The Polish star Hubert Hurkacz hails from a sporting family. His grandfather was an international volleyball player, and his parents and uncles were tennis players. He was introduced to tennis by his mother. He practiced for hours and hours as he fell for the game on the very first day. However, the interest in the game exponentially increased by watching Roger Federer play on television.

While speaking to Essentially Sports in an exclusive interview, he spoke about effortlessness in Roger’s play, and it is difficult to adapt his fluidic style of player.

“Yeah, I mean Roger is an amazing person. The way he plays is pretty unbelievable. So the way he hits the ball and the shots he selects, it’s tough to implement the things he does on the court. But obviously, you can learn from him a lot,” Hurkacz said.

Hurkacz has also been trying Federer’s tweener shot. He revealed that he has practiced that shot for almost 2 months but couldn’t get it right until the UTR Pro match series, where he hit the tweener winner against the Reilly Opelka.

“My coach Craig here didn’t want me to do this shot. So I was doing a drill here, practicing this shot and he would tell me that you’re missing almost all of them. That was actually the best I played in over two months,” he added.

“What Roger Federer has done for tennis has been incredible” – Hubert Hurkacz

He is the ultimate paragon of grace and a highly romanticized artist in the sporting world. As explained in David Foster Wallace’s essay, Roger Federer as Religious Experience, his moments on the court ‘might be called kinetic beauty.’

His ballet-style tennis on his toes and sleek return winners from the baseline simply exemplifies ‘poetry in motion.’ 

Earlier this year, Hurkacz commended Federer’s 22-year-old service on the ATP Tour. “I hope Federer has a few more years ahead of him to help improve the sport of tennis. What he has done for tennis has been incredible,” he said.

“I can only hope that there will be other players like him who will affect the sport. I’m doing what I can to improve the sport a little bit, even if it’s through great sportsmanship right now,” he said.

The duo has locked horns once in their careers, which was at the quarterfinals of Indian Wells 2019. Wherein 23-year-old Hurkacz lost 6-4, 6-4 to the Swiss maestro.