Vasek Pospisil had a very good 18-year career on the professional tennis tour. He was a Wimbledon doubles champion and singles quarter-finalist, a doubles world No. 4 and singles world No. 25. He won seven ATP Tour doubles titles and reached three singles finals, including the first and to-date only all-Canadian final in 2014 in Washington, and reached the semifinals of the 2013 National Bank Open in Montreal.
But for most Canadian tennis fans, Pospisil was at his best when donning the red and white in Davis Cup competition.
Pospisil made his debut for Team Canada in 2008 at age 17 and went on to participate in 35 ties and 60 matches, both second-most all-time for Canada behind Daniel Nestor.
His appearance in February 2025 at the Davis Cup Qualifiers 1st Round in Montreal against Hungary was Pospisil’s last time representing Canada at the Davis Cup. He teamed up with Liam Draxl, who was competing in his first-ever Davis Cup match, for a doubles win, the British Columbian’s 33rd Davis Cup victory.
As Pospisil’s illustrious Davis Cup career comes to an end, let’s look back at his best moments representing Team Canada.
5) Revenge Against Japan in 2015
When Canada drew Japan for the 2015 Davis Cup World Group first round, it was the second year in a row the two teams would kick off the competition against each other. In 2014, Japan had defeated Canada 4-1 on home soil, their sixth win in as many Davis Cup meetings.
This time around, the Canadians were playing host and bolstering a full-strength squad featuring Milos Raonic and Pospisil, who had been on the team for the 2014 tie but didn’t play.
After day one, the two nations were tied 1-1. Pospisil came out for the doubles alongside Daniel Nestor, looking to hand the Canadians the advantage and the pair delivered, battling to a thrilling five-set win over Go Soeda and Yasutaka Uchiyama to give Canada a 2-1 lead heading into the final day.
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Kei Nishikori defeated Raonic in the first singles match on Sunday to level the tie, which meant it came down to Pospisil and Soeda to see who would advance to the quarter-finals.
With the Vancouver crowd behind him, Pospisil delivered exactly the performance his nation needed. After edging a tight first set, the local favourite cruised the rest of the way, scoring a straight-set win to avenge the previous year’s loss and send Canada into the quarter-finals for the second time in three years.
4) Rising to the Challenge at the 2019 Finals
The 2019 Davis Cup was a whole new experience. Not only was it the first year of the new format, with teams meeting in one location at year’s end for the “Davis Cup Finals,” but for Team Canada in particular it marked a changing of the guard as it was Canada’s first campaign since the early 1990s without Daniel Nestor. Milos Raonic was also not present.
Instead, it was the new generation of Canadian stars, Denis Shapovalov and Félix Auger-Aliassime, expected to lead the way for Team Canada. But as always, Pospisil was there and ready to go. As it turns out, Auger-Aliassime was dealing with some injuries and the new veteran leader of the squad was called upon.
And as he always did in Davis Cup, he stepped up in a big way.
Pospisil won both of his singles matches in the group stage in straight sets, impressive wins over Fabio Fognini and Reilly Opelka, to help Canada finish atop Group F. He then scored both points for Canada in the quarter-finals against Australia, another straight-set singles win over John Millman and then a doubles will over John Peers and Jordan Thompson, to send Canada to their second semifinal in the 2010s.
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In the semis, they faced one of the tournament favourites, Russia. The two nations split the singles matches, sending the tie to the doubles where Pospisil and Shapovalov took on Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev. As he so often did in Davis Cup competition, Pospisil found another gear in a key doubles match. He and his young partner held their nerve and scraped out the third set tiebreak to send the Canadians to their first-ever Davis Cup final.
While Pospisil did not get the chance to play in the final against Spain, his clutch play, particularly in the two deciding doubles matches in the knockout stage, provided a preview for greater success three years later.
3) Doubles Heroics in 2013 Semifinal Run
Canada first participated in the Davis Cup in 1913, reaching the semifinals (technically the “playoff final” as teams played a competition for the right to face the defending champion back in the early days of the Davis Cup). It would take a full century for Canada to get back to that stage.
In 2013, the Canadian squad went on a long-awaited run in Davis Cup, knocking off powerhouses Spain and Italy in the first round and quarter-finals respectively to reach the semifinals for the first time in 100 years.
Pospisil played a big role in those wins, particularly in the quarter-finals when he and Daniel Nestor put Canada on the brink of victory with an epic doubles win on day two. The Vernon, BC-native was looking for redemption after letting a two-set lead slip away in singles the day prior.
He found himself perilously close to letting it happen again when he and Nestor went up two sets only to find themselves locked in an extended fifth set. The Canadians ultimately held their nerve, hanging on to take the decider 15-13 to give Canada a 2-1 edge going into Sunday. Milos Raonic closed out the tie the following day.
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In the semifinals against the Novak Djokovic-led Serbians in Belgrade, Team Canada found themselves in a similar position. With the world No. 1 on the other team, a doubles win was critical to give Canada a chance at reaching their first final. Pospisil and Nestor had their backs up against the wall when down two sets to one and facing a tiebreak in the fourth set but they managed to force a decider.
Another epic fifth set ensued and just like the quarter-finals, the Canadian came up clutch, squeaking it out 10-8 to take a 2-1 lead into Sunday.
