Hubert Hurkacz without a coach! His previous coach Craig Boynton announced on Instagram that they had parted ways. The Pole is ending his cooperation with the American, which lasted over five years. There is no doubt that Boynton shaped Hurkacz into the tennis player we see today.
Hurkacz owes a lot to the American
When they started working together, the Pole was just taking his first steps in adult men's tennis. Today, he is seventh in the world, recently he was even sixth – the highest in his career. He won eight ATP events, including the prestigious Miami Open in spring 2021, defeating final current leader of the ranking Jannik Sinner. On the other hand, that result in Florida shows us where the Pole's problems were.
Hurkacz has not developed as much in the last three years as Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz. They are representatives of a generation a few years younger, which is currently starting to dominate the games. But also players from the generation of the Pole – Alexander ZverevAndrej Rublev, Stefanos Tsitsipas or Daniil Medvedev – have achieved more than Hubert Hurkacz so far.
More, especially in the Grand Slam. Playing in the most important tournaments is still a big challenge for the representative of our country. So far, he has played in these competitions 27 times as an adult player, and only eight times he has passed the second round. In New York, he has not managed to do this even once. On Thursday, he lost to Jordan Thompson from Australia (32nd ATP) in three sets. This was his sixth appearance in US Open at the second round stage and sixth failure.
This may be even more worrying, as Hurkacz can play brilliantly on hard courts. He won on this surface in Miami or reached for his first title in Winston Salem in 2019. This was, by the way, the first singles success of a Pole in tennis since Wojciech Fibak. Hubert also beat Mr. Wojciech's best result in the ATP ranking (10th place).
Hurkacz, playing to his potential, managed to reach, among others, the semi-finals of Wimbledon 2021. Along the way, he made up for a 1:2 loss in sets to Daniil Medvedev, and in the quarter-finals he crushed the legendary Roger Federer, in the last set to zero. Only with this one match did he permanently go down in history, but it seems that the Pole's ambitions are even greater, which is no surprise.
Hubert feels best on grass, but he has not repeated a similar result to three years ago in London. Since then, he has only reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam once – a few months ago in Melbourne. The reserves still seem huge and let's hope that the new coach will use them appropriately.
Hubert Hurkacz is only 27 years old. Only if we take into account how the age limit in professional tennis has shifted. Years ago, the legendary Bjorn Borg ended his career at this stage. Today, tennis players compete until they are almost 40. On the other hand, it is not known how many more professional appearances the Pole's body has. Before the recent Olympic Games in Paris, he was hit by injurywhich eliminated him from the fight for medals. He underwent knee surgery, he is still not at full strength. – It's not perfect – said Hurkacz in an interview with Sport.pl before this year's US Open. In the coming weeks, he needs to regain full fitness and start the next chapter with a new guardian.
What's next? That's why Hurkacz is changing his coach. He's counting on more
Our best tennis player achieves results that go far beyond the capabilities of contemporary Polish men's tennis. He remains the only Pole in the TOP 100 of the ATP singles ranking, finishing in the “10” for three seasons. He is the only one who has the opportunity to compete with the biggest stars, sometimes defeating them, such as in the final in Halle with Daniil Medvedev or in Shanghai with Andrei Rublev.
21-year-old Maks Kaśnikowski showed his strength at this year's US Open, but there are many question marks ahead of him. Kamil Majchrzak made a great comeback after the doping scandal, but he is still a bit short of his previous form. Jan Zieliński is still at the top of tennis, but in a different discipline – doubles.
Hubert Hurkacz could end his career today and probably no one from Poland would surpass him in success for years. However, it seems that by deciding to change his coach, he has proven that he expects more. He is aware that time is running out and a different perspective is needed. Hopefully, the change will be for the better, and then perhaps the Wimbledon semi-final will not be his best result in his career.
Hurkacz's move should also be appreciated, because changes are among the most difficult decisions. Especially since our tennis player and Boynton have become very close over these five years, also privately. This move must have been even more difficult for both of them. Hubert Hurkacz does not follow the same path as, among others, Agnieszka Radwańska, who after separating from her father spent her entire career at Tomasz Wiktorowski's side. Iga Świątek also said goodbye to her coach before the 2022 season, when Piotr Sierzputowski was replaced by Wiktorowski. She worked with Sierzputowski – just like Hurkacz with Boynton – for five years.