Hurkacz blazing a trail for the GSDF Class of 2018 at Wimbledon
At the turn of 2018, with his ranking just about inside the world’s Top 250, Hubert Hurkacz was in a fairly unremarkable position.
The 20-year-old Pole was talented, sure; an offensive defender with a meaty serve, good hands at the net and the ability to look comfortable in all corners of the court. The potential was undoubtedly there, but the results hadn’t come yet.
Tall and rangy at six-foot-five, Hurkacz was made for the sport (his mother was a junior tennis champion in Poland), but he had won just two ITF titles at professional level – on home soil in Poland in 2015 and in Portugal in 2017 – and had a good, if not prolific junior career, peaking at No. 29 in the boys’ rankings three years earlier.
He needed a boost. Some extra support that would turn that obvious potential into results – and a faster climb up the rankings.
Enter the Grand Slam Development Fund.
Hurkacz was one of 29 players (along with his Davis Cup teammate Kamil Majchrzak) from 20 countries to receive a $25,000 grant in the hope that it would accelerate his progression and allow him to compete in Grand Slam tournaments.
Freed from the immediate burden of his competition-related costs, Hurkacz delivered a near-instant return. By May of 2018 he had qualified for his first Grand Slam at Roland Garros – and promptly achieved his first Tour-level match-win in the first round with victory over Tennys Sandgren.
Success has come thick and fast ever since.
He became just the second Polish tour-level champion in the Open Era in winning his first two ATP titles at Winston-Salem in 2019 and Delray Beach earlier this year, before dispatching five seeds to complete a stunning run to the ATP Masters 1000 title in Miami in April.
Never mind that he has lost six of his seven matches since then. This fortnight at Wimbledon, Hurkacz has found a new level – dispatching world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev and the great No. 8, Roger Federer, for his third and fourth consecutive wins over Top 10 players.
A fifth, in his maiden appearance in a Wimbledon - and a Grand Slam - semi-final, wasn't to be. The in-form Matteo Berettini ultimately denied him the chance to become the first Polish man in history - and the third Pole overall after Agnieszka Radwanska and Iga Swiatek – to reach a Grand Slam final, at least for this year.
Hurkacz's Wimbledon run saw him become the second of the group of 2018 Grand Slam Development Fund Grant recipients to reach a major semi-final, following on from Tamara Zidansek’s breakthrough run through the women’s field at Roland Garros last month.
He leads a hugely impressive ‘Class of 2018’ group. As well as Zidansek, current world No. 14 Casper Ruud, No. 51 Lloyd Harris and No. 98 Mikael Ymer also received funding that year, and have gone on to greater heights in their careers.
While the Player Grant Programme began in 2017, Grand Slam champions Gustavo Kuerten, Juan Martin Del Potro, Victoria Azarenka, Simona Halep and Jelena Ostapenko all received financial support from the Grand Slam Development Fund early in their tennis development.
Hurkacz may well join them by winning one of the biggest prizes in tennis one day, but he has already more than returned on the investment. In fact, he continues to give back to a programme that helped elevate his own fortunes.
For each of the past three days, the Pole has warmed up with members of the ITF/GSDF Touring Team (an initiative designed to give emerging young players a chance to compete in the biggest junior tournaments).
By all accounts, the talented teens put him through the ringer on the practice courts and, in return, Hurkacz invited some of those juniors to sit in his box for his Wimbledon semi-final.
A class act, on court and off.