Unfortunately, it was not enough for Canada as the host Serbians took both singles matches on the final day. But the defeat did not dampen the excitement of the nation’s best run at the Davis Cup in 100 years and created hope that one day soon, the trophy would be theirs.
2) Putting Canada on His Shoulders to Advance to World Group Against Israel in 2011
There was a new buzz around Team Canada in the 2011 Davis Cup. The nation had been stuck in the Americas zone since 2005 and had only played three total World Group ties since 1990, the year that the two men responsible for Canada’s renewed hope were born.
Pospisil and Milos Raonic had led Canada to wins in the Americans Group I quarter and semifinals earlier in the season to set up a clash with Israel in the ironically-named Canada Stadium in Ramat Hasharon, Israel. Raonic was still recovering from a leg injury suffered at Wimbledon and only managed to play one match, a day-one loss to Amir Weintraub.
That meant that the 21-year-old Pospisil, who was competing in just his fourth Davis Cup tie, was going to have to do the heavy lifting for Canada.
Right from the start, the youngster was digging deep. In the opening match of the tie, before Raonic-Weintrub, Pospisil went toe-to-toe with the Israeli No. 1 Dudi Sela, who at the time was a Top 100 player while the Canadian was in the 120s. The match was an epic that included three tiebreaks but in the end, it was the underdog Canadian who snuck out the fifth set to score the first point for the visitors.
Read also: Canada Gave It Everything at Davis Cup, Now a Tough Road Begins
After Raonic’s defeat levelled the tie, Pospisil and Nestor came out for the doubles and did what they did best and would do for the better part of the next decade, score a critical doubles win to put Canada ahead heading into the final day.
Sela defeated Peter Polansky in the opening singles match on the final day to once again draw even, meaning it was up to Pospisil to punch Canada’s ticket to the World Group in the fifth and deciding rubber.
In the end, it was not an overly dramatic finish. Pospisil delivered the first of many clutch Davis Cup victories in his career, although a more straightforward one than some he would score later on. He easily defeated Weintraub in straight sets to seal the win, finishing off a tie where he claimed all three points for his country.
As a result, Canada advanced to the World Group in 2012. Pospisil would never play another tie in the Americas zone, or even in the newly-created World Group I after the 2019 revamp, in his Davis Cup career and, at the time of Pospisil’s retirement in 2025, Canada has not played below the highest group in the Davis Cup structure since the British Columbian got them promoted with his incredible performance against Israel.
1) Clutch Doubles Wins Help Canada to 2022 Title
More than a decade after Pospisil’s heroics against Israel, Canada had come close to getting their hands on the trophy in 2013 and 2019, but it remained elusive. However, they had also managed to avoid relegation.
The changing of the guard was also nearly complete. At the 2022 Davis Cup Finals, starting with the group stage in Valencia in September, Pospisil was the only member of the team over the age of 23 (he was 32).
But his veteran experience proved critical in the Finals.
Canada’s 2022 title run is often remembered for Félix Auger-Aliassime’s phenomenal performance, including an upset of world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz as part of an eight-match Davis Cup winning streak (singles and doubles) to carry Canada to victory. However, it was Pospisil who delivered the first defining performance of the Finals, one that saved the championship dream early on.
The first tie of the group stage was against the Republic of Korea and, despite Canada being a heavy favourite, the Koreans gave the eventual champions a big scare. In the opening match, Pospisil had to rally from a set down against Seongchan Hong, but managed to hold his nerve in the third set tiebreak to score the first point for the Canadians.
Auger-Aliassime was then upset by Soonwoo Kwon, meaning the doubles match would decide the tie. Auger-Aliassime and Pospisil were drawn into a nail-biter that went the distance, but the two Canadians hung on to squeak out a three-set win and claim their first tie of the group stage.
Against Spain, it also came down to the doubles and this time, it seemed like Canada’s time was up when they trailed 5-3 in the third set. But both Canadian men found another gear, reeling off four straight games, including a break when the Spanish pair served for the match, to upset the hosts.
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When the Canadians landed in Malaga two months later for the knockout stage, Denis Shapovalov joined the squad, meaning Pospisil would only be required to play doubles if necessary. And boy was it necessary.
In both the quarter-finals and semifinals, Canada lost the opening singles match and then won the second, meaning it was up to Pospisil and his partner of the day (Shapovalov in the quarters, Auger-Aliassime in the semis) to finish the job.
On both occasions, they did. The quarter-final win against Germany was particularly impressive as the German pair of Kevin Krawietz and Tim Putz were undefeated, a perfect 8-0, as a team up to that point in Davis Cup. When they took the first set 6-2, it seemed like Canada would have to wait a year to take another shot at the title. But Pospisil and Shapovalov had other ideas. They were not broken again in the final two sets as they shocked the Germans to send Canada to their third semifinal in the last 10 years. That loss remains as of February 2025 Krawietz and Putz’s only Davis Cup loss.
The semifinal win over Italy was much cleaner, with Pospisil and Auger-Aliassime putting away Matteo Berrettini and Fabio Fognini in straight sets to send Canada to the final.
While Pospisil did not get a chance to play in the final against Australia, as Auger-Aliassime and Shapovalov finished off the tie with a pair of straight-set singles wins, his fingerprints were all over the title run. He went 6-2 in the 2022 Davis Cup, with four of his wins being tie-clinching doubles victories. If he lost any of those matches, Canada would not have been crowned champions.
