Vasek Pospisil: Difference between revisions
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'''Vasek Pospisil''' (born June 23, 1990 in Vernon, British Columbia, Canada) is a Canadian professional tennis player. Pospisil has a career-high World singles ranking of 25, and No. 4 in doubles. In 2013, Pospisil had his breakthrough at the [[Rogers Cup]] in Montréal as a wildcard. He defeated respectively world No. 20 John Isner in the first round, Radek Štěpánek in the second round and world No. 6 Tomáš Berdych in the third round, which 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. In the semifinals, he lost to compatriot [[Milos Raonic]]. With this result, Pospisil was ranked in the top 40 for the first time in his career. 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. In 2015, Pospisil reached his first ATP singles final at the Citi Open with wins over Rajeev Ram, world No. 5 Tomáš Berdych, Santiago Giraldo and world No. 14 Richard Gasquet. He was defeated by world No. 7 [[Milos Raonic]] in the first all-Canadian final in ATP history.
Vasek was born 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."
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.
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