At first glance, they fit together perfectly. The new coach of Karolína Plíšková, Leoš Friedl, is a well-known calm person who does not show his emotions. But the Czech tennis player can also draw on the fact that her coach is in great shape and can be her sparring partner without much difficulty.
The 45-year-old native of Jindřichov Hradec has not had a stellar singles career. His domain was doubles, where he reached 14th place in the rankings. In the singles game, he only peeked into the fourth hundred.
“He started as a singles player. He didn’t get high, but it wasn’t that he wasn’t supposed to, rather he soon specialized in doubles. His currency was solidity, composure. He had an excellent return, which made him surpass other doubles players,” Kamil Vondráček told Aktuálně.cz , former coach of Leoš Friedl.
They toured the world together at a time when the new coach Plíšková was playing doubles alongside František Čermák.
“He also had excellent volleys, great reactions at the net. When I played with him, how many times he was able to qualify for the ATP tournament in singles. When we were in Chile, he played in the quarterfinals of the singles there and beat even pure singles players,” recalls Vondráček, who coaches in Spartak Jihlava.
That’s when Friedl beat, for example, Carlos Berlocq, the former 37th player in the world. But he shone the most alongside Čermák, with whom he dominated thirteen ATP tournaments.
“They sat together in character. They still hang out, they are friends. That’s important in tennis, when you’re together for ten months of the year and you don’t sit down, you kill each other after one season. They also sat down on the court. Franta was the one in that pair claimed the music. He was more forceful. They played a lot from the back, and when needed, Leoš was again the one who went to the net and went for a point,” explained Vondráček.
Friedl is a happy nature. Just as well as with Čermák, he also got along well with the women’s partner on the court. In 2001, he won the mixed doubles alongside Daniela Hantuchová at Wimbledon.
“He’s a calm type of person. He acts like that on the court and in life. He’s deliberate, he doesn’t show much emotion. Exceptionally, he shouted on the court after the winning ball,” says Vondráček.
This is a characteristic that strongly resembles Plíšková, who is known for how gentle she is in experiencing situations on the court. So they are made of the same dough.
“When you want to train a girl, it’s also about understanding each other. To be able to calm her down and help her at certain times. It’s often a psychological game more than training. Karolína can play tennis, she was the first in the world, she has a lot of experience in Grand Slams , even if she didn’t win it. She just needs to tune in, psychologically help her to start believing in herself,” thinks Vondráček.
However, it will not be easy for the successor of German coach Saschi Bajin. Plíšková still wants to win the Grand Slam, but after breaking her wrist, she somehow can’t get back on the circuit.
“It is a huge advantage that Leoš maintains himself a lot and can still play with her on the court. He can easily replace her as a sparring partner and not just stand at the line. The point is to guide her, support her, say: Look, you can do this, play that, start from that. I think they should work, for example, on service and on its pressure right after it,” advises Vondráček remotely.
Until recently, Friedl trained Slovak Filip Polášek and also helped Swiss Belinda Bencicová.
“He played actively in the extra league last year and I have the feeling that he could easily start this year as well. He still has tennis form,” Vondráček praises him.
But now Friedl is working on Pliskova’s form. The match premiere worked for them. The former world number one won the first battle of the tournament in San Jose on Monday, defeating Britain’s Katie Boulter in three sets. But in the round of 16, she will face a more difficult test in the form of Amanda Anisimovová from home.
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