"I forgot to mention Roger Federer... hopefully, he won't take it personally" - Hubert Hurkacz on playing in front of Swiss in Shanghai Masters final

With Roger Federer watching from the stands, Hubert Hurkacz lifted the second Masters 1000 title of his career on Sunday, beating Andrey Rublev in the final of the 2023 Shanghai Masters.

Hurkacz, who had won the 2021 Miami Open, prevailed 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(8) on the night against the Russian, finally taking his fourth championship point to take home his second trophy of the season.

Speaking at his press conference afterwards, Hurkacz admitted that he was very happy about joining the prestigious list of past winners at the tournament, which includes the likes of Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.

The Pole then remembered that during the presentation ceremony, he forgot to thank Roger Federer for coming to the final. The Swiss maestro dropped in on the Masters 1000 event as he was being presented with the first-ever 'Icon Athlete' designation by the tournament management in Shanghai.

Hurkacz jokingly hoped that Federer would not take his omission personally before stating that it was a lot of fun to play in front of the 20-time Grand Slam champion.

"Yes, no, you know, the tournament, there's so many champions won it in the past and so many amazing players, and in my speech, I was, like, trying to thank everyone. I forgot to mention Roger, thanks for coming, so, yeah, sorry for that. Hopefully, he won't take it personally (smiling), but definitely, you know, fun to play in front of him. Hopefully he enjoyed a little bit and, yeah, just so excited," Hurkacz said.

Hurkacz also commented on the Shanghai Masters expanding to a 96-player draw for the first time with this year's edition, remarking that it has made the competition even more exciting with a lot of potential winners in the mix.

"I think, you know, it's definitely, you know, it's a bit longer event. I mean, we really enjoy being here. I mean, I like the draw it was, you know, in the past was 54, I believe, so it was really amazing back then. Now it's even tougher to win this kind of event, you know, 96 players, everyone wanting to win, everyone wanting to really battle and compete," Hubert Hurkacz said.

"We're just going to try our best and then just keep fighting and keep competing" - Hubert Hurkacz on final push for ATP Finals qualification

China Tennis Shanghai Masters

With the 1,000 ranking points from Shanghai, Hubert Hurkacz has risen five spots to No. 11 in the live ATP Race to Turin. He is now just over 300 points away from eighth-placed Holger Rune, with Taylor Fritz and Casper Ruud standing between them.

Hurkacz admitted that he knew he had to do well in Shanghai to give himself a good chance for the year-end championships and was glad to have done as much as he could have over the fortnight.

With the season reaching its end now, the Pole hoped to keep fighting and make the final push to steal a spot in Turin this year. Hurkacz made his debut at the ATP Finals in 2021, falling out of the tournament in the group stage. In 2022, he was an alternate, but did not get to participate in the competition.

"Well, I mean, coming to this couple of weeks, you know, starting here in Shanghai, you know, I knew if I got to give myself a chance, I need to be winning tournaments, so, you know, that's a pretty good start."

"I mean, just amazing week here in Shanghai. I really enjoyed it here with the team, but ultimately, we just want to get better every single day and improve, enjoy those moments, but yeah, you know, we're just going to try our best and then just keep fighting and keep competing," Hubert Hurkacz said.