mtenis.com.pl

Jiri Lehecka stepped up and delivered once again for the Czech Republic Sunday in Maia, where he moved past Portugal’s Joao Sousa 6-4, 6-1 to fire his nation into the group stage of the Davis Cup by Rakuten Finals.

The 21-year-old defeated Nuno Borges on Day 1 of the Czech Republic’s Davis Cup tie against Portugal and backed up that victory with a dominant display against Sousa, striking 23 winners to triumph after one hour and 25 minutes.

Heading into Sunday’s action holding a 2-0 lead in northern Portugal, Czech Republic was on the cusp of the group stages. However, Borges and Francisco Cabral gave the home nation a foothold in the tie when they defeated Tomas Machac and Adam Pavlasek 7-5, 7-6(4) to halve the deficit.

However, the 2022 Next Gen ATP Finals runner-up Lehecka quickly shut down those hopes. He quietened the crowd with his aggressive play, outmanoeuvring Sousa to send the Czech Republic to the Davis Cup Finals for the second time.

Following his victory, the World No. 39 was mobbed by his teammates on court, before he embraced Sousa at the net. Lehecka now holds a 10-3 record on the year, having reached the quarter-finals at the Australian Open last month.

Insights provided by Tennis Data Innovations and TennisViz
One of the breakthrough stars of the early part of the season has been Jiri Lehecka. The 2022 Next Gen ATP Finals runner-up made a big impact Down Under when he battled to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open with wins over stars including Borna Coric, Cameron Norrie and Felix Auger-Aliassime.

How has he stepped up against top-tier competition? Power. Lots of power.

According to statistics courtesy of Tennis Data Innovations and TennisViz, the Czech star already has one of the biggest forehands in the world. Over the past 52 weeks, Lehecka’s average forehand speed has been 79.2 miles per hour with an average spin rate of 2,992 revolutions per minute. That is a daunting combination of speed and spin.

It puts Lehecka in the same neighbourhood as renowned ball-bashers Felix Auger-Aliassime (78.4mph and 3,178rpm), Andrey Rublev (78.2mph and 2,917rpm) and Jannik Sinner (77.8mph and 2,901rpm). The ATP Tour average for forehand speed and spin are 75.1 miles per hour and 2,713 revolutions per minute, respectively.

Forehand Analytics
Chart courtesy of Tennis Data Innovations and TennisViz, a joint venture between the ATP and ATP Media.
Tennis Data Innovations and TennisViz also produces a metric called ’Shot Quality’, which analyses each shot's speed, spin, depth, width and the impact it has on the opponent. Lehecka’s 52-week average on the forehand side is 8, and it has improved to 8.3 over his past 10 matches.

Over the past year, his Shot Quality mark has been in the same range as Auger-Aliassime (8.1), Rublev (7.9) and Sinner (7.9). The Tour average is 7.2.

“When I met Jiri first time, he surprised me with the humility. He was such a nice person,” Lehecka’s coach, Michal Navratil, told ATPTour.com. “And then of course it was immediately the strength and the power of his shots that were in him.”

What is scarier for the rest of the Tour is that the 21-year-old Lehecka is still harnessing his power, according to his coach. When they first began working together, Lehecka used a different racquet brand and his string tension was 24/23 kilograms.

The Official App Of Tennis | Download ATP WTA Live App

Lehecka has since experimented with different racquet and string setups to help control his game.

“He had a huge problems with the string,” Navratil said. “He was able to destroy the string in 10, 15 minutes. [It was] not even for the first ball change, so it was massive.”

The Czech has had his racquets strung increasingly tighter, helping to rein in his game.

“It’s funny. Last year was something extremely special,” Navratil said. “He was stringing last year in Australia 35/33. So in the beginning he was really like a beast with so much power. But finally he manages how to control it and everything. Still I think he cannot play on full percentage of his power because I think in this world there are not racquets he can go for full and he can control it.”

That has paid dividends in his rapid climb up the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. It was a year ago when he reached the Rotterdam semi-finals as a qualifier ranked No. 137. Now Lehecka, armed by one of the biggest forehands in the world, is No. 52 and climbing (career-high No. 37).

Lehecka begins his run at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open on Tuesday in Doha against qualifier Damir Dzumhur.

Czech into second tour-level semi-final
Jiri Lehecka earned the biggest win of his career by Pepperstone ATP Ranking Thursday at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, where he upset World No. 5 Andrey Rublev 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to reach his second tour-level semi-final.

