Tomas Berdych knows how it feels to win big matches on the ATP Tour and a few years after his retirement, he can enjoy the wins of his fellow compatriot, Jiri Lehecka.
Berdych, who was ranked 4th in the ATP Rankings in 2015 and reached the Wimbledon final in 2010, had plenty of success on the ATP Tour. In 2012, he won the Hopman Cup with Petra Kvitova, and in the same year, he was part of the Czech Republic's winning Davis Cup team.
Back then, Berdych teamed up with Radek Stepanek, and the two lifted the trophy also in 2013 as they defeated Spain and Serbia in the final ties. Now, they can both observe talented youngster Jiri Lehecka, who is currently 47th in the ATP Rankings. Speaking to ATP Media in Dubai, Tomas Berdych said:
“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. 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.”
Lehecka made a name for himself especially at this year's Australian Open, when he defeated Cameron Norrie and Felix Auger-Aliassime, before losing to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals. He's only 21 years old and Berdych spoke also about the age gap.
“Even he mentioned it many times, so it’s nice to hear for me when somebody took a bit of that inspiration. 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.”
Both Berdych and also Stepanek, who is a former world no. 8 and two-time Grand Slam doubles champion, competed during the same era, and a few years after their retirements, there wasn't really anyone to fill in the blank space. Now, Lehecka is the player to do it and they are both happy about it.
“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. 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.”
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