Kacper Zuk is a man on the rise.

And for someone who describes ‘patience’ as one of his best qualities and ‘David Ferrer’ as his tennis idol growing up, the 22-year-old Pole looks like he’s picked the right sport for his resilient nature.

But Zuk’s recent climb of over 220 spots since the turn of 2020 is hardly steady.

He was one of the stars of the ITF World Tennis Tour in its heavily disrupted campaign last year, winning a Tour-leading four singles titles (along with veteran Alessandro Bega, and women’s front-runners Zheng Qinwen and Beatriz Haddad Maia).

Title triumphs at M25 events in Barnstaple and Poznan preceded back-to-back M25 titles in Hamburg and Vale do Lobo towards the end of the year, and, as a mark of his progress, he has started 2021 almost exclusively on the ATP challenger circuits.

Zuk's latest step – a runner-up finish at the St Petersburg Challenger last weekend, has taken him to a career-high ranking of 216, not that he is dwelling too much on that number.

“I don’t have ranking targets,” admitted Zuk. “I’m just focussing on my game and looking to improve some things on the court.

“If I play well, I hope that the ranking will go up more. I’m really happy that I’m so close now to the qualies of Roland Garros – that was the one goal for this year, and I managed to do it in the first two months of the year.

“I’m really happy and I’m just starting to focus on that in the next months and to try my best.”

Zuk, who peaked at No. 21 in the ITF Junior rankings and won five singles and six doubles titles in boys' competition between 2015 and 2016, is thoroughly making his mark in the professional realm.

He made his second Davis Cup singles appearance earlier this month, successfully negotiating Salvadoran legend Marcelo Arevalo in straight sets in the opening match during Poland’s 3-1 victory in Kalisz.

It was a performance that excited Polish team captain Mariusz Fyrstenberg, who now has a solid third singles player to call on behind the talented world No. 35 Hubert Hurkacz and No. 113 Kamil Majchrzak.

“Kacper Zuk impressed me a lot,” Fyrstenberg admitted during the Davis Cup tie. “He has a great coach (in Aleksander Charpantidis). His game is developing in the right direction.

“Kacper is a guy who needs pressure so he can play his best tennis. He cannot slow his hand down. He’s not an offensive guy, so he needs to be aggressive all the time – but he was playing so well. It’s really helpful that our number three is playing at such a good level.”

And with countrymen like Hurkacz and Majchrzak to further spur him on, Zuk’s rapid rise is unlikely to slow down any time soon.