After reaching the semifinals at the 2013 edition of Wimbledon, Jerzy Janowicz’s career has been a downward spiral. So where did it all go wrong for the pole?
Let’s start at the beginning. Jerzy Janowicz a controversial man from Lodz, Poland made his grand stage after he qualified for the Masters 1000 event in Paris in 2012. He managed to reach the main draw and reach the final after he beat a number of top players including the now world number one Andy Murray and Marin Cilic. He played astonishing tennis that week and looked like he had the potential to win grand slams. He unfortunately lost to David Ferrer in the final 6-4 6-3, despite playing his best tennis it wasn’t good enough. However there was positives that Polish tennis was onto something phenomenal.
The start of 2013 saw Janowicz inside the world’s top 30 and starting to enter the world’s most famous tournaments without qualifying, even being seeded. It was a quite start to what turned into a seismic season. Wimbledon, the world’s most famous grand slam a place where legends are made. The passion burning inside the pole, was transferred onto his tennis as he made a historic run on the grandest stage. He managed to beat players like Nicolas Almagro and Radek Stepanek en route to the quarterfinals.
In the last eight he would play fellow pole Lukasz Kubot, a historic match for polish tennis. Although it was a 7-5 6-4 6-4 scoreline in favour of Janowicz, it was a moment no polish tennis fan will ever forget. You can see match highlights below of the historic match:
An emotional Janowicz had achieved his dream, being one of the last four competitors at a major event. Polish men’s tennis history was made, however he didn’t want it to end there he had a semifinal match with Andy Murray to prepare for. It all went well for the Lodz native when he took the first set. However Janowicz’s weaknesses were shown live on the biggest stage of all, his mental attitude. The roof had to be closed as it was getting darker inside Centre Court. From that point on, the downfall of Jerzy Janowicz started, he was arguing like there was no tomorrow on the umpire. Before you knew it Andy Murray reached the final of Wimbledon for the first time without any effort. Jerzy Janowicz lost to the Brit 6-7(2) 6-4 6-4 6-3. He had his chance and he blew it.
2014, continued to be an inconsistent year for the pole despite reaching his first ATP World Tour final, he showed signs of mental frailty and his downfall was disguised. With good results came a bigger ego and bigger weaknesses, which spread like a disease that is just out of control. Then at the end of 2015 was the last blow, injury that he suffered in Vienna during his impressive victory over Dominic Thiem. After his loss to Steve Johnson he had to have surgery on his knee in Warsaw, his first big operation.
In 2016, he had recovered from the injury and ready to go, well that’s what we thought. After losing his first round Australian Open match with John Isner, he worsened his injury and his proper comeback was delayed for another six months. A big blow as Poland had to prepare for their debut Davis Cup World Group match with Argentina. Was it his ego? Or were there bigger problems? According to his father the Polish tennis federation (PZT) were not helping Janowicz on his road to recovery, no funding. Nothing. Poland would lose their World Group status, despite the rise of Kamil Majchrzak.
The pole made his return in June, at a challenger in Segovia where he lost to Luca Vanni. He would then go on to play at the Olympic Games, where he lost a tough three setter to Gilles Muller. No mental frailty as of yet and signs of improvement. It was a good sign, Janowicz would make his name on the big stage as he would face Novak Djokovic in the first round of the US Open. Despite a tough four set loss, he was enjoying himself and playing some of his best tennis for a very long time. This was backed up with a challenger title in Genova on a clay court. He beat clay court specialists such as Carlos Berlocq and Nicolas Almagro en route to his first title in four years.
Despite this Janowicz has struggled since then losing matches to Tommy Robredo and Ricardas Berankis. Janowicz has dropped dramatically to 272 in the world and is now Poland’s number two player in the rankings, with Kamil Majchrzak’s rise continuing to elevate. Janowicz has now called time upon his season after a good rest in Zakopane. Where did it go wrong? Mentally it has been disastrous for the pole after his ego got bigger, his frustration increased. Whether that was on the court or by smashing up his keyboard on CS:GO, the pole needed a good rest from the game and the injury may have provided that for the pole. He has mentally improved and his game has risen. 2017 will be an important year in the pole’s mental and physical development, can he retain his status as a potential grand slam winner? Or will he turn out to be a flop and just an entertainer that just had potential? We will have to find out that answer when he returns in January.
