Do not let Hubert Hurkacz’s smile fool you. The Polish star is one of the most competitive players on the ATP Tour and his actions in recent months illustrate that.
Over the past five years, Hurkacz became a consistent force at the top of the sport under the tutelage of Craig Boynton, competing in the Nitto ATP Finals twice and winning eight ATP Tour titles, including two ATP Masters 1000 trophies. But after the 2024 US Open, the 27-year-old mutually parted ways with Boynton.
“Ultimately I want to push myself, I want to achieve a lot more than I did,” Hurkacz told ATPTour.com ahead of the season-opening United Cup in Sydney. “Obviously we had an amazing time with ‘CB’. He's such a great guy and I’m really grateful for what we did together. We had a blast and I learned a lot from him. But I’m very hungry. Ultimately, this is not the position I want to be in.”
The former No. 6 player in the PIF ATP Rankings wants to turn over every stone possible to maximise his potential.
“I want to be in position to win big tournaments, to win Grand Slams and I believe that if I improve some aspects of the game, I can be there more consistently,” Hurkacz said. “It’s all about improving and getting better.”
Hurkacz hopes his latest move will help him pursue those goals. He has hired former World No. 9 Nicolas Massu as his full-time coach and former World No. 1 Ivan Lendl, a winner of 94 tour-level titles, as a consultant.
“It’s super exciting. [Nico] brings so much great energy and knowledge himself,” Hurkacz said. “He was a fantastic player, winning two Olympic gold medals and then coaching Dominic [Thiem] for many years, obviously winning a Grand Slam, being in a couple of finals of Grand Slams together with him. It's really incredible to have both of them on the team.”
Hurkacz and Massu began speaking about the potential of a collaboration in the middle of October and met briefly in Monaco ahead of the Rolex Paris Masters. They then agreed on moving forward as player and coach, conducting offseason training in Florida.
“When we met for the first time, he told me that he wants to achieve great things and improve many things — in the tennis part, mental part, physical part,” Massu told ATPTour.com. “I'm a person who lives tennis with a lot of passion. I’ve lived like that since I took my racquet for the first time, so we have a great combination.
“I will try to do my best and I’m really motivated and looking forward to trying to help him.”
Photo: Andrew Eichenholz/ATP Tour
Ironically, Massu first took notice of Hurkacz in the Pole’s first tournament with Boynton: the 2019 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. Massu’s charge at the time, Thiem, won the title. Earlier in the event, he practised with Hurkacz. The rising star then stunned Thiem in Miami a week later.
“Of course, you watch a lot of players on the Tour,” Massu said. “I remember when I saw him in 2019 compared to last year. I think he improved a lot of things from the beginning, so I think the [former] coach of him also made a very good job.”
Several parts of Hurkacz’s game have stuck out to Massu. The first that came to mind was the World No. 16’s serve. That is no surprise given he has previously led the ATP Tour in aces.
“Today the serve can make the difference in any match. It's a lot of pressure on your opponent,” Massu said. “Besides that, I think for his size, he moves really well. He's very athletic, he's very talented. He's very solid also. That's why he’s been in the Top 20 or Top 10 for years.
“The other thing that I saw that caught my attention is that I saw him four or five years ago playing on clay and I saw him last year, and he improved a lot on clay. He started to move better, he started to understand better the way how to play on clay, to coordinate better the movements.”
But importantly, Massu has enjoyed Hurkacz as a person. He cherished his time with Thiem not just because of their success, but the values he saw in the Austrian. The same is the case with Hurkacz. The Pole has also left an impression with his desire.
“His work ethic, it's incredible,” Massu said. “He's really focussed on tennis. He works a lot, he dedicates his life to tennis. He wants to improve.”
Lendl is not in Australia with Hurkacz, but they spent multiple days per week with one another in Florida during the offseason.
“He is one of the greatest players in history, and he also was very successful as a coach. He's extremely, extremely intelligent and has so much knowledge about tennis that he can give some advice that you wouldn't be able to hear from anyone else,” Hurkacz said. “I'm just really excited that he's part of the team and with Nico here as the main coach, steering the boat.”
Change is never easy, and that was no difference here.
“You're a little bit unsure [and thinking], ‘Okay, how is it going to work? How are we going to adapt to each other? Is there going to be a good connection?’” Hurkacz said. “On one hand I was really excited. On the other, I was like, ‘Okay, this is something new that I haven't done in a while’. So it ended up being fantastic and [I am] just super, super excited for the years to come.”
Hurkacz is not the only one excited. Massu is, too. They are working together in a tournament setting for the first time this week in Sydney, where Hurkacz and Iga Swiatek hope to lead their country to United Cup glory.
“This is my life and the most important thing for me is to try to help him to achieve his goals, because this is important and I'm a person who dedicates my life to tennis. So I'm traveling full time, it's important for me to be with a player when he needs me,” Massu said. “The most important thing when I talked to him the first time is that he’s ready to go more and more and more, and this is very important because he likes to improve. He wanted to improve. He wants to listen. He likes to listen, so it's very nice to work with him. I'm really motivated.”
