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Hall of Fame
Former world no. 14 and a three-time ATP finalist Jerzy Janowicz has been dealing with numerous knee injuries in the last couple of years, leaving the top-100 in April 2016 and not being able to stay injury-free ever since.
Jerzy competed at 25 events in 2017 and stood on the verge of the top-100 after six ATP wins and two Challenger finals, lifting the trophy in Bergamo to gather momentum. Nonetheless, Jerzy played his last match in Bratislava in November that year, retiring against Mikhail Kukushkin and being forced to undergo another knee surgery after failing to endure the efforts of playing the entire season.
Janowicz has been on a comeback trail since then, doing his best to get his body back to the desired level and compete on the Tour again, although it couldn't happen in 2018, postponing return for a couple of times, including the home Challenger in Sopot in August.
This June, Jerzy announced he is working intensely on a comeback, practising without troubles for the first time in three years and doing everything right on both the court and at the gym. Janowicz played in the first ATP final on Masters 1000 debut in Paris 2012, losing to David Ferrer in that one and finishing runner-up in Winston-Salem 2014 and Montpellier 2015.
His last ATP tournament came in Stockholm in October 2017, qualifying for the main draw and losing a tight second-round encounter against world no. 8 Grigor Dimitrov. Jerzy became a father this year and started to train again in April, working in the gym and on the practice court and receiving a wild card in Sopot, having to refuse it as he didn't feel ready to compete at that moment.
The Pole will travel to Tenerife with his coach Gunter Bresnik, spending the offseason there and preparing for the new year when we should see him on the court again. On Saturday, Jerzy played an exhibition match against Michal Przysiezny, having a lot of fun and announcing he might travel to Australia and enter the qualifying draw in Melbourne with a protected ranking.
If not, the comeback should come in the following weeks after the first Major of the season, as he finally feels ready to hit the court again after more than two years.
Jerzy competed at 25 events in 2017 and stood on the verge of the top-100 after six ATP wins and two Challenger finals, lifting the trophy in Bergamo to gather momentum. Nonetheless, Jerzy played his last match in Bratislava in November that year, retiring against Mikhail Kukushkin and being forced to undergo another knee surgery after failing to endure the efforts of playing the entire season.
Janowicz has been on a comeback trail since then, doing his best to get his body back to the desired level and compete on the Tour again, although it couldn't happen in 2018, postponing return for a couple of times, including the home Challenger in Sopot in August.
This June, Jerzy announced he is working intensely on a comeback, practising without troubles for the first time in three years and doing everything right on both the court and at the gym. Janowicz played in the first ATP final on Masters 1000 debut in Paris 2012, losing to David Ferrer in that one and finishing runner-up in Winston-Salem 2014 and Montpellier 2015.
His last ATP tournament came in Stockholm in October 2017, qualifying for the main draw and losing a tight second-round encounter against world no. 8 Grigor Dimitrov. Jerzy became a father this year and started to train again in April, working in the gym and on the practice court and receiving a wild card in Sopot, having to refuse it as he didn't feel ready to compete at that moment.
The Pole will travel to Tenerife with his coach Gunter Bresnik, spending the offseason there and preparing for the new year when we should see him on the court again. On Saturday, Jerzy played an exhibition match against Michal Przysiezny, having a lot of fun and announcing he might travel to Australia and enter the qualifying draw in Melbourne with a protected ranking.
If not, the comeback should come in the following weeks after the first Major of the season, as he finally feels ready to hit the court again after more than two years.
