.

While there may be a presumption that playing in Canada's only ATP tennis event puts added pressure on homegrown players, instead Pospisil said he finds comfort in those situations.

“I love playing at home in Canada. I feed off the energy of the crowd and so I’m excited to play on Tuesday,” he said.

“You really feel they’ve got your back and the crowd is really pulling for you hard and that it matters to them how you do. I feed off that; I feed off that because I feel like suddenly I’m trying to connect with the crowd as if they’re also playing with me,” he added.

Also playing with Pospisil this tournament is Canada’s Daniel Nestor, who will partner with the British Columbia native in the 24-team doubles draw. With Raonic’s recent decision to skip the Olympic Games, Nestor is suddenly back in the mix and will partner with Pospisil in the doubles event in Rio.

The duo haven’t played together since a Davis Cup tie in March of last year so they’re using the Rogers Cup to get reacquainted with each other’s style of play. As for the last-minute switch, Pospisil said he’s fine with the way it is now.

“I’ve played well with Daniel before. He’s one of the greatest doubles players of all time and so I’m very happy with the situation with the way it is right now,” he said. “Going there and playing with Daniel, I think we have a good shot at a medal as do a lot of other teams so it’s going to be tough, obviously.”

As for the the mixed doubles event in Rio, Pospisil — along with the rest of Canada — had also been awaiting word from Eugenie Bouchard on whether she would participate in the Olympics. Later Sunday, after Pospisil had spoken to the press, Bouchard told reporters in Montreal she would play in Rio — however she didn’t indicate exactly what events she’ll take part in.

The intention, originally, had been for Bouchard and Pospisil to play in the mixed doubles event, assuming they qualify for the 16-team draw based on their rankings.

“Regardless, I’m going there to play for a medal with Daniel and then if she ends up going that would be awesome and we’ll try to get into the mixed draw and then try to go for a medal there as well,” Pospisil said a few hours before Bouchard made her decision public.

But before Pospisil heads off to represent Canada in Rio, there’s the matter of the Rogers Cup. And for Pospisil, being on home soil, could just be what he needs for a season turnaround.

“I’ve been working hard and it’s been looking good and, yeah, to do that here this week at Rogers Cup would be awesome.”