Hurkacz lost the “match for a draw”. For one reason. The expert has no illusions

Three hours and 28 minutes of fighting unfortunately ended in failure. was close to the quarterfinals, but lost in the tie-break of the last set, even though he caught up with Sebastian Korda at 7:7 from 3:7. Hurkacz achieved his best career result in Melbourne, but he ends the tournament with a lot of hunger.

Hurkacz served better, was physically stronger, and lost

It was the fifth Australian Open in Hurkacz’s career, and only the first in which he won more than one match. Until this year, the best Polish tennis player reached the second round in Melbourne twice and was eliminated twice in the first. Now he stopped at the fourth round. Getting to the top 16 of the first Grand Slam tournament this year is a good result. But as a player seeded with number 10 and ranked 11th in the ranking, Hurkacz was the favorite in the match with Korda for the quarterfinals.

The American, who is ranked 31st in the world (seeded 29th in the tournament), has neither as good physical condition as the Pole nor such experience. Hurkacz, although he generally does not shine in Grand Slam tournaments, was already a Wimbledon semi-finalist. And Korda, advancing to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, has just achieved his life success.

Why will it be an American and not a Pole who will play for the semi-finals? – Physically, Hubert looked much better, but he lacked a braver game in key moments of the meeting – tells us , once the best Polish player, and now a tennis commentator.

According to Olejniczak, it was a match for a draw. And Korda won it because Hurkacz allowed it. – In important moments, it was Korda who most often took the initiative, risked more, played on his own terms. Hubert, who had a base in excellent service and physical preparation, was unable to use it in this match – the expert analyzes.

“More risk, more confidence”

The stats show that Hurkacz actually had a big power advantage in the serve. He sent 19 aces and Korda sent eight. The average speed of the first pass of the Pole was 196 km/h, and that of the American – 181 km/h. These numbers prove that the firepower was on Hurkacz’s side, but the balance of points – 144:146 – played throughout the match and the memory of key balls confirm that when it was necessary to play braver, it was rather Korda who did it.

Olejniczak has no doubt that Hurkacz has to work on self-confidence all the time. – Self-confidence and more risk, more offensive, playing with conviction in the most important moments of the match, both in service games and when returning: this is the key to success at the level that Hubert Hurkacz is already at – sums up Olejniczak.