Hubert Hurkacz did not break the curse of the US Open. The help of medics was needed
In the second round of the US Open, Hubert Hurkacz’s opponent was Jack Draper. It is true that his opponent was ranked lower, but the Pole never made it through this phase of this Grand Slam tournament.
The US Open is not the tournament where Hubert Hurkacz performs best. So far, the furthest in his career he has reached the second round and nothing more. In this year’s edition of this Grand Slam, he has already equaled his best result, although he did not have it easy. He faced Mark-Andrea Huesler for the inauguration and nearly lost. The Swiss led 2:0, and the fate of the meetings of the next set was decided by a tie-break. In it, the Wroclawian literally crushed his rival 7:0 and extended the meeting. In the following sets, he was already on top – first he won 6: 3, and then 6: 1, which ultimately gave him promotion.
US Open: Hubert Hurkacz’s poor opening
His second rival was Jack Draper from Great Britain. It seemed that the representative of our country is not in a lost position, because the Englishman ranks 123rd in the ATP ranking, and let us remind you that Hurkacz is the 17th racket in the world. Unfortunately, the Pole started this set very poorly, because after two actions on his serve he was losing 0:30. It is true that he then took the lead, but he lost three points in a row and was broken at the start.
What’s worse, with the score 2:0 Draper had another break point, but this time the Pole defended himself. In the fourth game, the tennis players played for a long time, and the Wrocław native was even close to breaking his return rival. However, he managed to defend himself, mainly due to a great service. According to the statement “unused opportunities take revenge”, the next part of this set fell prey to Draper, which put the Pole in a very difficult situation. In the end, the British won this game 2:6.
US Open: Hurkacz’s defeat with a grimace on his face
Unfortunately, the second set started the same way as the first, i.e. with Hubert Hurkacz breaking the serve. Already in the next game, the Wroclawian had a break-point, but unfortunately he did not use it. With the score 1:3, the Pole lost his serve, but he recorded the first return break in this match in the eighth game (leading to the score 3:5). Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough and Draper triumphed 4-6 in the second set. During this game, you could see a grimace of pain on the face of the Wrocław citizen.
The third set turned out to be the last. The disproportion between Hurkacz and Draper was huge, and despite trying to speed up the pace of this meeting, the Wrocław native was unable to reverse his fate. There was clearly something wrong with him, which could be seen from the behavior of the Pole, and moreover, with the score 2:1, our representative asked for the intervention of a physiotherapist and a medic. Hubert Hurkacz finished the set, but lost it 5:7. In the next round, the British will play the winner of the pairing Michael Mmoh – John Isner.
