DAVIS CUP MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 11, 2025

Tomas Berdych

Jiri Lehecka

Jakub Mensik

Tomas Machac

Petr Brunclik

Adam Pavlasek

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the press conference.

CAPTAIN TOMAS BERDYCH: Good days for the team, spending time on the court and off the court. I'm definitely happy to have this opportunity to enjoy everything with the guys and getting to know them.

Hoping to be strong on Friday and Saturday.

Q. What do you think of the draw and the way Tiafoe is starting off?

CAPTAIN TOMAS BERDYCH: Well, I mean, that's the first time we saw it. We're just going to get ready for that. We are going to prepare the best with my guys.

In terms of the matches, who is starting, I think it went the way it wanted. I'm satisfied with the draw.

Q. Tomas, yesterday you talked about the U.S. team being favored. I believe those were your words. Looking at a very, very strong team here, how are you feeling going into this tie?

CAPTAIN TOMAS BERDYCH: Yeah, I mean, feeling great. I mean, we had a great week. We are all ready, prepared for the tie, and I think that's the most important to start with. So, yes, I have a strong team, as you said, looking around me with the guys.

But still, nothing change for the weekend. We are facing the extremely tough team, and that's it. We just gonna try to do our best, and, you know, try to make the three points.

Q. Jakub, can you talk about your match with Taylor at the Miami Open? Exciting semifinal win, one of the biggest wins of your life. Could you talk about that match and how much confidence that gives you playing Taylor again tomorrow?

JAKUB MENSIK: Yeah, obviously Miami, when we played there, obviously you can see on the result that it was, like, I believe three tiebreaks, you know, with huge serves.

And everything, I mean, here it's pretty much more slower than in Miami. It's going to be exciting to (indiscernible) return there. I feel pretty confident about it, because his game style is kind of game that I like. I believe that I can help the team with this win.

Q. Jiri, how are you feeling going from your run at US Open to Davis Cup? Are you feeling good?

JIRI LEHECKA: Yeah, of course the run at US Open has been great result for me. I was very satisfied with the two weeks there.

Of course, you know, like playing that amount of matches in a Grand Slam, you know, best-of-five, definitely takes something away from you, a bit of energy, but right after, I kind of had decent time to recover and to rest.

For me, the most important thing, you know, was that I was just trying to do everything I could to come here prepared. And even that I didn't really feel myself in the first few days, I found my rhythm, and hour by hour, I just worked through the conditions to feel how I wanted to feel.

So that's the most important thing for me that I kind of find the confidence on this court and with these conditions, because these conditions are not easy for everyone, but it would be same for both sides.

Yeah, I think that I did everything I was supposed to do. I think that me and the team around us, we kind of worked pretty hard to achieve the feeling which I wanted.

Yeah, I mean, I'm going into the match with a clear mind, you know, that I did everything I could. Definitely it's going to be great matchup, and we will see how it goes. But I did everything I could, so we will see how it goes on the court.

Q. (Question about playing with more confidence.)

JIRI LEHECKA: Yeah, definitely we are thinking about feeling more confident, but at the same time, this is Davis Cup, you know, and this competition is always a little bit different in terms of everything, you know. The rankings are kind of together, and the differences are not that big, because it's just something different.

I think that these matches are going to be extremely difficult for both sides for us, and also for the American guys, because these conditions here are absolutely different from what we have been playing through in the last month in the North American tour.

So yeah, I'm very happy with the whole, let's say, hard-court month, which is behind us. I'm happy with the wins I gained. But at the same time, I came here humble, you know, and ready to prepare on what's in front of me, and that's the approach I want to keep also for every tournament and all the future matches.

Q. Frances mentioned having a wild match with you. How do you feel about facing him again?

JIRI LEHECKA: Yeah, I mean, Frances, it's not easy, you know, because he's the kind of player who can play basically every shot. You know, he knows how to play everything.

He can move well, he can do basically everything he wants. We played very, very difficult match last year in Cincinnati where he won in the final-set tiebreak. I think that conditions over there were pretty similar to what probably we gonna have here.

Yeah, the match is going to be very tough, but I think that I did good job here in all the possible ways in preparing physically and also mentally for what's going to happen.

But, yeah, he's great competitor. He loves to play on home soil. There will be no easy match in this tie I think for each one of us, but as I said, I mean, it's been good two matches, and also I'm a little bit different player than I was a year ago when I was coming back from a back injury.

Yeah, we gonna see how it goes, and definitely I think that I have the game to win, yeah.

Q. Tomas, the format has changed in Davis Cup from when you were playing. Can you talk about pros and cons of the old format, the home and away, best-of-five, versus the pros and cons of the new format, best-two-out-of-three.

CAPTAIN TOMAS BERDYCH: It's two completely different competitions. We could be talking a lot within that, so I don't think it's necessary to do it here.

But here we are. We are playing in two days with just best-of-three sets, but with these conditions and with this situation that it's here, what the American team prepared for us, it could be very difficult one. Depends how and when we finish on Friday, how we have to do it, and what we have to do and when to come on Saturday.

Yeah, I think it's a lot of unknowns, which I don't think it's good at all for the players. I think that tennis should be moving forward to the direction that at least the players know when they are playing, which is not happening much, especially with this one here.

So that's the situation, but anyway, we are ready for it, and we will try to do our best.

Q. For Tomas and Adam. You guys potentially play a very vital role in this tie, doubles point, playing a seasoned team with Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek. What are your thoughts going into that match?

ADAM PAVLASEK: Hello. Well, we just played them last year in Olympics. They destroyed us. And as the guys said, especially here is completely different conditions. Last year we played on clay.

Also, they spend a lot of time together, so they know each other very well. Also, with Tomas, we played also a lot of matches together, so we know each other pretty well.

Still, it's a different competition. Last year it was Olympics, and now is team competition, Davis Cup. Captain decides after the Friday if we gonna play together or one of some other, so there's still a lot of questions to ask.

Q. Tomas, any thoughts on that?

TOMAS MACHAC: Yeah, I think doubles, so we try to play our best and see what's going to happen.