Hubert Hurkacz won't be able to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics, but the prognosis is even worse than that, as he may miss several months of competition.
The Polish player injured himself in the second round of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships against Arthur Fils, eventually retiring in the fourth set of the match when facing a match point in the tie-break.
Since then, the 27-year-old worked hard to recover and return back to the ATP Tour, but with such injury, he wasn't able to recover quickly enough to make it to the Olympic Games in Paris, as he withdrew from the Olympic competition.
It was a big setback for the World No. 7, who now talked more in depth about his injury for the first time since it happened. Talking to Eurosport, Hurkacz admitted that he immediately knew that it was serious.
"During the Wimbledon match, when I tried to get up, when I threw myself into the volley, I had a crooked foot and I was only getting up from the knee, the quadriceps. When I was crooked, I tore part of my meniscus."
"We didn't know what it was at first, but I felt two crunches and I knew it wasn't good. With the surgery to remove part of the meniscus, the normal state of recovery lasts several months. We knew that it would be a very difficult task to give ourselves a chance to play in the Olympics."
"The progress was fast, very good, but on Sunday, when I went out on the court for the first time to play with my sister, I felt that I did not have that confidence in my leg, I did not feel comfortable and I could not move normally. I was supposed to play in the Olympics in six days, so I knew that it was not realistic."
Immediately after injuring himself, the Polish player had only one goal, and that was to make it to the Olympics, but he soon found out that it wouldn't be possible this year.
"We wanted to go to the Olympics to have a chance to fight for medals. Unfortunately, my health didn't allow me to do that this year, it's dangerous. I could do something to myself, since my leg isn't ready yet."
Now, Hurkacz's goal is to prepare for the tournaments in the United States, namely the Cincinnati Open and the US Open, which will be played in mid-August and September.
"We are trying to prepare for tournaments in the USA, we work every day for a dozen or so hours a day to get our leg in shape. We fought for the Olympics, we didn't make it. Now we are fighting for the next tournaments, to be able to be healthy and play."
However, that would be an optimistic scenario, as Hurkacz also revealed that doctors told him he could possibly miss the remainder of the 2024 season and return at the 2025 Australian Open.
"I spoke to the doctors right after my injury and eight out of ten said that realistically I could only play in Australia."
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