04.06.2024 10:28:00 | The elimination of the top-seeded qualifier, Kamil Majchrzak (ATP 290th), whose best ATP ranking was previously 75th in February 2022, was certainly one of the greatest upsets in Prostejov. He lost in the second qualification round to Arthur Gea (ATP 382nd) of France, 4-6, 6-4, 4-6.
Twenty-eight-year-old Kamil Majchrzak from Lodz, Poland, was undisputedly the Polish No. 2 in singles, after Hubert Hurkacz, until the autumn of 2022. In September 2020, following the COVID interruption, he won the prestigious Prostėjov Challenger after defeating the then 18-year-old Jiri Lehecka in the semi-finals, and Pablo Andujar of Spain in the final. The Spaniard was the defending champion as he had triumphed in Prostejov the previous year. What happened to Majchrzak thereafter? At the end of 2022, anti-doping tests at the ATP Tour tournaments in Sofia and Tokyo, as well as at the challenger in Seoul, repeatedly revealed he had the illegal substance SARS in his body. Majchrzak was suspended by the ITIA, got a professional ban for 13 months, and unsuccessfully appealed...
His ban expired at the end of last year. The Pole dropped in ATP rankings and had to start again at 15,000 ITF tournaments. He won his first tournament this January in the Turkish resort of Antalya on a hard surface with ease, losing just 16 games in five matches. However, he failed at a similarly prized event in Monastir, Tunisia, where he lost in the quarter-finals to the younger Swiss Kuhn. Kamil Majchrzak has returned to the Polish Davis Cup team this year. In early February, he contributed to a smooth Polish victory in Uzbekistan by scoring a point in the singles and helped them qualify for next year's world qualification. In Prostejov, he believed he would advance to the main draw, but Frenchman Gea disagreed...
