FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (July 13, 2021) – Nearing the beginning of his fourth season with the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks, assistant coach
Filip Kanczula enjoyed the success of one of his former pupils from afar these past two weeks.
Hubert Hurkacz, now ranked No. 11 in the world after entering this year's Wimbledon at No. 18, wrapped up his run in London this past week following a few incredible performances. Earning the second Grand Slam semifinals appearance for a Polish man in history, Hurkacz knocked out the No. 2-ranked player in the world, Daniil Medvedev, in a grueling five-set battle interrupted by rain before dispatching the 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer, who owns more Wimbledon singles title than any other player in history, in straight sets.
"He was able to muster some kind of energy in him, some kind of potential that I don't even think he knew existed. That just blows my mind," Kanczula said.
Hurkacz finished off his Round of 16 match against Medvedev on Tuesday, closing out the 2-6, 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory with a fifth set victory pushed a day after beginning the match on Monday. A day later, Hurkacz handed Federer his first three-set loss at Wimbledon since 2002 with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 6-0 win and then battled back after losing 11 straight games to win a third set against Matteo Berrettini 7-6 (7-3) before falling in four sets in Friday's semifinal.
"This is like a milestone and what often happens when you achieve those in a tennis career, especially in one tournament, it costs you so much that you empty the tank and the following match, you're just flat," Kanczula said. "I think right now he's a little disappointed, if anything. Everyone around him is like telling him to celebrate, but I think Hubert is kind of like, I should have done something better with Berrettini. But that's Hubert."
Kanczula should know, as he spent years coaching Hurkacz after wrapping up his collegiate tennis career at Lamar.
Following a year of coaching primarily recreational tennis players at a country club in Austin, Texas, Kanczula decided to return to Poland and work toward making coaching a full-time profession. Calling it the natural course a player would follow, Kanczula played the sport as long as he could and then looked to pass on the knowledge and experience he gathered as a player.
At least to some extent, Kanczula had already gone through the basics of coaching during his playing career. With access and resources to consistently find coaching hard to come by, Kanczula said he, as well as NAU head coach
Maciej Bogusz, in some ways had to coach themselves growing up.
"We both had to rely a lot on our own judgment, on our own kind of introspection into how we play. You have that habit of just constantly monitoring your own performance during practice," Kanczula said. "And all of a sudden, your focus needs to shift. It's a pretty crazy thing."
Returning to Poland in late 2009, Kanczula soon found himself as a hitting partner to a then 13-year-old Hurkacz.
Kanczula's former youth coach had been leading Hurkacz's play, but the future pro's mother decided someone else may need to begin taking over. Kanczula earned the recommendation following his impressive career at Lamar alongside Bogusz, and thus began their time together spanning 2010 all the way into 2016 as Hurkacz moved on from the ITF Juniors Tour to the ITF Pro Tour.
And while Kanczula can't say he knew immediately Hurkacz would become the player he is today, saying there's of course no certainties, all of the traits were there.
"You start to understand that these traits are good symptoms and are good omens for the future," Kanczula said, citing Hurkacz's competitive drive and how well he thrived under pressure.
During his time coaching in Poland, Kanczula helped Hurkacz reach the finals of the junior doubles division at the 2015 Australian Open and also coached Szymon Walkow, who is currently ranked among the top 130 by the ATP in doubles.Kanczula also helped take his team to the European Championships while working as a national juniors coach in Poland.
When Bogusz moved to the NAU men's program in 2018 after a year with the women's team, he reached out to his former doubles partner to see if he'd be interested in heading back to the United States.
"It didn't take me long to figure that might be a great decision, a good kind of way to restart things," Kanczula said, especially given the opportunity to earn his master's degree. "And then, there I was."
While Kanczula's list of accomplishments coaching individuals obviously translated back over to college tennis in the U.S., the move to coaching a team rather than single players did provide a whole new set of challenges.
"When you're traveling with one junior, you're almost like an older brother or a father, a coach, sometimes you are a physiotherapist, sometimes you're a psychologist and sometimes you're a buddy," Kanczula said. "When you're coaching a team of players... all the players become like this one unified body. It's a team that needs to have some certain culture, certain demeanor, certain habits, certain things and routines that they do."
Calling Bogusz a great strategist and observer, Kanczula said so much of coaching within the collegiate team atmosphere is left to preparation and then trying to manage in practices.
"What you are trying to do while you're coaching them is you're just trying to help them stay the course. That's all you can do. Really, it's out of your hands while the match starts to a big degree. It's really a practice that we can influence players the most," said Kanczula, who added it really is a two-way relationship with the players also teaching him amidst the six matches taking place concurrently.
While Kanczula's expertise may be known to some as NAU recruits throughout Europe, it may not be as widely recognized by those in Flagstaff and around the local tennis community. During his time in Flagstaff, the Lumberjacks have earned a Big Sky Conference Tournament title and reached the NCAA Tournament in each of the two years possible with Kanczula helping Bogusz on the staff.
Recently, Kanczula was granted his green card, opening up options for his coaching future.
"I must admit that I feel good living in Flagstaff and I'm just very happy that the situation developed in a direction that now allows me to be very free with my decisions," Kanczula said. "And as for the foreseeable future, I'm planning on staying in the U.S. and living in Flag."
