Hurkacz GTG in Montreal? We’ll find out soon

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MONTREAL – Absent from the courts since he injured his knee during his second-round match at Wimbledon against Arthur Fils, Hubert Hurkacz is in Montreal and preparing for a return.

Will he be good to go?

It’s hard to tell, from his practice sessions.

But he certainly seems to be getting a little more mobile every day.

Here’s what he looked like on Sunday.

You can see on the photos below the big bump that’s a souvenir of the meniscus surgery he underwent on July 15.

From what he told the ATP Tour website, several of the doctors he consulted told him his season was over.

In addition to the bump, Hurkacz also was sporting a series of vertical strips above the knee.

If history is any indicator for these types of things, you’d expect Hurkacz to wait until the very last minute make the final decision to play, especially if things aren’t going … great.

Already this week, Emil Ruusuvuori and Milos Raonic went out to warmup for their opening matches and decided to pull the ripcord. Cameron Norrie, too. And none of those players had surgery three weeks ago.

The fact that Hurkacz is looking at a pretty tough opening round either way – he plays the winner of Thanasi Kokkinakis and Gaël Monfils after a first-round bye – isn’t great luck, either.

If Hurkacz doesn’t play, there is Cincinnati in a week and even Winston-Salem the week before the US Open, if he needs matches.

Of course, the best-of-five at Flushing Meadow is a different beast.

But as we’ve seen with both Hurkacz and Novak Djokovic – who underwent knee surgery during Roland Garros, got to the Wimbledon final and won the gold medal at the Olympics – these are not ordinary men in ordinary circumstances.

That’s why they seemingly can do … extraordinary things.