MIAMI OPEN PRESENTED BY ITAú

April 2, 2021

Hubert Hurkacz

Press Conference

H. HURKACZ/A. Rublev

6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. I thought you looked amazing out there. One thing I have been noticing this tournament is your backhand. It's always been good. Going up the line, it just looks so good. I think it's doing so much damage. How do you feel with that shot? What do you think you did well today to get the win?

HUBERT HURKACZ: Yeah, thank you so much. Yeah, I think backhand was very important. I was very solid from that side and I was also able to push Andrey a little bit to the defense. So I was trying to get advantage there from my backhand shots.

Q. What's going to be the key for you to get it done in the final on Sunday?

HUBERT HURKACZ: Yeah, obviously Jannik, he hits the ball very hard from both of the sides. Have to try to stay aggressive and, yeah, like try to play my best tennis.

Q. Jannik before said that you are his best friend on court. Not only plays doubles with you, but he likes you and still he says of course on Sunday we will be rivals, enemies. I'd like you to say something about Jannik off the court, not what we all see when he's playing forehand, backhand, whatever. What do you think about him as a guy, as a friend?

HUBERT HURKACZ: I mean, Jannik is a great person. I think like it's super, super calm and super chill, and also he's good person. So, I mean, he's really nice guy and he really like wants it hard to compete to win.

So, I mean, he's really, really great guy. The results that he have is obviously because of his hard work.

Q. Can you tell us some story? We all know that he's a nice guy and he's funny or whatever. But tell us something that between you and him is fun that you would like, you know, us to know?

HUBERT HURKACZ: Yeah, I mean, like in the back of my mind I don't have like any stories I can tell you now. But we joke around. We are good friends, so I wish him well, and, I mean, he's great guy.

Q. Jannik said that when he saw that there were a lot of top players not at this tournament that he thought of it as a really opportunity to play deep and go very far. Did you approach this tournament with the same mindset?

HUBERT HURKACZ: Yeah, like I knew like, I mean, Novak and Rafa, Dominic, Roger not gonna play this event, so it's gonna be like some of the younger guys gonna have a chance to play really deep there.

Obviously I was just trying to work on my game and play my best tennis. Yeah, luckily and happily I'm here in the finals now.

Q. You told me in Delray about how much pride you take in being Polish. I'm curious if you could tell us a little bit about your relationship with Wojciech Fibak. Of course Iga has had this fantastic run, but on the ATP side he was really sort of the best Polish player breaking...

HUBERT HURKACZ: Who? Sorry. I didn't hear the name. You cut out for a second.

Q. Wojciech.

HUBERT HURKACZ: Okay, yeah. Yeah, like, he was like amazing player, like he achieved so much, and also, he has plenty of experience being like coaching clients for many years.

Yeah, I mean, he's super knowledgeable. He's always like trying to say something nice to me and also about tennis. I mean, it's really great that we have such a person with a lot of knowledge in Polish tennis.

Q. I'd like to ask you about your serve. Your serve have been working in really, really high level all week, but mostly in the matches against Raonic, Tsitsipas, and today against Andrey. Do you think your serve has been one of the highlights in your game this week?

HUBERT HURKACZ: Yes, for sure it gave me a lot of free points, and against such a great opponent you need them if you want to stay competitive. Like always, you need battle from the baseline to get ahead, and with your serve you can, like, you can get just a little bit of edge on your side.

Q. How important is for the future of the Polish tennis to have two players like Iga Swiatek and you in the final rounds of the big tournaments? Do you feel a reference for the youngs in your country?

HUBERT HURKACZ: Yeah, I mean, I think it's great for the country, Poland to have Iga, I mean, Lukasz Kubot who has been winning Grand Slams, Australian Open and Wimbledon in doubles. Yeah, also like myself hopefully like we are inspiring kids and there are plenty of younger guys like Kamil Majchrzak, Kacper Zuk, and also like couple of guys playing doubles like Jan Zielinski, Szymon Walkow.

So those guys are, I mean, hopefully like pumped by the results that we are doing and they see that it's possible like to be there, to be at those events and to play deep in them.

Q. I'd like to know if, when you have been practicing with your friend Sinner, what was going on? You played just sets, long training session, short? And do you try...

HUBERT HURKACZ: Usually, like, on the tournaments like you play like longer warmup than play a couple of games. Depends how long you can get on the court.

So, like, you try to -- I mean, you try to obviously like closer to the tournament may play a few points so you're ready for, like, the match play. But obviously like before that you try to grind a little bit more, run around the court.

So obviously I think in the future we'll have more of those sessions than we had till now.

Q. Out of the four great wins you had in this tournament, which was the match that gave you more satisfaction? Which was the match that was more difficult? Which was the match where you played better?

HUBERT HURKACZ: I think like all the, I mean, starting, the first round I beat Denis Kudla, but then obviously then was also like close match I win in the tiebreaker the first set, but after that, like, Denis Shapovalov beat me the week before in Dubai. I think every single match was very tough. Super pumped. I was able to come through all of those matches.

Q. You're always a happy guy, but I'm just sort of thinking, it's your first Masters 1000 final. It's a huge final for you. Has it sort of hit you yet, or are you just sort of in the moment?

HUBERT HURKACZ: Yeah, I think now I'm in the moment. I'm just trying obviously super happy to be where I am now, but now we try to prepare as best as we can with CB for that final match on Sunday.