Most Canadian tennis fans assume doubles legend Daniel Nestor and young protégé Vasek Pospisil, who have successfully represented the country in Davis Cup and also played together at the 2012 Olympics in London, will pursue their partnership next summer at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

But The Star has learned Pospisil intends to pair with top Canadian Milos Raonic for the men’s doubles event. Meanwhile, Nestor could miss the Olympics entirely — the final Games of a career that includes a gold medal in 2000 in doubles with Sébastien Lareau in Sydney, Australia.

Nothing is yet carved in stone; Tennis Canada is ultimately responsible for submitting Olympic nominations to the International Tennis Federation and therefore has the final say, although the players’ wishes are taken into consideration.

Raonic approached Pospisil at the U.S. Open in September to propose an Olympic partnership. Given his illustrious history with Nestor, it was something the 25-year-old from Vancouver pondered for a while before making a decision. He discussed it with Nestor from the outset and advised him of his final decision about two weeks ago.

“If Milos is dialed in, which he should be because it’s the Olympics, we have a good shot,” Pospisil told the Star.

Nestor’s results the last few years haven’t been up to his previous level of excellence, although he had a good run in the second half of 2015 with French partner Édouard Roger-Vasselin. Add to that his age (he’ll be nearly 43 in Rio) and the expectation of extreme heat in Brazil — which Nestor always struggles with — and a slam-dunk decision became a little less obvious.

On the other hand, Raonic plays very little doubles; he has a 20-24 career record and went 1-3 in just three ATP events in 2015. The 24-year-old has played Davis Cup doubles twice with Nestor, in 2010 and 2012.

Pospisil and Raonic played together in the juniors and in their early years on tennis’ minor-league circuit. They made a notable ATP Tour doubles debut at the 2010 Rogers Cup, shocking the all-star tandem of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in the first round.

Pospisil said he and Raonic planned to play a few tournaments together this season to see how they gel, although the specifics haven’t yet been nailed down.

“If we play poorly — ‘with no signs of hope’, he joked — then I may rethink it of course, but that’s the plan,” he said.

Nestor told the Star he was disappointed, but he understood.

His Rio aspirations now depend on results in the first months of 2016 — not just his, but those of others. To be eligible per Olympic qualifying criteria to play with Adil Shamasdin, a doubles specialist currently ranked No. 69 (the Pickering, Ont. native’s career best was No. 55 back in April), one of two things has to happen. Either Nestor needs to be back in the top 10, in which case he could choose his partner, or Shamasdin has to get his own ranking into the top 40.

Nestor is currently ranked No. 18.

“He has a solid enough base to be top 10 by then,” Pospisil said.

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To be eligible to play the mixed doubles, Nestor would have to already be qualified in men’s doubles.

“I would consider both options if they came about, and probably play,” Nestor said.

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