Polansky Encouraged By Canadian Tennis Boom

Age is just a number and tennis might just be a game, but for Peter Polansky, some of his finest tennis has come with age – and it’s getting only better.

The 29-year-old Canadian has been an unassuming but tenacious competitor across all levels of professional tennis, quietly putting together a successful career that just now is seeing him start to maximise his potential. On the back of three successive ATP Challenger Tour finals earlier this year, Polansky reached a career-high of No. 115 in the Emirates ATP Rankings and looks to build on that vein of form in Asia later this year.

A veteran by his own account, Polansky has been around long enough to witness the beginnings of what now is an incredible boom in Canadian tennis talent, most recently in the form of #NextGenATP stars Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime, both of whom have made record-breaking strides on the pro circuit this season.

In a country where most kids pick up hockey sticks instead of tennis racquets, the sport has seen a dramatic spike in public interest, which, according to Polansky, began with fellow Canadian Milos Raonic’s accomplishments at the top of the game.

“In Canada, before, no one really knew anything about tennis and when Milos started doing well, more and more of the general public knew more about tennis,” said Polansky. “Now, with the two young juniors we have coming up … the excitement is even [greater] because Canada feels like they have someone they can support.”

Polansky is quite familiar with Shapovalov and Auger-Aliassime, having played them both this year on the ATP Challenger Tour, losing once to each but posting an impressive win over Shapovalov in the semi-finals of the Granby National Bank Challenger.

“They’re both really young,” said Polansky of his teenaged compatriots. “They still have so much time to improve. They’re already doing amazing but they’re going to keep getting better.

“I don’t think there’s any specific advice I can give them,” he added. “I can’t tell them they need to work on their backhand or their forehand; they have all the shots. It’s more about psychologically being in every match, competing and [to] keep moving in the right direction all the time.”

But don’t be mistaken: as compelling as this future generation of Canadian talent may be for pundits, Polansky is firmly invested in the present one – his own. The 29 year old has his sights set on a year-end Top 100 finish, as he hopes to gain direct entry into many ATP World Tour events and the Australian Open in 2018. His motivation to keep improving has never waned over the years.

“I think when you get to the later part of the career and you get older – a lot of the players start to lose motivation. Maybe they don’t train as much or they don’t do the right things; they want to enjoy other things besides tennis,” said Polansky.

“For me, I’m not at that point yet. I love competing, I love playing, and I want to keep improving,” he added. “I know in a few years I’ll have things that I can do later in life but for now I’m very focused on my career.”

Despite an early exit at this week’s Shanghai Challenger at the hands of 17-year-old Wu Yibing, another talented young champion in the making, Polansky makes no distinction in age when it comes to improvement.

“No matter what age you are, if you’re always there and you’re always committed – you will get better.”