Novak Djokovic’s path to an eighth Wimbledon may have received an unexpected – and rather unfortunate – boost after Hubert Hurkacz retired injured in his second-round match.
World No 7 Hurkacz, the seventh seed in the Wimbledon draw, was projected to be Djokovic’s quarter-final opponent at the All England Club this fortnight.
With the Pole, a semi-finalist at the event in 2021, in strong for this season, he was widely seen as someone who could stop Djokovic, Jannik Sinner, and Carlos Alcaraz – and potentially win the title.
However, he will now be sweating on his fitness after a busy summer after disappointingly exiting the event on Thursday.
Hurkacz was handed a tough second-round draw against talented French youngster Arthur Fils, who raced to an impressive two-set lead out on Court 2.
The seventh seed rallied to take the third set and looked likely to force a decider, only for disaster to strike in the tail-end of the fourth set.
At 7-7 in the fourth-set tiebreak, Hurkacz dived across to try and win a point and appeared to land awkwardly on the court.