Pospisil inspired push to bring pro tennis to Winnipeg

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This article was published 26/07/2022 (1142 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

IT’S fitting that Vasek Pospisil is competing at this week’s Winnipeg National Bank Challenger.

That’s because if you ask Tennis Manitoba executive director Mark Arndt, Pospisil is the reason why there’s an annual professional tennis tournament here in the first place.

For that to make sense, you have to go back to 2011 when Saskatoon had a tournament featuring Pospisil, who was 22 at the time and already showing signs that he could be one of the greatest players to ever come out of Canada. That’s when the wheels really started to turn for Arndt.

“That’s what really got me motivated. If Saskatoon has a tournament and has a player like Vasek playing, we need one here in Winnipeg. And that’s the thing that kick-started the whole thought of bringing a tournament here to Winnipeg,” Arndt told the Free Press on Monday.

“We were talking yesterday and I told (Pospisil) that because of him, we are here… It’s a really cool story and when I told him, he was very appreciative. It’s all come full circle.”

Arndt couldn’t have shared that with Pospisil the past two years as Winnipeg’s Challenger was cancelled owing to the pandemic. But it made its return this week and will run at the Winnipeg Lawn Tennis Club until the championship match on Sunday. To not only have it back, but also have a recognizable name in Pospisil here, is a huge win for the local tennis scene. Pospisil, a 32-year-old from Vernon, B.C., was the No. 25-ranked player in the world back in 2014. He plays his first round match tonight at 6:30 p.m. against France’s Enzo Couacaud.

“You see all the ball kids that are here and they can see guys like Vasek playing here. Guys that you see on TV… It motivates them,” said Arndt.

“One of our volunteers is my daughter’s friend. She has never really played tennis and the first day she was working at the admissions desk and she’s like, ‘Can we play tennis later on tonight after this?’ So, I mean, that’s the impact that it has. That’s how you grow person by person, brick by brick.”

The ATP warned event organizers that a bigger facility was necessary in order to keep the Challenger in Winnipeg. Fortunately, they no longer need to worry about that as a new multi-million dollar tennis facility is being built in West St. Paul. The first phase, which is the outdoor courts, could be completed by this fall.

“Hopefully that facility will be ready for 2023. Winnipeg Lawn Tennis has been such an amazing host, a gracious host in welcoming us. It’s going to be sad to leave, tough to leave, because the location and venue is fantastic,” Arndt said.

“But at the same time, we’ll have more amenities at the other venue… We are growing and the facility has to grow with it. So that’s what the future is so we’re excited for that.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31