The Canadian horses around on his beloved grass on the practice court at Wimbledon in 2014. Life on the Frank Express has not been dull. (Stephanie Myles/opencourt.ca)

Veteran Canadian Frank Dancevic’s tennis career has had its share of ups and downs. But one thing it has never been is … boring.

The 31-year-old is struggling with confidence and consistency these days, the high points of his career in the rear-view mirror. But he’s just rolling with it – no matter what happens.

This is the player who picked up a new racquet a couple of years ago at the US Open, tried it for an hour, and decided to play a Grand Slam with it.

He’s the player who accomplished a Grand Slam of sorts back in 2011 – surviving the qualifying at all four major tournaments that season. He’ll never win a Grand Slam, but he’ll always have that.

At the Australian Open in 2014, on one of the hottest days the tournament has suffered in recent years, Dancevic was so far gone during his first-round match against Benoit Paire of France that when it was over, he told the media he’d been hallucinating and seeing Disney characters on the other side of the net – most notably, Snoopy.

View photos When your brain is completely fried, and you're seeing things on a steaming Australian summer day, making Dumbo ears with your ice towel is a nice way to break the tension. (Stephanie Myles/opencourt.ca) More

In the middle of that same match, spotting a Canadian reporter across the court during a changeover, he took the ends of his ice towel, turned them up to make “Dumbo” ears, and laughed uproariously. Short of clothes during the qualifying, he went into the merchandise shop at Melbourne Park and spent $45 Australian on a shirt to wear.

More? When he lost a heartbreaker of a five-set match against Joao Sousa of Portugal with those brand new racquets the 2014 US Open, his feet were so battered and bloodied he took his shoes off, left them on the court and walked all the way back to the locker room barefoot, signing autographs along the way.

View photos The Canadian lost a heartbreaker to Joao Sousa in the first round of the 2014 US Open, and his dogs paid the price. No problem; Dancevic made the long walk back to the locker room, through spilled beer, mushed candy bars, barefoot. (Stephanie Myles/opencourt.ca) More

So when Dancevic finally returned to the ATP Tour level Saturday after spending most of the last 12 months down on the entry-level Futures circuit to get his game, confidence and ranking back, it’s no surprise something uniquely Dancevician happened.

The saga began when his luggage never arrived in Nottingham, England where Dancevic is entered in the qualifying for the last grass-court warmup tournament before Wimbledon.

The staff went on strike at the Brussels airport where he made a connection; the airline told him it would take a minimum of five days to get his bags.

He had to play Ante Pavic, a big-serving Croatian, in the first round on Saturday.

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