According to Sport.pl, the contract between Orlen and Hubert Hurkacz expired at the end of 2022. The state-owned giant did not decide to extend its cooperation with the best Polish tennis player. Hurkacz has been associated with Lotos since August 2019, and in recent months with Orlen, which was the result of a merger of companies.
The information was confirmed by Orlen’s press office. “We would like to inform you that the sponsorship agreement between PKN Orlen and tennis player Hubert Hurkacz expired on December 31, 2022” – we read in the reply sent to Sport.pl.
Hurkacz pierced Fibak
In the new season, the Pole trained and competed in Australia without the Orlen logo on his shirt. This was the case, e.g. in all Australian Open matches. The main sponsor of Hurkacz remains the Yonex brand.
25-year-old Hubert Hurkacz is the best Polish tennis player today. He has already won five ATP tournaments, including the prestigious Miami 2021, and in the same year he also played in the semi-final of Wimbledon 2021. He is currently 11th in the men’s ranking. In August 2022, he moved up to the ninth position and became the highest-ranked Polish singles player in history, beating the result of Wojciech Fibak (10th place).
Orlen gives up tennis
The end of cooperation with Hurkacz is another stage of Orlen’s exit from Polish tennis. As we reported a few days ago, the state-owned giant is no longer a sponsor of the Polish Tennis Association. This is a consequence of the scandal related to the former president of the union, Mirosław Skrzypczyński.
– The contract ended at the end of December 2022, as announced by our strategic sponsor – Tomasz Dobiecki, spokesman for the association, admitted in an interview with Sport.pl.
The PZT-Lotos (and then Orlen) contract was in force from February 2019. According to our information, it recently covered PLN 1.3 million. The association could also count on additional funds for specific events, e.g. August memorial of Maria and Lech Kaczyński in Kozerki near Warsaw.
Skrzypczyński is accused by other players of sexual harassment. There are also allegations of domestic violence. One of the tennis players, Katarzyna Teodorowicz, said that Skrzypczyński had given her sleeping pills to make her lose the match.
“We are talking about one of the best Polish athletes”
– From a purely marketing point of view, I can still understand Orlen’s withdrawal from PZT, bearing in mind the confusion surrounding Mirosław Skrzypczyński. Although not entirely, because it could have been turned into the opposite decision – we disagree with the former president, but we do not want to harm the players and we stay. It is known, however, that politics also comes into play there – says Sport.pl Tomasz Iwański, former head coach of the PZT, previously a coach of, among others, Kamil Majchrzak and Nadezhda Petrova.
And he adds: – The decision to resign from cooperation with Hurkacz is at least surprising, because we are talking about one of the best Polish athletes, and Orlen sponsors a significant part of Polish sport. For them, it wasn’t a huge financial expense, but rather a decision in terms of “we like him – we don’t like him.”
The moment for Orlen to withdraw is surprising because the last few years have been a golden time for Polish tennis. For the first time in history, we have a leader in the world ranking, and at the same time a singles player close to the top 10. The power of discipline was seen in the recent United Cup – the unofficial team tennis world championship. Thanks to the victories of Iga Świątek and Hubert Hurkacz, the Poles took fourth place, losing in the semi-finals to the USA, the later champion. In the Australian Open, Hurkacz and Świątek reached the fourth round, and Magda Linette – is now in the quarterfinals.
Source: Sport
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
