Hubert Hurkacz's ongoing injury problems mean the Pole will not be able to play at the 2024 Swiss Indoors in Basel next week.
It has been over a year since Hurkacz won the second Masters-1000 title of his career at the 2023 Shanghai Masters. The Pole saved a match point against Andrey Rublev to win a thrilling final in a deciding set tiebreak.
Hurkacz has only secured one title since, at the Estoril Open on clay in April 2024. His only other final in 2024 was on grass at the Halle Open. That ended in a 6-7, 6-7 loss to Jannik Sinner, who is in the draw for the Six Kings Slam.
Playing well in Halle meant Hurkacz might have had high expectations for this year's Wimbledon. The 27-year-old was also a semifinalist at SW19 in 2021, and his playing style is an excellent fit for grass.
Hurkacz started his Wimbledon campaign with a four-set triumph against Radu Albot. That set up an intriguing clash with the 20-year-old Frenchman Arthur Fils, who is among the most talented players on the ATP Tour.
Fils took the opening two sets before Hurkacz hit back by winning the third 6-2. The fourth set of the match went to a tiebreak, but it ended disappointingly for the Pole and the fans watching on Court 2.
Hurkacz injured his knee diving for a ball during the tiebreak. He initially tried to keep playing, but the No. 7 seed elected to retire three points later. It was a shame that such a highly entertaining contest ended that way.
Despite initially being told he would miss the remainder of the season by a doctor after having surgery on the problem, Hurkacz returned at the Canadian Open and the Cincinnati Open but retired in the quarterfinal of the latter with a calf injury.
Hurkacz lost to Jordan Thompson in the second round of the US Open before playing in one tournament during the Asian swing: the Japan Open. He lost to Jack Draper in the round of 16 in Tokyo.
The Japan Open took place the week before the Shanghai Masters. Hurkacz was defending 1000 points from his sensational run to the title in China last year, making another good performance at the tournament important for the Pole.
Unfortunately, Hurkacz was forced to withdraw from the Shanghai Masters with knee pain. That indicates the 27-year-old did not fully recover from his injury at Wimbledon and might have been playing through some discomfort before it became too much.
After being unable to defend the 1000 points from last year's Shanghai Masters, Hurkacz fell outside the Top 10 in this week's ATP rankings. He plummeted from No. 8 to No. 12, being overtaken by Alex de Minaur.
Hurkacz has now also withdrawn from the Swiss Indoors in Basel. No official reason was given for the move, but it would be very surprising if it were not for the same knee pain that caused him to pull out of the tournament in Shanghai.
The two-time Masters-1000 champion was the runner-up at last year's Swiss Inddors, meaning he will drop many points again at the end of this year's iteration of the tournament in Basel.
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