Why Pospisil Is 'Grateful' To Earn Comeback Player Of The Year
One year on from undergoing back surgery to repair a herniated disk, Canadian Vasek Pospisil was named Comeback Player of the Year in the 2020 ATP Awards.
“It really means a lot to me, so I just want to give a big thank you to all my fellow ATP players on the Tour who voted for me to win this award and also a big thanks to my team that really did a great job,” Pospisil said. “My ranking plummeted and I had surgery, so [I am] very grateful to be here and hoping to have a great year next year.”
“I’m very grateful to be here & hoping to have a great year next year.”@VasekPospisil | #ATPAwards pic.twitter.com/t6Gq4ZWjs2
— ATP Tour (@atptour) December 21, 2020
Pospisil climbed more spots in the FedEx ATP Rankings this year than any other player in the Top 100. The 30-year-old jumped 88 spots to No. 61 to continue his push back towards his career-high of No. 25, which he reached in 2014.
The Canadian made his first ATP Tour final since 2014 at the Open Sud de France in Montpellier, and he backed it up with a run to the Sofia Open championship match. Those were the second and third ATP Tour finals of his career. Pospisil also reached the fourth round of the US Open, defeating back-to-back Top 20 players – Roberto Bautista Agut (No. 11) and countryman Milos Raonic (No. 18) – along the way to earn his best Grand Slam result since making the 2015 Wimbledon quarter-finals.
The other players nominated in this category were Kevin Anderson, Andrey Kuznetsov and Raonic.