Hubert Hurkacz became only the second Polish man to break into the top 10 when he was ranked 10th in the world.
The 24-year-old is the 174th player to join the elite group and second this season alongside Norwegian Casper Ruud.
The 2021 Miami Open champion became the first male player from his country to achieve this feat since Wojtek Fibak, who was ranked 10th in the world on July 25, 1977. Meanwhile, he started the season at number 34 in the world.
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“We have worked with my coach, CB (Craig Boynton) for several seasons, but all the training we have done every day, as well as last season, we have been training very hard,” Hurkacz told a news conference in Cincinnati.
“I think it’s a process and it improves my game. I try to get better every day.”
This season has been filled with firsts for the Polish national who has now become one of the contenders in the biggest tournament. She won the first Masters 1000 title of her career in Miami and she advanced to the semifinals of the first Grand Slam of her career at Wimbledon.
The 2021 Delray Beach Open champions have also enjoyed a number of positive results this season. Former world number 3 Grigor Dimitrov needed a decisive set tiebreak to beat the Polish in the quarter-finals of this season’s BNP Paribas Open and the Bulgarian lauded him.
“He served wonderfully. I even told him after the game on the net. I think his serve is developing admirably. At one point, I even had to guess where he was going to lead it,” commented Dimitrov.
“He is a very good man. One positive thing to find in the tournament. Always friendly and very easy to talk to. We’ve trained a few times in Monaco.”
This week four seasons ago, the Polish national was outside the top 400. But his ranking steadily improved and in the 2018 season he competed in the Next Gen ATP Finals, Milan.
“I have been playing tennis since I was a child. So now being able to play on the biggest stage, it’s really nice,” Hubert Hurkacz said in Cincinnati.
With Hurkacz ranked 10th in the world, Roger Federer has dropped from world number 9 to world number 11. For the first time since the 2017 season, Federer is outside the top 10.
