Vasek Pospisil’s marvellous Wimbledon journey has finally come to an end on Centre Court.
Fittingly it earned a thoroughly deserved standing ovation from the crowd, who had just seen their home hero and No.3 seed, Andy Murray, reach the semi-finals by defeating the unseeded Canadian 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 in two hours 12 minutes.
Finally, and inevitably, it was weariness that played a crucial part in Pospisil’s defeat. He came into this quarter-final match having played an incredible 31 sets in seven days, 19 in his four singles matches and a further 12 in the unsuccessful defence of the doubles title he won at Wimbledon a year ago with American Jack Sock.
The 25-year-old Pospisil, who has suffered more than his share of misfortune and injury, was entitled to call his 2015 Wimbledon “remarkable”, setting his career on an overdue positive path.
He had promised after his draining fourth round, five-set win against Viktor Troicki, followed by a five-set doubles defeat, that he was “pretty tired, but would come out strong” against Murray.
And that was precisely what he did, winning his opening service game to love, only to drop serve at the next time of asking.
In the remainder of that opening set, disrupted by the first of two rain breaks, Pospisil conceded just three points on his serve but it was clear that he would need to continue to dominate on his own delivery since he could make little impression on Murray’s.
Where he did excel, however, was in his speed in getting to the net and the quality of his volleying, while Murray’s plan of concentrating on the Canadian’s weaker backhand was negated by the way in which he regularly managed to run around to return the ball on his powerful forehand wing.
After the second rain delay the decision was taken to close the stadium roof, and Pospisil noted that the increased humidity began to affect his stamina.
But what really threw him out of his stride was, with the score tantalisingly poised at 5-5 30-all, he was handed a time violation by the umpire, Pascal Maria of France.
“I was right about to serve the ball,” Pospisil complained. “If he would have waited one second longer I would have served. I don’t agree with the time he did it."
Although he asserted “I don’t think it affected me mentally very much”, it certainly swung the game more positively Murray’s way since Pospisil immediately lost the next point to go break point down and even a desperate dive could not prevent Murray taking the next point, after which he served out for a two-set lead.
Pospisil was clearly tiring in the third set, needing to save break points in three of his first four service games and in the ninth game he was finally broken, for the third time in the match, despite a flamboyant attempt at a return by playing a shot between his legs. Ironically, as Murray served out for a place in the semi-finals, Pospisil finally had a break point, only to miss it.
But he was far from disappointed. “This has been a great week and just the beginning.I can take confidence from this. I just need to be more consistent and in the last couple of weeks I’ve made the right steps towards that.”