Hubert Hurkacz made a stunning run at the Shanghai Masters last year to win the trophy, but he won't be back this year, as he had to withdraw from the tournament.
The Pole is a fascinating player, who already enjoyed a lot of success on the ATP Tour. He's a very solid player thanks to his powerful and precise serve and some solid shots from both sides.
He's also quite known for making surprise title runs that nobody expects. One of those happened in Halle when he beat players like Felix Auger-Aliassime, Nick Kyrgios, and Daniil Medvedev.
The win over Medvedev in the final, 6-1 6-4, was the most impressive part of that run because he crushed the Russian. When he plays as well as that, he's just a tremendous player, arguably a Top 5 player, because it's almost impossible to beat him.
Nobody knows that better than Andrey Rublev. The Russian faced him in the Shanghai Masters final last year and lost in three sets despite being the overwhelming favorite.
It was a tough loss for Rublev but an excellent event overall for Hurkacz. He was hoping to get back to Shanghai this year to defend his ATP Masters 1000 trophy, but he withdrew from the event just a week before it.
The reason is knee pain, which isn't good news as Hurkacz underwent knee surgery earlier this year. He underwent the same surgery Novak Djokovic did and, just like the Serbian, made a record recovery to find himself on the courts less than a month after the surgery.
That was almost a miracle, but the most important part for Hurkacz was that he escaped the initial prognoses. Upon first inspection, the Polish player was told that he wouldn't be able to play until 2025, which was horrible news as it wasn't even the halfway mark of the 2024 season.
Luckily, though, he underwent the surgery and found himself back on the courts. While the level wasn't impressive, he played well enough to win matches. However, this most recent development is upsetting for the Polish player because the last thing he needs right now is knee pain, which might signal some swelling or possibly another issue.
Knees are notoriously hard to heal. It's not uncommon for injuries to re-occur, and even Djokovic admitted that he had discomfort after his surgery. Another problematic factor for Hurkacz is the hit he'll suffer in the rankings.
He will lose all of the 1,000 points he earned last year, which will see him drop quite a bit in the rankings. He's currently ranked number 8 in the world, but when those points come off, he will drop out of the Top 10.
That's not ideal for the Pole, but it's likely not his biggest concern right now because being healthy is.
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