Not many players get the opportunity to play their childhood idol. But Kamil Majchrzak found himself in this position when he took on Novak Djokovic at Indian Wells earlier this year.
The Pole started strong in their second-round match, winning the first set before the 24-time major champion – who earned his 102nd singles title at the China Open this week - charged through the next two to secure victory.
“It was a great experience, which gave me a lot of confidence that I can compete with the best of all time. I took a lot of positive things from that match,” Majchrazk explained on this week’s episode ofThe Sit-Down podcast.
“He managed to change the game. He took good notes from the first set and started to play in a way that was extremely uncomfortable for me. He turned the match around completely.
“I always wanted to witness his aura and his greatness. I mean, his mental part is really impressive, and how strong he is and how many things he has overcome in his career.”
Less than three months later, Majchrzak lifted his maiden ATP tour level trophy at s-Hertogenbosch and made his top-50 debut, peaking at world No.45.
He upset Felix Auger-Aliassime, Daniil Medvedev and Alex de Minaur on his quest to the title, scoring his second, third and fourth triumphs over top 10 players.
“This was always one of my goals to win a tour level event. I always knew I could play well on grass and that’s my favourite surface,” he shared.
“'s-Hertogenbosch was the first week of grass for tour level players, for everyone. For me, it was my second tournament on grass already because I played a Challenger the week before. I definitely took advantage of that, and I was growing my game the whole tournament.
“It was more like a dream. I’m not sure if I was ready to win the title going back to before the tournament, but at the end I took it. It was an incredible tournament for me.”
Majchrzak’s breakthrough is all the more remarkable how tennis journey began almost by chance.
He first picked up a racquet as a child after his mother helped a colleague – who was also a tennis coach - with a website. She wouldn’t accept payment, so the colleague offered Majchrzak a tennis lesson instead.
“I fell in love with this sport from the first shot, so I just wanted to keep going,” the 30-year-old revealed.
“There was absolutely no tennis tradition in my family. My parents never played tennis. Maybe they didn’t even know anything about tennis until we started. We started kind of by accident.”
Armed with a top-50 experience and a top-50 title, Majchrzak now has his sights on new goals.
“I’d love to be seeded for a Grand Slam, which would be top 32 and I don’t want to win only one title,” he said.
“I want to prove to myself that I’m capable of doing that more often, so I would like to repeat that result and go deeper in Grand Slams.”
Listen to the full episode of The Sit-Down, a weekly podcast released each Monday featuring an in-depth interview with a notable tennis identity. Subscribe in your favourite podcast player so you never miss an episode.