Hubert Hurkacz has credited Novak Djokovic for helping him after he made a successful return to competition after undergoing meniscus surgery.
The Pole retired injured at Wimbledon and doctors later told him that he wouldn’t be able to come back until next season.
But he followed Djokovic’s example, having surgery and reaching the quarter-final of the Canadian Open just weeks later.
Hurkacz dove for a ball during a tense tiebreak against Arthur Fils in the second round of Wimbledon and went down. Facing a match point, he couldn’t continue the contest and retired on the spot. He later learned that he had torn his right meniscus and was forced to pull out of the Olympics.
The world No. 7 had to make the quick decision to undergo surgery. But before he committed, he reached out to Djokovic. The 24-time Grand Slam champion pulled out of the French Open with the same injury and had meniscus surgery on June 5.
He returned to action at Wimbledon less than four weeks later and reached the final. Within two months, he won an Olympic gold medal. “Definitely just really inspiring what he did, especially winning the gold medal,” Hurkacz told the ATP.
The eight-time title winner credited Djokovic for helping him. He added: “I also texted Novak. He was really, really supportive and helpful as well and it just was a different situation, it was a difficult situation trying to make the decision. At the end I knew I needed to have surgery.”
Hurkacz had an even faster turnaround. He went under the knife on July 15 and, three weeks later, he was in Montreal for the Canadian Open. He played his first match back on August 10 and went on to make the quarter-final, losing to Alexei Popyrin.
Content Source: www.express.co.uk