THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 5, 2026

Jan-Lennard Struff

Press Conference

J.L. STRUFF/J. Hurkacz

3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 7-5, 4-2 (ret.)

THE MODERATOR: Through to the next round. If you could give us your thoughts on the match this afternoon.

JAN-LENNARD STRUFF: Yeah, first of all, I would wish Hubi speedy recovery. I mean, it's not the way the match should end. He's a nice guy. Feel sorry for him.

In general, it was a tough match. I fought my way back. In the end, it was also difficult to play because he chipped winner returns there, broke me in the fifth, even if he was a bit injured.

But yeah, all in all, I'm happy to be in my first quarters.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How would you describe the emotions of this first quarterfinal at a Grand Slam?

JAN-LENNARD STRUFF: Yeah, it was tough to kind of celebrate on the court because obviously I feel sorry for him.

But in general, I'm very happy because it's a huge achievement for me. I'm 36, my first quarters, it's amazing.

Q. If you had to compare to the highlights of your career, how different does it feel?

JAN-LENNARD STRUFF: Right now at the moment, I'm still very relaxed, I would say, because of the circumstances at the end.

Yeah, it's an absolute highlight, for sure, yeah.

Q. German tennis has been performing extremely well on grass courts. Do you have any explanation for German success on grass courts?

JAN-LENNARD STRUFF: We have as well in Germany great grass court tournaments leading into Wimbledon, as well. We have Stuttgart, Halle. On the women's side I think Berlin, Bad Homburg. It's amazing events. That helps us.

I think in the past we had great success here for some German players, Boris, Steffi, Stich, to name a few. Yeah, amazing.

It's good that Germans doing good results.

Q. When you look at playing an opponent who is injured, you know they are struggling, how tough is it mentally to stay concentrated to get back into the match?

JAN-LENNARD STRUFF: It was a bit brutal. I felt like in the fourth set, I felt the serve speed went a bit down, but I was not sure if it was because he had some problems or if he was a bit tired and you lose a bit speed.

With me, I had the feeling I lost also a little bit speed, but then went okay. Then he served some aces again, but it was a bit tricky. Obviously you felt that he was having problems.

I mean, the first service game in the fifth, I was focused, but he drop-shotted me, like, very good. He chip returned twice, winner. I was like, Okay, wow, that's unbelievable.

Yeah, I tried to stay to focus on what I can do, on my performance. Yeah, then he was struggling to serve. I tried to win the games and get ahead, the break back, get another break.

Yeah, it was sad he had to retire.

Q. In terms of tiredness and fatigue, how do you feel?

JAN-LENNARD STRUFF: Yeah, I mean, we will see tomorrow how I feel after waking up. Right now match was hard, yes. As well, I'm feeling pretty good actually.

Yeah, trying to recover for the next one.