THEY may want to add strawberries and cream to the menu at West Vancouver's Hollyburn Country Club to keep up with the impressive Wimbledon flavour that will be on display starting next weekend at the $200,000 Odlum Brown VanOpen pro tennis tournament.
Organizers released the player lists last week and a pair of pros coming off strong showings in Jolly Old England are the headliners.
On the men's side Lukasz Kubot of Poland, ranked No. 63 in the world, is coming off an appearance in the Wimbledon quarterfinals where he faced countryman and Davis Cup teammate Jerzy Janowicz. The two were battling to become the first Polish player ever to reach a Grand Slam semifinal and it was Janowicz who came out on top in three sets.
Kubot's slick net game was not enough to keep up with Janowicz's big serve but the match might be best remembered for the post-game hug. The two longtime friends embraced for more than 20 seconds and then exchanged shirts like a couple of soccer players.
This will be the first time that a player coming off a Wimbledon quarterfinal singles appearance will play at the VanOpen in the same season, and organizers couldn't be happier about it.
"We didn't call him, he called us," said tournament director Ryan Clark. "It's exciting to think that Vancouver gets talked about at that level around the world now."
Barring any last-minute adds, Kubot will be the tournament's top seed. Right behind him will be Russia's Evgeny Donskoy, an up-and-comer who was ranked No. 199 in the world one year ago and has moved all the way up to his current spot at No. 66. Other notable names include Germany's Benjamin Becker, who's claim to fame is that he beat Andre Agassi in the famous American's last ever pro match, and Belgium's Olivier Rochus, one of the tour's shortest players at five-foot-six.
"My favourite player on the tour," said Clark with a laugh. "Most tennis players are probably six-three, six-four. He's super quick, unbelievably talented.. .. I like that type of style. When you see a guy who's playing against guys who are much, much taller than him and he's running around at an unbelievably quick speed, it's really interesting to watch that contrast of styles."
British Columbia native Vasek Pospisil will also be back on the Hollyburn courts. The 23-year-old likely won a lot of fans in these parts for his role in helping Canada defeat Italy in a Davis Cup quarterfinal tie played at UBC in April. Pospisil lost a five-set thriller in singles on Day 1 but bounced back on Day 2 to team up with Daniel Nestor for a crucial doubles win for Team Canada. He's currently ranked No. 89 in the world after reaching the second round at Wimbledon.
"I think it'll be a very vocal crowd for him when he plays, a lot of red and white out there," said Clark.
On the women's side the Wimbledon connection continues. No. 1 seed Su-Wei Hsieh of Taiwan won the Wimbledon doubles title this year with partner Peng Shuai of China. Hsieh is ranked No. 42 in the world in singles.
Another Asian player currently slots in as the No. 2 seed and it's a player with quite a back story. Japan's Kimiko Date-Krumm reached a personal best ranking of No. 4 in the world back in 1995. To put that in perspective, North Vancouver tennis phenom Filip Peliwo was one year old at that time. Date-Krumm then retired in 1996. After 12 years away from the professional game she returned in 2008 and now, as a 42-year-old, is ranked
No. 63 in the world. Clark said the tournament is gaining a good reputation around the world, which has helped bump up the caliber of the field.
"If you go back a bunch of years it was a lot of Canadian and U.S. players," he said. "Now what you're seeing is not only a huge influx from Asia, but you're seeing a lot of European players.. .. We have players now that could play anywhere in the world and choose to come here. They're passing up million dollar tournaments to come here."
The tournament begins with qualifying rounds, free to the public, July 27-28. Regular play begins Monday, July 9 with finals scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 3 and Sunday, Aug. 4. "If you're a sports fan, it's hard to beat this type of intimacy and this level of sport," said Clark. "You can come out and watch matches all day and night, men's, women's - professionals from around the world up close and personal."
For ticket information visit vanopen.com.
