Hurkacz completes the ultimate challenge against the Big3

This Friday will be a day that Hubert Hurkacz will not forget. It is true that the Pole already knows what it is like to live in the top 10 and to beat the best, but it had been a long time since he had given himself a victory like today’s. Against Novak Djokovic, at the Shanghai Masters 1000, and confidently.

The victory, which in itself does not need much more, allows the Pole to complete one of those challenges that only a few chosen ones can tell their grandchildren about. Can you imagine beating Nadal on clay? And Federer on grass? And Djokovic himself on hard courts? Now imagine having achieved all three. As you might anticipate, there aren’t many tennis players on this list.

"It was a complicated match because it's always a great battle with Novak," Hurkacz acknowledged after the match. "I’m satisfied with how I played and with my aggressive serving in crucial moments," he added. The Pole found the necessary tools to overcome one of the great competitors in history, although he also admitted that Djokovic could have felt the fatigue accumulated from playing the previous week in the Beijing tournament.

"Obviously, he was having some difficulties. He had completed an incredible week in Beijing and it's not easy to recover in just a few days," explained Hurkacz, who also arrived with physical doubts after retiring in the semifinals of the Chinese tournament, but his team managed to help him regain the energy to face the challenge. "We did everything possible to fully recover and be able to play good tennis here," he pointed out with pride.

Hurkacz joins a club reserved for very few

Beyond the result, the victory allows Hurkacz to boast an extraordinary statistic. The Pole is now part of the select group of players who have managed to defeat the Big 3 on the surfaces that best represent each of them: Djokovic on hard courts, Rafael Nadal on clay, and Roger Federer on grass. Until now, only Andy Murray, Alexander Zverev, and Dominic Thiem were listed alongside him.

HURKACZ ENTRA IN UN ESCLUSIVO CLUB D'ÉLITE 👀🇵🇱 Con la vittoria su Djokovic al secondo turno del Masters 1000 di Shanghai, il polacco entra in un club esclusivo insieme a Murray, Zverev e Thiem: quello dei giocatori capaci di battere almeno una volta i Big Three sulle rispettive superfici preferite. Djokovic sul cemento, Nadal sulla terra battuta e Federer sull'erba. 🇬🇧 Murray - (Djokovic x8, Nadal x2, Federer x1) 🇩🇪 Zverev - (Djokovic x4, Nadal x2, Federer x1) 🇦🇹 Thiem - (Djokovic x2, Nadal x4, Federer x1) 🇵🇱 Hurkacz - (Djokovic x1, Nadal x1, Federer x1) #Tennis #RolexShanghaiMasters #Hurkacz

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Hurkacz has secured a victory against each of the three giants: one against Djokovic, another against Nadal, and another against Federer. Murray, for his part, has defeated Djokovic eight times, Nadal twice, and Federer once in those scenarios; Zverev has four wins against the Serb, two against the Spaniard, and one against the Swiss, while Thiem has two against Djokovic, four against Nadal, and one against Federer.

The Pole, who has been competing in China for several weeks, also explained the secret of his improvement: "I have been working very hard over the past few months. Maybe the results weren’t coming, but I believe things are starting to fall into place," he emphasized. Shanghai is once again a special place for him, offering him reasons to believe. His next opponent will be Zhou Yi, who made a surprise upset in the last round against Musetti.

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Hurkacz completa el desafío definitivo contra el Big3