Who is Kane Waselenchuk and where did he come from? It’s a question that the entire racquetball community seems to be asking. Although most have a hard time pronouncing his last name (it’s Austrian and pronounced Wah-say-len-chook) they are not having any problem remembering his dynamic, southpaw court style. I recently caught up to Kane and his family, to try and fill in some blanks about this up-and-comer. 

The Waselenchuk’s live in America’s neighbor to the north, Canada, and Kane was born and resides today in Edmonton, Alberta. It’s a good sized city, and a very pretty one, with a population of about 850,000. First off, I spoke to Kane’s grandfather, who was all too happy to enlighten me about his very gifted grandson. 

“He started playing racquetball at the age of three,” John Waselenchuk began. “His father played the game and got Kane interested, and by the time he was five years old he was playing in tournaments. He won his first tournament at age five. It was only the Men’s C Division, but he was only five! Also everyone he played was an adult. So that was pretty good, I thought.” 

I had to agree. As I listened I couldn’t think of anyone I knew who had started playing racquetball that young, and certainly no one who had won a tournament! John went on to surprise me again, by stating, “As good as Kane is in racquetball, he’s a far better hockey player! When he was nine, the Edmonton Oilers spotted him. Dr. Sherry, the Oiler’s team physician at the time, was particularly amazed at Kane’s natural abilities.” Grandad wasn’t amazed … “Growing up Kane’s always been good at everything in sports; that’s how he is. He also loved to play baseball and was very good at that. To this day I have a garage full of bats, hockey sticks and other sporting equipment. Whenever Christmas came he never wanted toys, he only wanted sports things like a bat, or a glove, or a hockey stick. He’s good in every sport he plays. Here in Edmonton he’s known as a phenom.”

A phenom is right. In racquetball, Kane is a three-time Canadian National Champion, a member of the Canadian National Team, and recent winner of the IRT stop in Chicago. When he does lose, it’s to a big gun ... like number one player in the world, Cliff Swain, in the quarters of the U.S. Open. But even that was a close five-game match, with Kane nearly donuting Swain in the first game, much to the amazement of stunned onlookers. I think that we’re only just now discovering how much of a phenom Kane Waselenchuk really is. 

In Edmonton, Kane lives a short five blocks from the Mayfield Inn and Suites Racquet Club — a large, very posh five-star facility complete with a hotel, restaurants and spas. Kane walks there to work out and, according to his grandfather, spends most of his days there. “He’ll go there in the morning and lift weights. Then he’ll come home for a little while to eat and relax. Then he’s off again to the club to work out again. Sometimes he works out three times a day. He never gets tired and is very strong and fit. I think it’s because he loves to work out. He also likes to run and more than once has run fifteen miles and then gone to the club to work out again.” Kane might be so fit that racquetball may not be enough for him; if the Edmonton Oilers should happen to call him again, we just may see him on TV playing hockey! 

Few will dispute that at the young age of nineteen Kane Waselenchuk is a player like no one has ever seen before. On the court he anticipates so well that he’s often in position to retrieve a shot before his opponent even hits the ball. He is so agile that it’s not uncommon for him to jump in the air, turn, and hit the ball on the way down before his feet are back on the floor. His serve is very powerful. His speed is apparent immediately to all that play him. And if that weren’t enough, he doesn’t seem to tire (no surprise, given his workout schedule). 

His on court wizardry has earned him the nickname “The Wizard.” Once you think he’s done for, his sleight of hand turns it into something else. His ability to survive in the rally plays havoc on opponents. Once you think you’ve got him, he’s got you! I once saw him cornered in the middle of a rally, with nowhere to go. The ball was moving so fast that everyone thought he would surely be hit. Instead he jumped in the air, did a full twist to avoid being hit by the ball, waited for it off the back wall and rolled it out for a winner! The entire gallery couldn’t believe their eyes. Well, they don’t call him the Wizard for nothing!

Off the court he is well liked, gracious and appreciated by everyone, with a demeanor second to none. A friend of mine, Tom Curran (right), drew Kane as a partner at the U.S. Open Benefit Doubles tournament. After introductions, according to Tom, he asked Kane what strategies he’d like to play and what he’d like him to do. Kane smiled and said, “Let’s just have some fun, OK?” They did, all the way to the finals, and it was only then that Kane mentioned something to Tom about how they should play the match. It went well. They won! [Photo: Vicki Hughes]

As John Waslenchuk said, “None of the success he has experienced has gone to his head. He’s a very nice boy. And what’s more is that he’s very modest. He hangs out here with friends from both the high school and college and I don’t think any of them even know he’s a racquetball champion.” 

Now many are asking, “Does Kane have what it takes to make it to the top five?” I tend to think so (and then some), after watching him play at the U.S. Open. His performance convinced that he is here to stay, and could even pose a serious threat to the number one and two players today – Cliff Swain and Sudsy Monchik. How can I be so confident that a young, relatively new, nineteen year-old from another country could achieve such heights? Well, early rounds at the U.S. Open aside, it was watching him push Cliff Swain to five games that really convinced me. It could have gone either way in the tiebreaker, and even though he lost to Cliff (who is playing better than he has in years), the match was more evidence of just how amazing Kane really is. I’m convinced that he’s more than capable of beating the top players routinely, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s in the top three within a year!

In fact, he’s well on his way. He jumped from #31 in the rankings last year to #14 at the start of the season, and now holds the #10 spot after winning the recent Chicago Pro Stop and beating all the top guns in the process! To have achieved this so early in his career is more than amazing. Most players his age are just coming out of the junior ranks and struggling to break into Open or Pro divisions. Kane is already there. And he is competing as though he’s been there a while. To be so good, so young, one could say that — if racquetball were music — Kane would surely be Mozart! 

Kane plans to go to college. He wants to be a police officer. The chances are very good that Canada will claim him for one of their law enforcement agencies, and they’ll be darn lucky to have him. But in the meantime, he wants to play racquetball on the pro tour. He plans to continue to work out with a vengeance, and doesn’t think he’ll slow down once he’s in college. And as his grandfather reminds us, “He’s the best at any sport he plays.” With that in mind, I think we can look forward to seeing more of Kane’s court wizardry as he climbs the rungs of the pro ladder, all the way to the top!