Canada’s Peter Polansky is aiming to finish this year’s tennis season on a high with a title to his name at the Challenger event in Thailand.

“My goals for the rest of the year are to play my last event in Thailand (150k Challenger) to the best of my capability and to have the best preparation in off season to start next year strong.”

The 29 year old admitted that he struggled for form after an impressive start in Australia but is looking to take his recent good form into next season.

“This year has been quite volatile in terms of results. I started great in Australia and then shortly after I went through a 4 month period where I was losing early in every event in a lot of close matches.

“I had a strong summer and decent fall, so I’m looking to carry that through to next year.”

Polansky started playing tennis at the age of 6 before he started touring at the age of 17.

“I probably can’t name all the titles, I looked on my ITF page recently and it showed I had won something like 19 futures titles and 2 challenger titles (Tiburon, Gatineau), these were all singles, plenty more doubles in there too!”

The Canadian was a keen Pete Sampras fan growing but named two other tennis greats that are currently dominating the tennis scene as his favourite players.

“Growing up I loved Pete Sampras when he was dominating, we also shared the same name.

“Right now I would say I have the most respect for Federer and Nadal mostly from their attitudes and how they approach things, but also what they do for the sport.”

It was Federer who stood out for Polansky who added that the Swiss international featured in his most memorable moment in his career so far.

“My most memorable moment in tennis is playing Federer at the rogers cup in 2014 and again this past summer in 2017.”

Polansky has showed what he can do at the top of his game this year and is hopeful on maintaining that form next season.

“I would have to say I’m playing better and better each year, so some of my matches this summer have probably been my best.

“Next year I want to break into the top 100 and he main draw for French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open.”

Listing his achievements in his 12 year professional tennis career, it certainly seems an achievable task to qualify for the majors next year.

“I don’t think there is one particular achievement that stands out, but some of my best ones are: Qualifying for Australian Open, French Open, and US Open (main draws). Winning rounds at the Rogers cup in Toronto, and making finals or winning challengers.”

His achievements are even more remarkable as Polansky doesn’t currently have a coach. He trains in Florida between IMG Acadmies and Saddlebrooke in Tampa.

Also worth noting that Polansky is currently on the look out for a best friend, with Philip Bester recently retiring!

“My best friend in tennis is Philip Bester. Who just recently retired, so I’m taking applications for a new best friend!”

Injuries are also a key part in any sportsmen/women’s career and Polansky has had a couple of setbacks to deal with in his career.

“I’ve had only a couple setbacks. One was my shoulder, one a groin strain, and the most recent was my wrist injury in 2014 which put me out about a year. Injuries are part of the sport, some are worse than others… you need to be persistent to over come them and just know you will get back to 100%.

Polansky admitted that with the correct mindset, any sportsmen/women will be able to reach their full potential again.

“Even though you lose time, just understand it’s not a big deal and you will be back to where you were before. The hardest part is losing your ranking, but with the right mindset you can get it back up to where it was.”

The Canadian also had some advice for any up and coming tennis player dreams of competing at the very top of tennis.

“I think the best advice is to work hard every day. I know it sounds cliche, but if you really enjoy the sport, enjoy putting hours in on the court and do the right things then you are giving yourself the best chance in becoming a pro.”

You can follow Peter’s progress on Twitter here! (@PPolansky)