“I won here in singles three times, Tomáš (Macháč) twice and Jakub (Menšík), who made his singles debut today, destroyed his opponent. We improved and showed that the Czech Republic is back and we can be very productive again in the Davis Cup.” he added.
Lehečka first defeated the Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich, then he dealt with the Korean Kwon Sun-u, and today he also defeated the thirty-seventh player in the world, Djere. He replaced world number one Novak Djokovic, who was involved in the doubles.
“I wasn’t sure if Djokovic would play, but I wanted to play against him. When do you get a chance to play against a player like that? What could be more challenging than playing Novak on a fast, hard surface? I think it would be great match. But it turned out differently,” described Lehečka.
Last minute change
He found out about the fact that he will play with Djer when the rosters were announced an hour before the game. “The preparation was quick. We didn’t have much time to discuss it. But I was happy that he is a player I know from the Tour and it wouldn’t be as difficult as if I went against someone I didn’t know. We had a quick meeting with the team , during the meal I talked with the captain and prepared,” said Lehečka.
The quarter-finalist of this year’s Australian Open also praised the atmosphere in Valencia, which he said was very noisy. “That’s something that surprised me. When I saw groups in Bologna, Split, or Manchester, the stands weren’t like here. It’s amazing here,” he said. “Of course, a lot of people came because they were waiting for the matches between Djokovic and Alcaraz, but even today it proved that the fans here like tennis, and the atmosphere was great. It was one of the best atmospheres I’ve experienced in the Davis Cup,” added Lehečka.
2023-09-17 07:40:01
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