TORONTO — The final round of qualifying on Court 5 at the Rogers Cup yesterday drew fewer spectators than Roger Federer's practice with Carlos Moya on Court 2, but Jesse Levine's thrilling 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (6) win over Benjamin Becker attracted a significant following, especially among those familiar with his story.
Though he now represents the United States, Levine, 20, grew up in Ottawa before moving to Boca Raton, Fla.
"It was for my little brother [Daniel, now 17]," Levine explained. "He has ulcerative colitis, and we moved when I was 13. It's been a positive move ever since.
"For me, it was a plus for my tennis and my dad had a good job opportunity. But it really had nothing to do with my tennis."
Yesterday was a gritty effort for the "5-foot-8 or 5-foot-9" Levine. He saved a match point in the tiebreak with an unreturnable serve to Becker's forehand.
Talking about playing in Canada versus the United States, he said: "The only difference is I get to see all my old friends and family. A lot of my buddies from Ottawa are here. Guys I grew up with playing tennis since I was six or seven."
About those days, he added: "I was, like, eight years old playing with them when they were 12 and 14. I was trying to hang with the big boys then and now they've got to try and hang with me."
Levine went to high school in Florida and attended the University of Florida for a year before turning pro last August.
Patrick McEnroe, the American Davis Cup captain, invited Levine along as a practice partner when the United States played in Austria last February, and was impressed with his work ethic.
Tennis Canada is aware of Levine, ranked No. 123 in the world, and would like him to represent Canada.
"We've followed his career closely," Tennis Canada president Michael Downey said yesterday, choosing his words carefully. "We know he is fully engaged with the USTA [United States Tennis Association] and very happy to be with them. We just hope that there may be an opportunity down the road when he'd consider us as an option and play Davis Cup for Canada."
Such an opportunity may be a long way down the road.
"It's not happening right now," Levine said. "There's been talks, but the USTA has been treating me too well to move over to Tennis Canada. It would have to be something extraordinary to try and get me to play for Canada right now."
Levine is an enterprising player with nice variety, if not exceptional power, in his game.
"His size is his biggest negative, but he's got a great heart," said Larry Stefanki, who coaches Fernando Gonzalez and has previously worked with John McEnroe, Marcelo Rios, Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Tim Henman.
"A lot of players today are fast and fit, but just don't seem to play every point at 100 per cent. It's like they're almost on cruise control and then want to play hard when it gets to 4-all or 5-all," Stefanki said.
"There's no light switch out there. I'm more from the Connors, Laver, Borg, [McEnroe] school, where you don't give any free points because it tallies up at the end of the day. I think because Jesse's so small and he doesn't want to give any free points, he tries every point 100 per cent. That's a big asset out there, it really is."
Levine passes the litmus test for being a Canadian — he loves hockey. Would he become a Canadian if the quid pro quo was his Ottawa Senators would win the Stanley Cup?
"That's a tough call," he said with a laugh. "Obviously, I'm a big Sens fan. I met Jason Spezza [on Sunday]. That was pretty cool. He actually remembered me because he watched me play an exhibition [in 2005] in the Scotiabank Centre with [John] McEnroe and [Anna] Kournikova.
"He said, 'I remember you, you played there.' I was like 'whoa.' "
Levine plays his first-round, main-draw match today against wild-card entry Peter Polansky of Thornhill, Ont.
"Peter and I are good friends; we grew up playing the juniors," Levine said. "We've even talked about playing doubles.
"When we get on the court, it's obviously going to be a battle. When we get off, we'll be friends again."
The winner of their match gets to play Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal tomorrow.
