Hubert Hurkacz miraculously recovered from an injury that doctors told him could keep him away from the courts until the start of the 2025 season.
Only a few weeks ago, Novak Djokovic miraculously returned to the tennis courts after undergoing knee surgery only weeks before that. It wasn't expected, as the doctor who operated on the Serbian confirmed that it was doubtful that he would be ready for Wimbledon.
The 37-year-old played in London and made the final. Two weeks later, he won the Olympic Games, and that was an incredible achievement, as he wasn't even supposed to play at Wimbledon.
Andy Roddick even speculated that he might miss all tournaments until the US Open, yet, Djokovic was playing less than 20 days later. That's what type of miraculous comeback it was.
But he was not the only one. Hurkacz had a similar comeback recently, as he, too, underwent knee surgery recently, after injuring himself in a match against Arthur Fils at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships.
Yet, he's in Montreal playing at the 2024 Canadian Open and winning. He won his first match back even though he was told he couldn't play at the event. In fact, Hurkacz was told that he wouldn't compete until 2025.
With these admissions, the Polish player was quizzed about the process that allowed him to play at the ATP Masters 1000 event in the first place. He talked a bit about that and what he did to get ready as quickly as he did.
"I probably will work with my physio. I'm feeling actually quite decent, so I didn't know what to expect. Obviously didn't play so much tennis. Spent more time in the gym last week."
"Yeah, just really thankful for the doctor and, of course, my physio, Kuba, and my fitness coach, Przemek, because if not for those two guys, I would be probably in Asia. So I am just really glad that I am here."
His first match in Canada was a challenging campaign because Hurkacz was only slightly favored against Thanasi Kokkinakis. The Australian was playing well, and he actually won the opening set, but the Polish player was able to fight back and win in the third-set tie-break.
It was a hugely important win for him as he really didn't know what to expect. His level has looked as good as always - very stable and solid. His serve was doing work and he was able to take his chances when he got them.
"Definitely. First of all, happy that I was able to compete. It wasn't that slow, so that was good. Hopefully they (indiscernible). Obviously it's the first match since the surgery, so it was a little bit unknown."
"Tennis is such a great moment. Okay, I'm just trying to enjoy as much as I can as well. Those moments make you really appreciate what you do, seeing the fans, playing again tennis."
Hurkacz once reached the final in Canada, so he will be certainly confident about his chances of doing that again, even after such a miraculous recovery.
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