Making her Tour-level debut in her home event in Warsaw, Nika Hurkacz would have been optimistic about her chances, but crashed out of the event after a brutal loss. Sister of former World No. 6 Hubert Hurkacz, Nika entered the Polish Open as a wild card in the qualifying rounds, marking her first appearance at Challenger level.

She faced Bulgaria’s Lia Karatancheva, who dismantled the Pole 6-1, 6-1 in just 1 hour and 9 minutes. Home comforts weren’t enough. Karatancheva broke serve early and repeatedly, while Hurkacz managed to save only one of eight break points she faced across the match and converted less than a quarter of her return chances in either set. She did win the opening game of the second set but lost six straight games from there to close out the loss.

Coming from a sporting family, Nika is not the only athlete in the Hurkacz household. Their parents were athletes themselves, with their mother, Zofia, a tennis player, and their father, Krzysztof, a university-level swimmer.

This might have been Nika Hurkacz’s maiden Challenger event, but she has been doing the rounds at lower-level ITF events over the last couple of seasons, without much success. The Hurkacz siblings aren’t the only instance of a brother-sister duo making it to the tennis Tours; the golden standard of sibling success in the sport belongs to Marat Safin and Dinara Safina, who each reached No. 1 in men’s and women’s tennis, respectively.

While Nika Hurkacz was playing a Challenger event to make her Tour-level debut, her brother had to grind through Challenger tennis of his own this season after falling behind in the rankings due to injury and a loss of form.

Hubert Hurkacz Has Struggled With Injuries in the Last One Year

Once one of the top-ranked players in the world just a couple of seasons ago, Hurkacz’s career has taken a major hit since surgery last year. He started 2026 with a strong showing in Poland’s winning United Cup campaign, beating the likes of Alexander Zverev and Taylor Fritz.

Since the Australian Open, though, his form fell off a cliff. He lost seven consecutive matches, and his ranking dropped beyond 100. He played a couple of Challenger events in Punta Cana and Cagliari, reaching the final in the latter. A strong fourth-round showing at Wimbledon briefly pulled him back into the Top 100, but he was forced to retire in the fifth set against Jan-Lennard Struff at SW19.

Recovering from that Wimbledon injury took another chunk out of his season, but Hurkacz is now set to resume play, entering the Canadian Open on a protected ranking to face Marcos Giron in the first round. At his peak, the former World No. 6 was a formidable hard-court player, winning six titles on the surface, including Masters 1000 titles in Miami and Shanghai. He’s also a former runner-up in Canada, falling to Pablo Carreño Busta in the 2022 final.