Jiří Lehečka’s rapid rise among the tennis elite continues in Doha, Qatar. The young Czech scored the most valuable win of his career in the rankings against Andrej Rubljov, and after finishing the world’s top five, another challenge awaits him: a semi-final battle against a legend of world tennis.
Thirteen wins and only three defeats. Such is the balance of Jiří Lehečka in the current season. On Thursday, the 21-year-old tennis player added another valuable scalp to his growing collection.
Less than a month after his first win over world number 10 player Felix Auger-Aliassim, he also defeated Rublyov. In addition to this, he already beat Alexander Zverev, Borna Čorić or Cameron Norrie this year.
The fame of the tennis player from Kněžmost is growing, so experts and bookmakers consider him a favorite even before the attractive Friday match.
For the first final of his career, Lehečka will fight in Doha against the icon, sir title holder, owner of three Grand Slam triumphs, two Olympic gold medals and a metal hip: Andy Murray.
Before the first mutual duel, the 35-year-old Scot made a statement in which he indicated that he was not too surprised by the rise of the Czech player.
“He started this season really well. I trained with him once, it was last year during the grass part of the season. It was clear to me that he has a colossal game. He served great and had very clean shots,” revealed the nine-time Grand Slam finalist, what Lehečka already knew about him interested
The new Czech sensation entertains the tennis public with his game. At the same time, experts appreciate not only Leheček’s brute strength and striking technique, but also other equally important characteristics.
“Of course, he has power in every stroke, but also a beautiful tennis IQ. With that, he could go very high,” said tennis journalist Carole Bouchard, for example.
She also mentioned how quickly Lehečka develops, how quickly she learns. Even during the matches themselves. He lost the first set against Rublyov, similarly to Norrie and Auger-Aliassim in Melbourne. But then he found a recipe and outplayed his famous opponents.
“He’s learning really fast. It took him a set to get the hang of Rublev’s game,” Bouchard paused at the turn against the fifth-ranked player.
After all, Lehečka himself spoke about learning after the match. “I set myself goals for every tournament. But a big advantage for my team and myself is the fact that we can see positive things in every win, but also in every defeat. That’s what helps us learn faster from every situation we get into we’ll get there,” said the native of Mladá Boleslav.
He is also considered a favorite against Murray due to the demanding matches that the experienced native of Glasgow regularly arranges. He has yet to play a match without losing a set this year. Even in Doha this week, he has already had a hard time three times. Against the Italian Lorenzo Sone in the first round, the famous fighter avoided three match points and won in the tie-break of the third set.
His mother Judy Murray then shared a plea on social media. “It would be nice to win every now and then without dropping a set,” she wrote on Twitter, including a rollercoaster emoji to symbolize her son’s recent matches.
But the former world number one did not listen to her mother. The very next day, Murray spent three hours and four minutes on the court. He defeated the German Zvereva 7:5 in the third set. He also played three sets on Thursday, even though he was the 170th player in the world.
Semifinal duel Lehečka vs. Murray is on the program on Friday afternoon, and the newspaper Aktuálně.cz will follow him in an online report.
