The first game lasted only a minute match Hubert Hurkacz with Tomas Macac. The Pole won it to zero, he started really great. But it was certain that the Czech would not be scared of our tennis player.
Artificial intelligence estimated that both players had exactly the same chance of winning this match – 50 percent each. Even though the Czech is nine places lower in the world ranking (he is 25th and Hurkacz is 16th). But the younger tennis player of the two (Machac is 24 and Hurkacz – 27) is on a roll. In the last weeks of the previous season, for example, he was able to reach the semi-finals of the tournament in Shanghai, defeating Carlos Alcaraz along the way and losing only after a fierce match against Jannik Sinner 5:7, 4:6.
In October, the Czech also defeated, among others, Grigory Dimitrov, then tenth in the ATP ranking. And earlier last year, he even managed to beat Novak Djokovic (6-4, 0-6, 6-1 in the semifinals in Geneva at the end of April).
The Olympic champion showed Hurkacz that he was on a roll
A little before the triumph over the most successful player in history tennis Machac, a Serbian player, lost to Hurkacz in their only official match so far. It was the quarterfinal of the tournament in Marseille. Then it was 6:3, 6:4 for the Pole. But Machac really had nothing to worry about.
Last year, he won 37 matches and lost 24. He collected so many points that he moved from 78th place in the ATP ranking at the end of 2023 to 25th place a season later. A year earlier, Machac could already be happy about his life's achievement, about stabilizing in the top 100. But you can see how much reserves he still had. And it has more.
And Hurkacz? He finished 2024 with a really good record of 40 wins and 19 losses. But he fell from the ninth place, which he occupied at the end of 2023, to the 16th place. Unfortunately, he failed in most of the most important moments – at Wimbledon and the US Open he only reached the second round. He did not refer to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and the fourth round of Roland Garros – the second half of the season was simply unsuccessful for him. Even very unsuccessful. Also because of the knee injury he suffered at Wimbledon. And why he couldn't take part in the Olympic Games. In Paris, Hurkacz worked, among others, with Iga ¦wiatek fight for a medal in mixed. Meanwhile, Machac won the gold medal together with Katerina Siniakova.
After returning to the game, Hurkacz played 11 matches by the end of the year and lost as many as five. Now, at the beginning of the new season in the United Cup, he lost easily to Casper Ruud. The Norwegian, ranked sixth in the ATP ranking, lost 5-7, 3-6 after an hour and 24 minutes of play. The day before, Machac also lost to Ruud, but after a brilliant, three-hour fight – 6:7, 7:5, 4:6.
Hurkacz's new coach kept emphasizing this
During the Hurkacz-Machac match, the Pole's new coach, Chilean Nicolas Massu, in a short conversation presented during one of the breaks by the producer transmissionargued that Hurkacz is a complete tennis player and can do anything on the court. The role of Massu and Ivan Lendl, who is a mentor on Hurkacz's staff, is to convince our player that this is the case. At the end of the first set, when the score was 5:4 for the Pole, Massu reminded Hurkacz: “You have to play aggressively in the most important moments.” In a similar part of the match against Ruud, Hurkacz couldn't stand it – then he was broken at 5:6. And when he lost the first set set, in the second set the Norwegian clearly dominated over the Pole.
Unfortunately, now after the break with the quoted words of Massu, Hurkacz first lost the service game of Machac, and then lost the game of his serve. In the decisive exchange, the Czech showed a great, bold action, ending with a forehand into the line. The dynamic, offensive Machac did not waste the advantage he had gained and confidently finished the set with his serve, winning 7:5. The last play of this game was a service ace from the better player.
Hurkacz fought as hard as he could. But in the end he failed
With the Czech leading, his chances of winning according to the live forecasts presented to us increased to as much as 74 percent. But we also saw that Hurkacz gives 100 percent to make up for the losses. There were times when he seemed overwhelmed by his opponent's exuberance. Machac had fun playing the game and even made everyone around him laugh – for example, when he took a break to run up to the boy passing the ball and tie the shoelace in his shoe.
Machac excelled, Machac wanted to take the initiative again in key moments and it seemed that he would do it again. Hurkacz had a great chance to break his opponent when he was leading 3:2 and 40:15, but then the Czech played brilliantly the next four points and got out of trouble. It seemed that the Pole lacked the conviction that, regardless of the circumstances, everything was in his hands. But Hurkacz fought and finally broke his opponent. And it's down to zero. And leading 5:3, he probably equalized the match.
Now, with the score 5:7, 6:3, from Hurkacz's perspective, we saw Machac's nerves. During a short break, the Czech threw a water bottle and gesticulated very strongly while talking to Daniel Vacek, the captain of his team. Machac seemed surprised that Hurkacz didn't snap.
From the beginning of the decisive set, the Czech pushed forward even harder. He returned some of the Pole's services madly. – He risks a lot – coach Massu repeated. He sounded as if he wanted to tell his player that such a risk would not pay off in the long run. And at the same time he wanted to assure Hurkacz that he must be offensive all the time. Massu jumped from his place in Polish boxing when Hurkacz defended himself with a great attack and the score was 5:7, 6:3, 3:4 and 15:40. Then he won four points in a row on his serve and did not let himself be broken, he did not let Machac escape to a distance that could prove impossible to make up.
Unfortunately, everything that seemed to be working well for Hurkacz failed in another tense ending. When the score was 5:7, 6:3, 4:5, the Pole served and lost the game to zero. After four unforced errors – forehand, backhand, forehand and again forehand. This ending showed how much Hurkacz still cannot stand the pressure when it is most difficult to bear.
Iga Świątek and Karolina Muchova will soon appear on the court in Sydney. Shelf must win for our team to have a chance to defeat the Czechs. If Świątek wins, the winner will be decided in a mixed doubles match.