Kane Waselenchuk (born November 9, 1981) is a professional racquetball player born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Waselenchuk finished the 2018–19 season as the #1 player on the International Racquetball Tour (IRT) Archived 2018-11-27 at the Wayback Machine for a record extending 13th time. Waselenchuk, a left-handed player, has dominated the IRT for the last decade, including a record 134-match unbeaten streak that lasted over three years.
Waselenchuk has won 118 IRT tournaments through the 2019 US Open, which is the most career IRT wins ahead of Cliff Swain with 71. Remarkably, Waselenchuk's won those 118 tournaments in only 172 tournament appearances for a tournament winning rate of 68.6%.
Waselenchuk has won 15 US Open Racquetball Championships, pro racquetball's most prestigious event, which is more than any other player (Sudsy Monchik is second with four US Open titles). He won it from 2003 to 2005 and from 2008 to 2019.
Waselenchuk was undefeated in completed matches between January 2009 and September 2013 with his only losses coming from defaults due to injury. The streak was ended by Jose Rojas in the semi-finals of the Kansas City Pro-Am – the first IRT tournament of the 2013–14 season.
Early Seasons 2000–01 to 2002–2003
In his first tournament in April 2000 at age 18, Waselenchuk made it to the quarter finals before falling to Cliff Swain in five games. Then in October he played in his first US Open and upset defending champion Jason Mannino in the Round of 32 before falling in the quarters to Álvaro Beltrán.
Waselenchuk won his first IRT tournament in October 2001 a few weeks short of his 20th birthday, defeating John Ellis in the final of the Chicago event. He finished #4 in his first full season on the IRT. Waselenchuk improved to a #2 season ending ranking in 2002–03 (behind only Jason Mannino), winning 3 of the 5 finals he was in that season.
Middle Seasons 2003–04 to 2005–2006
Waselenchuk began to dominate the IRT in 2003–04, when he won 6 of 13 IRT events, including his first US Open title, and he finished as the #1 IRT player for the first time.
In 2004–05, Waselenchuk continued his dominance of the IRT by winning 8 of the 12 tournaments he entered, including the 2004 US Open, the second of his career. In the US Open final he gave up only four points to former IRT #1 Cliff Swain, winning 11–1, 11–3, 11–0. The 0 or donut is the first time a player has held his opponent scoreless in a US Open final. Waselenchuk successfully retained the season ending #1 ranking on the IRT.
In 2005–06, Waselenchuk won 4 of the 10 IRT main events this season, including a third straight US Open title, when he again beat Swain in the final, but this time by scores of 11–5, 12–10, 12–10, and finished #1 at season's end.
In 2008–09, Waselenchuk went 49–1, with the only loss to Álvaro Beltrán in the semi-finals of the California Open in January 2009. He regained the US Open title – his fourth, although did lose some games on the road to the final, including two in a tie-breaker win over Beltran. Waselenchuk finishes as the #1 IRT player for the fourth time, although he did miss three events.
Waselenchuk won 9 of the 10 IRT events in the 2009–10 season – defeating Jack Huczek in six finals and Rocky Carson in two, and Ben Croft in another. He won 102 games and lost only 3, and did not face a tie-breaking 5th game in any match. The only tournament Waselenchuk did not win was one he missed due to illness. In October, he won his 5th US Open title setting a new mark for most US Open titles by a man, passing Sudsy Monchik's 4 titles, and did not lose a game in winning the title.
In 2010–11, Waslenchuk won 12 IRT events, including a 6th US Open victory. He played Mexican Álvaro Beltrán in that final, and Beltran won the first game, which was the first time Waselenchuk had lost a game in a US Open final. Waselenchuk entered the 2011 New York City Pro-Am, but withdrew due to illness prior to his semi-final with Jack Huczek.
Waselenchuk won nine tournaments in each of the 2011–12 and 2012–13 IRT seasons, including his 7th and 8th US Open, which is the most by any player. His only loss in 2012–13 came in the Denver Pro-Am, when he hurt his knee in the final against Rocky Carson and had to retire after the third game, with Carson leading 2–1.
Waselenchuk won eight of the nine IRT tournaments he entered in the 2013–14 season. The loss came against Jose Rojas in the semi-finals of the Kansas City Pro-Am – the first IRT tournament of the season. He then won his 9th US Open, which set the career IRT tournament wins record. But in doing so he was injured, and missed the next two IRT events as a result. Upon his return, Waselenechuk won out the rest of the season: seven straight tournaments.
In the 2014–15 season, Waselenchuk missed three events in the first part of the season due to a recurrence of the vestibular problems he'd had earlier in his career. He came back for the Garden City, Kansas event, but forfeited his quarterfinal match due to the problem. As result of these absences and the quarterfinal result, Waselenchuk was the #2 ranked player for most of the second half of the IRT season behind Carson. But by winning the last event of the season in Fresno, California, Waselenchuk passed Carson in the rankings to finish #1 for a 10th season.
He won 10 of the 14 Tier 1/Grand Slam events in the 2015–16 season to finish #1 by a fair margin over his competition and secure his 11th pro title. His record of 41-3 for the season includes two tournament withdrawals and one on-the-court injury forfeit in May 2016. He missed one tournament altogether.