Frank Dancevic was bound for tennis the moment his grandmother watched a hockey game on television and saw one of the players smile.
According to Dancevic family folklore, the hockey player had precious few teeth, forcing grandma to say, "Frankie, you stay away from hockey."
So the kid with bushy hair and intensely brown eyes stuck to a sport he learned to love, and it turned out to be the right call, not only for Dancevic but for Canada, too.
On a wild weekend at the Indianapolis Tennis Championships, the 22-year-old Dancevic managed a handful of firsts, knocked off one of tennis's top performers, American Andy Roddick, and established himself as a young man with a blushing future.
Although the ending wasn't perfect - he lost 6-4, 7-5 to Russia's Dmitry Tursunov in yesterday's final - Dancevic wrote a compelling story, one tennis followers will be talking about for months.
It went like this: A relatively unknown Canadian calls the Indianapolis tournament office several times to find out if he's made the draw based on recent results. When told he's the last man to qualify, he jumps in his car and drives from his hometown of Niagara Falls, Ont., to the Hoosier State capital.
He takes his girlfriend, Simona Cretu, along for the ride.
Once settled, Dancevic goes to work. He defeats the 46th-ranked Benjamin Becker, making it the first time Dancevic has ever beaten a player in the top 50.
Then he beats 54th-ranked Juan Martin Del Porto. After that, he sinks Igor Kunitsyn in a rain-delayed match that takes nine hours to finish before withstanding a pro-American crowd and a sweltering on-court temperature of 45 C to eliminate Roddick, the former U.S. Open winner and two-time Wimbledon finalist.
Just how monumental an upset was it?
Consider how much money the two players have won in their careers: Roddick, more than $12-million (all figures U.S.); Dancevic, a tad more than $528,000, which includes yesterday's payout of $42,800.
"This is one of the best matches of my career," Dancevic said after blowing 15 aces past Roddick. "I had a little extra bit of mental focus and a belief that I could fight back."
Dancevic became the first Canadian to advance to an ATP event final since Greg Rusedski did it in 1995, one month before he became a British citizen. Dancevic is also likely to improve his current ATP ranking of 109 to a more respectable number.
Just as important, he's becoming the face of Canadian tennis; a hard-serving right-hander who could end up being the best singles player the country has produced.
Grant Connell, a world champion in doubles play, captained several of Canada's Davis Cup teams with Dancevic aboard. He once said Dancevic had the potential "to be a world-class top singles player. I'm not talking top-100, top-50. I'm talking way better than that."
Connell stuck to those words yesterday.
"People underestimate how long it takes to break in on the men's tour," Connell said. "It's harder than ever before. The men mature much later now and Frank continues to mature."
Dancevic burst onto the national scene with a gutsy showing at the 2003 Davis Cup tie against Brazil. In a pressure-packed match against Brazil's Flavio Saretta, Dancevic had to win to lift Canada into World Group play for the first time since 1992.
A defiant Dancevic battled Saretta to a 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (7) decision to prove that the kid with all the talent had a heart to match.
"I always had a goal since I was a kid to be a pretty highly ranked pro, one of the top players," said Dancevic, who played soccer and, yes, hockey before walking into the tennis club near his home and finding his game. "I take things as they go along. I try not to look too far ahead into the future."
Just to complete the story of Dancevic's improbable Indianapolis experience: His parents, John and Doris, got in the car and drove south to watch their son in the final. They left yesterday at 4 a.m. and took their daughter Monika, who plays tennis at the University of Georgia.
Monika helped her older brother warm up before his showdown with Tursunov.
"I didn't return as well as I would have liked," Dancevic said. "I was nervous in my first final. [Tursunov]was more confident out there."
Still, Dancevic admitted it had been "a really special week for me and I hope to be back."
Some day, he'll do better than that; he'll win an ATP event and give us a winning smile. With a full set of teeth, no less.