By his own admission, Canadian tennis player Vasek Pospisil did not perform well during the 2016 season.

Pospisil did reach the second round at the US Open for just the second time in his career, and he and doubles partner Daniel Nestor nearly took home a medal at the 2016 Rio Games, losing in the bronze-medal match. But for the first time in over a year, the Vernon, B.C., native fell out of the top 50 of the ATP singles rankings.

For reasons he says were out of his control both on and off the court, Pospisil struggled to reach the high level he had shown in the past; on Jan. 27, 2014, he achieved a career-best ranking of 25th. A loss during the first round of qualifying for the 2017 Australian Open caused him to miss the tournament. And currently ranked 128th, Pospisil will need to improve to at least 104th in order to gain direct entry into the upcoming French Open as well as the two other remaining Grand Slams this year. He’s hoping two impressive wins at the Davis Cup over top-50 players, Daniel Evans and Kyle Edmund of Great Britain, is a sign that better things are ahead in 2017.

“I think now everything is kind of gone into place,” Pospisil told TSN.ca, while describing the success he’s had so far this year. “I’m working with a new coach and feel like the process is in place again. Things are going in the right direction. …I’ve been playing the kind of tennis that I know that I should be playing; that I know I can play.”

It’s evident that tennis is fun again. Despite his shortcomings last year, the 26-year-old remains a beacon of positivity, smiling from ear to ear when talking about making a strong comeback in 2017. His immediate goal is to climb back into the top 50 of the rankings, but expect him to remain open and candid no matter how things go. It’s how Pospisil lives his life.

He recently launched Bounce, a YouTube channel that will document his road back to achieving his tennis goals, as well as whatever else happens along the way.

“It’s my life behind the scenes as a touring professional,” Pospisil said. “There’s a lot of funny, quirky things but it also shows the life of a pro athlete [during] the down times. A lot of it is pretty personal. A lot of times my brother is taking [the] videos. There’s a lot of raw footage. There’s no acting or anything, it’s kind of just how my life is.

Three videos were uploaded at launch, each highlighting the tennis player’s persona away from the game. One video features a collaboration with Canadian country singer and fellow British Columbian, Madeline Merlo, as she gives Pospisil singing and guitar lessons.

He promises to have funny segments and clips, too, which will involve skits featuring made up characters that he’ll bring to life through acting. He’d love for his channel to rack up plenty of views, but no matter how the channel does statistically, Pospisil says he’ll have a ton of fun.

At this point in his career, Pospisil considers himself to be a veteran of the game. He’s hit rough patches and knows now how to weather storms. He also doesn’t mind imparting the wisdom he’s attained with the next generation of Canadian players, including 17-year-old Denis Shapovalov, whose error in judgement during a match at the Davis Cup went viral for all the wrong reasons.

Shapovalov, frustrated after giving up a break to Edmund, plucked an extra ball from his pocket and proceeded to forcefully smash it with no consideration for where it might land. The ball ultimately ended up in the match umpire’s face, hitting him in the left eye. An immediate default for unsportsmanlike conduct was declared.

“I was there. It was right in front of me.” said Pospisil. “That’s just a really unfortunate moment. It was unfortunate mistake that he made which of course he regrets. We’re very fortunate that nothing more serious happened with the umpire.

“We have some great young guys coming up in Canada and my hand is up to help them. I feel like I have a lot of experience that I can pass onto [Shapovalov] and the ones coming up so I’m happy to help them whenever they need because I know how much it meant to me coming up as a youngster to have some professional guidance.”

With a solid group of established Canadian players, led by world No. 4 Milos Raonic, Pospisil says Canadian tennis is the best it has ever been.

“We’re definitely a really good tennis nation, which has never been the case in the past,” he said. “It’s amazing how it’s evolving. We’re a hockey nation but we’ve got some great tennis players and we’ll see how far we go. We definitely have the talent.”