The 21-year-old Czech entered the clash off the back of straight-set wins against Damir Dzumhur and Emil Ruusuvuori and he demonstrated his confidence levels in a heavy-hitting performance against the top seed.

Lehecka timed the ball cleanly off both wings, causing damage with his flat forehand to hit through a frustrated Rublev. He broke twice, sealing his victory after one hour and 41 minutes to improve to 1-1 in his ATP Head2Head series against Rublev.

"These past two months have been very great for me," Lehecka said in his on-court interview. "I was very looking forward to playing here in Doha on this beautfiul centre court, so I am very happy with the win and looking forward to tomorrow."


The Czech will aim to advance to his first tour-level final when he faces former World No. 1 Andy Murray or French qualifier Alexandre Muller on Friday. Lehecka, who is up eight spots to No. 44 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, reached the semi-finals in Rotterdam last year.

Lehecka ended his 2022 season in style when he reached the Next Gen ATP Finals title match in Milan. Using that victory as a springboard, he has made a fast start to 2023. The 21-year-old now holds an 11-3 record on the year, highlighted by his quarter-final run at the Australian Open, where he earned his first Top 10 win against Felix Auger-Aliassime.

The Official App Of Tennis | Download ATP WTA Live App

"I have improved everything," Lehecka said when refelcting on his progress. "Mostly my mentality on the court. I gained confidence from Next Gen and now I have learnt how to use it."

Rublev was aiming to continue his impressive record at the ATP 250 hard-court event, having reached the final in 2018 and won the title in 2020.

Former World No. 4 reflects on rise of fellow Czech
Jiri Lehecka began the 2022 season as the No. 141 player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. Little did the Czech know that 14 months later, he would be one of the most dangerous players on the ATP Tour.

Plenty of people have taken notice of the 21-year-old, who is into the world’s Top 50 after advancing to the Australian Open quarter-finals and the Doha semi-finals. One of those people is former World No. 4 Tomas Berdych, who spent a couple days with his countryman in Dubai.

“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,” Berdych told ATP Media in Dubai. “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.”

Watch Lehecka Train With Berdych:


Berdych even compared Lehecka to himself, calling his game and that of the 2022 Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals runner-up “very similar”. That is high praise from a man who earned 640 tour-level wins and 13 titles during his illustrious career.

“Even he mentioned it many times, so it’s nice to hear for me when somebody took a bit of that inspiration,” Berdcyh said. “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.”

The Official App Of Tennis | Download ATP WTA Live App

Berdych was returning home from vacation and decided to stop at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships to get a closer look at Lehecka. He is friends with Lehecka’s coach, Michal Navratil, so it was natural. Although Berdych sat in Lehecka’s box for his match against Alexander Zverev, there are no plans for collaboration at this time.

“I was always the guy going by the instinct and by the constant feeling at the moment, so we will see how things develop, how it goes,” Berdych said. “[There are] not any commitments put on the table yet, which I don’t think is necessary. His team is good, is strong. They’re doing well, they’re doing a good job, so just maybe in the right time, right moment, we will see.”

For now, the 37-year-old is happy to see a man from his country surging. For a long time, Berdych and Radek Stepanek carried the Czech flag near the top of the sport. Will Lehecka be next?

“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,” Berdych said. “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.”

Lehecka downs Rinderknech, Wu beats Munar
Jiri Lehecka earned his first ATP Masters 1000 win on Wednesday at the BNP Paribas Open with a battling performance against Arthur Rinderknech. The 21-year-old Czech scored a 7-6(4), 7-5 victory in his second appearance at the prestigious level, having qualified for Monte Carlo last season.

Sixth seed Andrey Rublev awaits in the second round for what will be the pair's third ATP Head2Head matchup. Both of their past meetings went three sets, with Rublev winning last April in Belgrade and Lehecka returning the favour last month in Doha.

The Official App Of Tennis | Download ATP WTA Live App

Against Rinderknech, Lehecka twice came back from a break down in the opening set before saving two set points on serve at 5-6. He never trailed in the tie-break and raced out to a 3-0 lead in set two, though his French opponent levelled the second at 4-4. Lehecka's fourth break of the match, on his seventh break point, sealed the win.

The World No. 47 Lehecka has backed up his runner-up finish to the Next Gen ATP Finals last November with a strong start to 2023, highlighted by a breakout run to the Australian Open quarter-finals. He also reached the semi-finals in Doha, losing a three-set thriller to Andy Murray after defeating Rublev one round earlier.

If he can get past Rublev again in Indian Wells, Lehecka would meet 25th seed Denis Shapovalov or Frenchman Ugo Humbert in the third round.