Dancevic Back From Injury, Then Cuts Himself on Scoreboard

A few years ago I was really into Frank Dancevic--the first Canadian player to come along in quite some time who actually seemed like he might break into the top 30. Dubbed by some as "the poor man's Federer" (and really, is that such a bad thing to be?), Dancevic reached his highest singles ranking in September 2007 as number 65 in the world.

The biggest win of his career, and the point where people really began to notice him, was when he beat Andy Roddick in the semifinals of the Indianapolis Tennis Championships in 2007. Dancevic went on to back this win up at the Rogers Cup when he beat Del Potro and Verdasco on the way to a quarter final match with Nadal. Dancevic was able to take a set off Nadal (not an easy thing to do), but was unable to beat the world number 2 and he lost the match.

Dancevic's ranking moved up quickly and he was entered directly into the main draw of the 2008 Australian Open where he lost in the first round to Nieminen. A back injury then kept him out of play until May, and when he returned to competition he struggled and was unable to make it past the first round at the 2008 French Open. He was given a wild card into the main draw of Wimbledon and Dancevic surprised everyone when he beat David Nalbandian in straight sets. He went on to lose in the second round and was unable to make it past the first round at the US Open. In the fall of 2008 his back injury started up again and he was forced to take time off before the new season.

The following year, in December 2009, Dancevic underwent back surgery to treat a herniated disk, and the first tournament he was able to play was in 2010 at the AEGON Trophy where he lost in the first round. For the first time since 2006 Dancevic was no longer the top ranked Canadian player as he fell to number 316 in the world.

Recently though, he has had some promising results as he beat Nicolas Mahut and Marc Giguel to reach the third round of the 2010 Hall of Fame Tennis Championships earlier this month. Dancevic ended up losing to Mardy Fish, but after being out for so long because of his injury, the fact that he was able to post wins over quality opponents is definitely a good sign.

I was excited to see him playing again, and doing well, and so I was disappointed to read an article today saying that Dancevic had cut his leg on a scoreboard during the qualifying rounds of the Atlanta Tennis Championships this past weekend. Apparently he will now have to miss the next two weeks on tour. Seriously? How does this even happen? Here's the link to Tennis Connected to read the full story:

http://tennisconnected.com/home/2010/07/21/dancevic-cuts-leg-on-scoreboard/

Putting this scoreboard injury aside, I have high hopes for Dancevic to make a strong return to the ATP tour, and I'll be looking for him to do well at the upcoming US Open.