He sat in the player’s box at Suzanne Lenglen Stadium and listened with pride and emotion to French audiences chanting his last name. “I was not nervous, I was mainly thinking about what and where Zdenda should play,” Zdeněk Kolář tells the elderly the best moments of his son’s tennis career so far.
At the age of twenty-five, Zdeněk Kolář entered the main competition of the grand slam tournament for the first time. After a successful Paris qualification, he defeated the home team’s Lucas Pouille in the first round and experienced a life match.
On the second largest court of the Roland Garros complex, Stefanos Tsitsipas, the world number four and defender of last year’s final, suffered for over four hours. Fighting Czech thrilled the local audience and the Greek champion himself, who eventually won 6: 3, 7: 6, 6: 7, 7: 6 after the battle.
“Great experience, of course. Zdenda played for the first time at such a large stadium, and moreover against such an opponent. We enjoyed it, I was a little nervous just before the match,” says Zdeněk Kolář, an older, unforgettable experience one week apart.
He had worries before the match. “I thought to myself that Zdenda would have the strength to do it at all. I was a little worried that he would get tired with his style of play, where he has to scratch everything and play colorfully. I was afraid it would be dignified. so that it is not a loser, “admits the father and the coach in one person.
But the younger wheeler endured. He showed that there was no reason to worry.
In the fourth set, he made four sets in a tie-break, the decisive fifth set was close. But Tsitsipas brilliantly turned the short game around.
“He was terribly sorry that he wasn’t the fifth set. He would have believed. He said he already felt that Tsitsipas was serving much more slowly. famous performance.
“After the match, the predominant thing was that he did his best. I always taught him that he would regret something in retrospect and that he would just make a mental decision. It’s not much to complain about. One forehand took a risk there along the line, we can say that if he went to the Tsitsipase backhand twice more with spinning balls, it could have turned out differently, but that’s the way it is. , “Kolář explains.
In the stands, he was very surprised at first when the French audience began to shout: “Kolar, Kolar !!”
“I admit, I didn’t expect that. But it was definitely a nice exchange. Zdend managed the lobes, the shorts. The French tennis audience understands and can appreciate it.”
After the duel, Tsitsipas himself praised Kolář’s extraordinary performance and the Greek parents in the galleries came to personally congratulate the father of the Czech tennis player.
“They told me that it was an excellent performance from Zdeněk. I wished them luck in the next rounds,” Kolář explains the moments captured by television cameras.
The player from Bystřice nad Pernštejnem then handed out perhaps as many autographs as ever before in his entire career. “Yes, there were a lot of those signatures, but also congratulations in the SMS messages,” confirms Kolář’s dad. He received many thanks from his son for a major contribution to his tennis career. Even public.
The tennis player stated at a press conference that the success of Paris is more due to his dedicated father than to himself.
“I forbid Zdend to talk about me, I don’t like to figure somewhere, I don’t like attention very much. I do it for him and there is no need to talk about it anymore,” smiles the job surveyor.
He has not doubted his son’s ability to compete with the best players in the world for a long time.
“I don’t discuss it with Zdenda, but I know internally that he is able to play amazing matches. He defeated Casper Ruud (current semifinalist Roland Garros)other players who are in their fifties, “says Kolář.
He sees the reason why the talented tennis player has not been able to make a significant impact towards the world’s elite hundred for a long time, in his poorer ability to regenerate quickly.
“It’s been a problem for years. He played well for two days in a row, but on the third day his body didn’t have time to regenerate and he lost just because of it. The body is somehow genetically engineered and has some ceiling. “I saw slower reactions on the third day. Tennis is very specific. You have to play daily, there is a minimum of recovery time,” he explains.
In lower category tournaments, so-called challengers, the player must advance to the final rounds in order to earn enough points for the required ranking. The long-term freezing of the ranking during the covid period did not help Kolář either.
“It hurt the young players. If the points were calculated normally, he should have been in about 80th place after the title at the tournament in Szczecin last year. Instead, he was 140. It was very crooked,” says Kolář senior.
In Monday’s issue of the ATP rankings, Kolář should climb to roughly 118th place. Participation in grand slams and big tournaments will be a little closer again.
“We want to move it further, one hundred percent,” confirms the father of the family team’s high ambitions. A generous reward in excess of two million crowns, brought to the budget by a successful Paris anabasis, should also help.
“It’s fresh, we haven’t talked about how to use the money yet. But we will definitely be considering a physiotherapist. We would like to improve this aspect, take more care of the body,” Kolář thinks.
Paradoxically, higher world rankings can also mean lower costs.
“When Zdeněk was in some substitute tournaments and just before the start he got into the game, we had to buy tickets in a hurry. Maybe for twenty thousand, while if you know about participation in advance, it can only be a fifth of the prize. Maybe we can plan better.” hopes Kolář.
His son’s participation in another grand slam, the famous but this year another Wimbledon, is still in the stars.
The ATP and WTA responded to the organizers’ decision to ban Russian and Belarusian representatives from the start, and no points should be awarded for Wimbledon. For players from the second hundred of the rankings, however, constantly scoring points is absolutely crucial.
“If it is really without points, we probably wouldn’t fly to London for the qualification. But when more players check out and Zdeněk gets into the main competition, we won’t miss it,” says Kolář’s father.
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