Wimbledon flashback: 2008 with Pospisil (and Safin)

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Today was the day the 2020 edition of Wimbledon was supposed to begin.

Of course, as we all know, that won’t be happening this year, for the reasons that we know.

So to fill in the fortnight, we’ve resurrected some vintage video to remind us of what great fun it all is.

First up: all the way back in 2008, France’s Arnaud Clément reached the quarterfinals of the singles. And, as often is the case in the late stages of a major event, there aren’t too many players around to warm up with.

So the juniors often get the call.

In this case, Tennis Canada coach Guillaume Marx’s relationships with his countrymen meant that Pospisil (who had warmed up Roger Federer before his semifinal defeat in Australia six months prior) got a great opportunity.

Marx, Pospisil, Clément and his coach/brother Bruno took to Court 15 after Marat Safin finished up.

Here’s what it looked like (these were the first baby steps on the video front for Open Court; let’s just say we’ve improved the skillset since then.

Clément ended up losing, 8-6 in the fifth set, to Rainer Schuettler of Germany.

Safin, then 28, defeated Feliciano Lopez in four sets, and lost to Roger Federer in the semis. He had beaten Novak Djokovic in the second round.

A little over a year later, the Russian was done.

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Stephanie Myles

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