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SYDNEY, Australia – The last team to take the court in in the United Cup is Team Poland.

And in addition to the opportunity to see how Iga Swiatek starts the season, the night-session tie against Germany Monday in Sydney will also mark the return of Hubert Hurkacz.

The 28-year-old doesn’t get an easy one; Hurkacz’s first match since he withdrew from a second-round match on grass in ‘s-Hertogenbosch last June will be against … Alexander Zverev.

It’s worth noting that the version of Hurkacz who rocked up to Sydney this week is … ABSOLUTELY ripped. What he might not have been able to do on court for a while, he sure made up for on “upper body” day in the gym.

Here’s a look at him on the practice court Saturday with Jakub Mensik.

It was practice, so it’s hard to tell form. But we were loving his eagerness to come to the net (and so was coach Nicolas Massu). He was serve-volleying quite a bit, and his slice backhand looked delicious.

Two knee surgeries, a long rehab

Hurkacz underwent a first knee surgery in July 2024 – afterretiring late in the fourth set of a second-round match at Wimbledon against the equally star-crossed Arthur Fils, with a tear in his meniscus. He was playing his best tennis, and was the No. 7 seed at Wimbledon in 2024.

He likely rushed back too quickly after that one, even if he had to miss the Olympics. But Hurkacz was impressive in Montreal in three consecutive three-setters, the last of which was a defeat, 7-5 in the final set, to eventual champion Alexei Popyrin in the quarterfinals.

But 2025, which started so well at United Cup (Poland reached the final, with Hurkacz losing a third-set tiebreak to Taylor Fritz) was a tough one.

Hurkacz had a brilliant week in Geneva last May, the week before Roland. Garros. He made it to the final and lost an ABSOLUTE heartbreaker to Novak Djokovic. Another third-set tiebreak that didn’t go his way.

And then, with barely time to take a few deep breaths, he had to hustle to Paris to face rising star Joao Fonseca in his first round at Roland Garros.

He lost, in three quick sets. And was pretty down in the dumps about it when Open Court spoke to him after the loss. Hurkacz played just one more match last year, a straight-sets win over Roberto Bautista Agut in ‘s-Hertogenbosch before a withdrawal prior to his second match, which was officially because of a lower back injury.

The first surgery was an arthroscopy on the right meniscus; the second one, which he had in the wake of that grass tuneup event, was more serious; it was to remove an inflamed synovial membrane in the knee that was causing him a lot of pain and swelling that might well have been a byproduct of the initial surgery and return.

He said then that he wouldn’t return until he was “110 per cent”. More than seven months later, he’s back.

“Definitely feeling fit. That’s the most important thing. It took a while to get to that stage and spot. Definitely, yeah, you appreciate more the things like competition, especially after this amount of time trying to get back, trying to solve the problems,” he said at Team Poland’s pre-tournament press conference. “Very excited to be competing again and playing the first match soon.”