By Erik Gudris | @atntennis | Thursday July 4, 2024
A diving save by Hubert Hurkacz of Poland at Wimbledon won him an important point in a fourth set tiebreaker, but ultimately forced him to retire from his second round match due to injury.
Twenty-year-old Frenchman Arthur Fils enjoyed a bittersweet victory after the No. 7 seed Hurkacz retired 7-6(2), 6-4, 2-6, 6-6 (walkover) to reach his first ever Wimbledon third round.
MORE: Summer Olympics Players Announced
The dramatic moment came late in the fourth set tiebreaker as Hurkacz, facing a match point down 7-8 in the tiebreak, chased down a Fils’ drop shot. Hurkacz made a diving get up at the net to eventually win the point after Fils netted his next shot. Yet, Hurkacz landed awkwardly on his leg.
Hurkacz, with help from Fils, eventually got back on his feet and made it over to the sidelines where he later received a medical time out. Hurkacz, at 8-8, made yet another diving shot attempt on the next point, which he lost.
That brought up a second match point for Fils. But this time Hurkacz ended up retiring from the match thus handing Fils the victory.
“Thank you to everyone here. It was a nice atmosphere,” Fils said afterwards. “It’s very tough to win a match like this against a friend. I mean we were playing super good in the fourth, we had some great points, and I don’t know, he was jumping everywhere, but I’m very sorry for him and I hope he can recover quickly and me I’m focused on the next round.”
Afterward, Fils said he experienced massive mixed emotions: overjoyed to advance but sad for his friend's injury.
"I mean, the ending is super weird. I don't know if it already happened in tennis, but it was super weird," Fils said. "I mean, it's a good friend, so I'm really sad for him.
"Of course, me, I'm happy to win and to have a chance to play another match in Wimby. But yeah, it was a tough end. If I just have to focus on the match, I was really happy about my level during two sets. But after during the serve, it dropped a little bit. It wasn't very good. The fourth was good. We had some great rallies and with a good atmosphere with the crowd. So I really enjoyed to play that match."
Photo Credit: Hamburg European Open Facebook