Jiri Lehecka started the 2022 season because the No. 141 participant within the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. Little did the Czech know that 14 months later, he can be one of the vital harmful gamers on the ATP Tour.
Plenty of individuals have taken discover of the 21-year-old, who’s into the world’s Top 50 after advancing to the Australian Open quarter-finals and the Doha semi-finals. One of these individuals is former World No. 4 Tomas Berdych, who spent a pair days along with his countryman in Dubai.
“He’s very young. But what I’ve seen, it’s really the way he’s composed with his game. I think it’s very good,” Berdych instructed ATP Media in Dubai. “What I like is his fitness preparation or his body being strong and some of the young kids, they might struggle with it. They need more muscles or lack power. That’s definitely not his case, which I like.”
Watch Lehecka Train With Berdych:
Berdych even in contrast Lehecka to himself, calling his sport and that of the 2022 Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals runner-up “very similar”. That is excessive reward from a person who earned 640 tour-level wins and 13 titles throughout his illustrious profession.
“Even he mentioned it many times, so it’s nice to hear for me when somebody took a bit of that inspiration,” Berdcyh mentioned. “It’s funny to hear, he was 10, 11 when we won the Davis Cup, so he was really [a] kid and we were doing really well. So you already start to see those differences in ages, but other than that, very good. I think he has a bright future ahead of him.”
Berdych was returning dwelling from trip and determined to cease on the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships to get a more in-depth take a look at Lehecka. He is mates with Lehecka’s coach, Michal Navratil, so it was pure. Although Berdych sat in Lehecka’s field for his match in opposition to Alexander Zverev, there are not any plans for collaboration right now.
“I was always the guy going by the instinct and by the constant feeling at the moment, so we will see how things develop, how it goes,” Berdych mentioned. “[There are] not any commitments put on the table yet, which I don’t think is necessary. His team is good, is strong. They’re doing well, they’re doing a good job, so just maybe in the right time, right moment, we will see.”
For now, the 37-year-old is completely happy to see a person from his nation surging. For a very long time, Berdych and Radek Stepanek carried the Czech flag close to the highest of the game. Will Lehecka be subsequent?
“I think after a bit of a slow period after maybe myself and Radek — we stopped and we left the stage to the other guys — then I think he’s definitely the one that should carry the flag and go forward,” Berdych mentioned. “That’s also one of the reasons [why I went to Dubai]. I just want to stop by and see him more personally, closely. We’ll see how things develop, how things go. Good stuff.”
Source web site: www.atptour.com
