Vasek

TORONTO — When Vasek Pospisil was young, his dad would constantly remind him that quitting was never an option. The principle took and guided Pospisil right through the final strokes of a wonderful career, which concluded Sunday night with a gutsy three-set defeat.

Competing on Centre Court as a wild-card entry in the first round of the National Bank Open presented by Rogers, Pospisil lost 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to Argentinian qualifier Facundo Bagnis on Sunday night at Sobeys Stadium in Toronto.

In advance of the event, the British Columbia native announced the NBO would be the final tournament of his pro tennis career. Early on against Bagnis, it felt like the end might come even sooner than anyone hoped for the 35-year-old. Pospisil — who’s battled groin issues — pulled a leg muscle in the fifth game of the first set and laboured to get around, leaving the court at one point to receive medical attention.

In that moment, it felt like a two-set loss was best-case scenario for Pospisil. At worst, it seemed like Pospisil — playing just his third match of 2025 — might have no choice but to withdraw entirely from his final career match. 

But playing in front of, among other important people in his life, that father who preached the value of perseverance, the Canadian put a charge into the crowd by striking back to win the second set. He even created more ripples by breaking Bagnis in the eighth game of the third set, before ultimately dropping the match.

Pospisil was visibly moved by the video tribute to his career that played post-match. When it came time to talk about his family, he struggled to keep it together. He thanked his big brothers for protecting him instead of picking on him, called his mom, Mila, “the rock of this family” and re-surfaced those words his dad and longtime coach, Milos, instilled in him: A Pospisil never quits.

“That’s the motto I’ve lived my life by,” Pospisil said to the cheering crowd and parents who were as misty-eyed as he was. 

Maybe that’s why, once the raw emotion of the moment passed, Pospisil was so at peace with his decision. He gave everything he had to the game and left it all on the court. 

“I’m very relieved, to be honest with you,” he said with a chuckle at his post-match press conference. “I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel after the match. I was thinking that I was ready to retire, but now that it’s done, I know that I’m very relieved and I’m happy that it’s behind me.”

It terms of the legacy he leaves behind, Pospisil’s 15 years in pro tennis are defined by some remarkable highs and a desire to always represent his country. A fantastic doubles player, Pospisil and his playing partner, American Jack Sock, won the 2014 Wimbledon title. A year later, he had his best singles showing in a major when he reached the quarterfinals at the All England Club. 

As for the NBO, Pospisil debuted in 2010 playing doubles with fellow Canadian Milos Raonic and the pair upended the all-world duo of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Three years later, Pospisil — whose world ranking peaked at No. 25 — advanced to the NBO semifinals in Montreal and lost to Raonic in 2013. 

He represented Canada at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, and his crowning achievement may have been being a part of the 2022 Canadian squad that captured this country’s first and only Davis Cup title.

“What’s the point of this sport if you’re not going to play for your country?” Pospisil said. “I don’t understand players who don’t play Davis Cup and don’t play Olympics, I genuinely don’t. It’s like, how much money or success do you want to chase for yourself individually? Bigger picture, I just don’t understand it. I think it’s just a no-brainer. To play for your country, it’s good for everybody. It’s good for you, it’s good for your energy, it’s good to give back to your country, to be a role model for the kids.”

While Pospisil said he still has passion for tennis, there’s little doubt he’s ready to step away. Helping kids — especially ones who may lack the means to get ahead — learn the sport is something that interests him, but he’s not about to double-back and dive into a new, demanding role within the game now that he’s freshly retired. 

“Do I want to stay in tennis on a full-time basis? Absolutely not,” he stated. “I have mixed emotions when it comes to this sport. It takes a lot out of you. It’s a really, really tough sport, physically and mentally, and at some point you burn out. At least I did.”

That’s part of the reason why, in truth, Pospisil said he would have been happy to hang up his racket well before making a final appearance on home soil at the NBO. But there was a special group of people he wanted to perform one last time for.  

“I really wanted my parents to be at my last match,” he said. “I didn’t want to just kind of end it. Because it’s been such a family journey. They sacrificed so much for me. My dad, he quit his job, he coached me for 15 years. He was, in some ways, more invested in this than I was. It was just as much his journey as it was mine. 

“I shouldn’t say that I didn’t want to [play here]. Of course it’s very special. But I wanted to play one more time in front of them.”

He sure gave them one last reason to be proud.