Perceptions of Kamil Majchrzak in 2022 have changed drastically a few times in the past couple of months. At first, it was just a pretty decent season for him, but a sudden spike in his results gave him a top-100 finish and a spot in the Australian Open main draw. For a player who’s been a bit stuck between the ATP Tour and the Challengers, this was precisely what he was aiming to achieve.
However, soon enough he was provisionally suspended by the International Tennis Integrity Agency for three prohibited substances found in his blood during three consecutive tournaments. Majchrzak is trying to fight to clear his name, but we already know he definitely won’t be back for the aforementioned Australian Open (and more realistically, he could potentially face a very long break from tennis).
ATP Tour-oriented schedule, first deep runs
Let’s look back at what the Pole showed on the court though. In 2022, he mostly focused his schedule on ATP Tour events, playing just five Challengers and three of them as his last tournaments of the year. He now holds a 2-17 win/loss record against top 50 opponents and the two wins he managed to provide came this year. Both carry significant asterisks with the opponents disliking the respective surfaces – Federico Delbonis on hard courts, Alexander Bublik on clay, but it was still a step up for someone who generally struggled against stronger rivals in the past.
Majchrzak also made his first ATP Tour semifinal in 2022, reaching it in Pune in February. It was one of the weakest 250s of the season, but the Pole actually had a pretty tough draw with Lorenzo Musetti and the in-form Quentin Halys. In the final four, he was eliminated 3-6 6-7 by Emil Ruusuvuori.
The 26-year-old had two match points to make another semifinal in Sofia, missing a tough, but makeable volley on one of them against Marc-Andrea Huesler. Another loss that the Pole will definitely regret came in the second round at Hertogenbosch. He led World No. 23 Karen Khachanov 4-0 in the deciding set and was so close to securing the biggest win of his career. However, he got tense and couldn’t convert the double-break lead, which really shouldn’t happen on a slick grass court.
Health issues in the summer, brilliant finish capped off with terrible news
In the summer, Majchrzak injured himself at the Polish National Championships and didn’t win a match in the North American hard court swing. What turned his season around was the great patch of play he had after that. The aforementioned quarterfinal in Sofia, then a round two appearance at the ATP 500 in Tokyo (took a set off Nick Kyrgios), and a couple of brilliant Challenger results.
In Seoul, he lost a high-profile semifinal to Yibing Wu before going on a tear to clinch the title in Busan, the 4th Challenger trophy of his career. Beating two top 100 players along the way (Soon-woo Kwon, Radu Albot) and grabbing 125 points was an incredible finish to the season (he only played one match after that), allowing him to very safely wrap up the year inside the top 100.
But as it later turned out, Sofia, Tokyo, and Seoul were the events at which his blood samples contained illegal substances. That has cast a long shadow over Majchrzak’s 2022 campaign, which otherwise would have easily been the best year of his career. Without knowing the results of his case, we can’t really look forward to next year, because it’s even likely that he might not take the court at all in 2023.
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