Vasek Pospisil says he’s ready to return from back injury at Wimbledon

LONDON — It appears at least four Canadian men will be in the main singles draw at Wimbledon after Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil announced he is ready to return from a back injury.

In a tweet Monday with a photo of himself at the All England Club, Pospisil said “Wouldn’t want my comeback tournament to be any other than @Wimbledon. So happy to be back and grateful for being healthy & ready for competition again.”

Pospisil, who turned 29 on Sunday, underwent surgery in January to repair a herniated disc. He injured his back during a qualifying match at the Paris Masters last October.

While his ranking has slipped to 188th in the world, Pospisil has a protected ranking of No. 73. If an ATP Tour player is out six to nine months, he can use that protecteed ranking for nine tournaments or nine months — whichever comes first.

Pospisil is expected to join world No. 17 Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., No. 21 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal and No. 27 Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., in the main draw, which starts on July 1.

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Meanwhile, two of three Canadian men won first-round qualifying matches on Monday.

Toronto’s Steven Diez downed Japan’s Tatsuma Ito 6-4, 6-1 and Brayden Schnur of Pickering, Ont., beat France’s Maxime Janvier 6-3. 6-2.

Schnur and Diez will square off in the second round. Players must win three qualifying matches to be guaranteed a spot in the main draw.

No. 31 qualifying seed Peter Polansky of Thornhill, Ont., lost 6-1, 6-1 to Attila Balasz of Hungary on Monday.

The Canadian Press