Young Canadian players surprises Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic
It was tennis night in Canada. Canadian men knocked off some of the biggest names in the game at the Rogers Cup on Monday night, raising their profile in front of an appreciative home crowd at Rexall Centre. Peter Polansky, Milos Raonic and Vasek Pospisil all played a role in rewarding those who braved the threat of rain to watch their first-round matches.
Polansky, from nearby Thornhill, opened the evening with an unexpected 7-6, 6-4 win over Jurgen Melzer. The Austrian arrived in Canada ranked No. 15 on the ATP World Tour, 192 spots above Polansky, Canada’s highest-ranked singles player. Pospisil and Raonic were celebrating their own win on the same court less than two hours later, having upset Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic — the No. 1- and No. 2-ranked players in the world, respectively — in their doubles match. The Canadian tandem won 5-7, 6-3, 10-8 in the nightcap at centre court.
“We knew we had to play a flawless match,” Pospisil said, “and we did pretty much exactly that.” Polansky had battled his way through the earlier match, including a first set that lasted for more than an hour. None of it — neither the cheering crowd nor the nerves — really got to him until he sunk into his chair at the end of the match.
“What I’m most proud of tonight is how I stayed focused in front of a big crowd at home,” the Canadian said. “I just played my game throughout the match without too many nerves.”
It is the first time a Canadian man has beaten a top-15 player at his home tournament in seven years, since Simon Larose upset Gustavo Kuerten. Larose was ranked No. 314 in the world at the time. “It means a lot, especially for confidence,” Polansky said. “It’s a huge confidence boost. Not only can I be close to these guys in practice, but in a match, I’m there with them, too. Mentally, I’m right there.”
Melzer appeared in the French Open semifinal earlier this year, where he lost to Nadal. He has earned more than $1 million (U.S.) in prize money on the tour so far this year. Polansky has earned $27,052.
Polansky outlasted Melzer in a game that lasted one hour 47 minutes. “I’m so proud of him,” said Nicole Polansky, Peter’s older sister. “He’s such an inspiration for me. I’m just glad I could be a part of it.”
Polansky will advance to face Romanian Victor Hanescu, who won his first game against Raonic earlier in the day. Raonic, one of four Canadian players given wild-card entries into the ATP Masters 1000 series tournament, fell 6-4, 6-4 in the singles match.
Polansky’s win was the highlight of a rainy day in Toronto, where weather forced a long delay on the courts at York University. The top eight seeds were granted byes into the second round of the $2.43-million (U.S.) tournament, leaving the early draws lacking for recognizable talent.
Roger Federer held a question-and-answer session with reporters, and is scheduled to play for the first time since Wimbledon on Tuesday. The 29-year-old is ranked No. 3 in the world, after a year that has been marked with injury and illness following a win at the Australian Open in January.
Polansky has been far less visible, known best for an incident which he would likely rather forget. Polansky suffered well-publicized injuries during a trip to Mexico four years ago, when he was an alternate for Canada’s Davis Cup team. He was sleepwalking in his hotel room — having seen a knife-wielding man in his dreams — when he kicked out the window of his hotel room and fell three storeys to the courtyard below.
“When it happened, people were doubting if he would play again, or even walk again,” Polansky’s coach, Dean Coburn told The New York Times last year. “It was a serious accident, life-threatening. Where he’s come, it’s unbelievable.”
Polansky said he has put the incident behind him.
“I don’t think about it too often,” he said. “It doesn’t bother me at all to talk about it.”
In some of the other early matches Monday, Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine defeated Richard Gasquet of France 7-5, 6-1, and Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina beat Alejandro Falla of Colombia 6-1, 6-3. Tommy Robredo of Spain topped Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-1, 6-4; Kevin Anderson of South Africa downed Leonardo Mayer of Argentina 7-6 (2), 6-4, and Julian Benneteau of France beat Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-4, 6-4.
Canadians Frank Dancevic and Adil Shamasdin could not share in the good fortunes of their countrymen. They fell 7-5, 7-6 to Sweden’s Simon Aspelin and Austria’s Paul Hanley.
Thornhill’s Raonic and Vancouver’s Pospisil will not get much of a break for their troubles. They are scheduled to face the defending Wimbledon champions on Tuesday, squaring off against Melzer and Germany’s Philipp Petzschner.
“We definitely still have to get our focus back,” Pospisil said. “Because if we play the we played today, I don’t see why we couldn’t win a couple more matches and see how it goes.”