DAVIS CUP QULIFIERS 2ND ROUND: CZECHIA vs USA

September 13, 2025

Jiri Lehecka

Team Czechia

Press Conference

J. LEHECKA/T. Fritz

6-4, 3-6, 6-4

Team Czechia - 2

Team USA - 2

THE MODERATOR: Jiri, why don't you start taking us through the match and your thoughts tonight.

JIRI LEHECKA: Yeah, good evening, everyone.

Well, yeah, it's been a tough night, definitely. I mean, Taylor is a great competitor, and we played each other a couple of times and he always won.

It always been a tough battle, you know. We always play the tough matches, you know. So for me to get a win like that against a player like him, who is super experienced, very tough, very solid, is very special.

Yeah, I'm just glad that I fought through. Even for the fact that I was a break down in the first set, I still kept my mind sharp, and I still believed into my game. I still fought the way I fought.

Yeah, very happy with the match. Very physical match. Yeah. Great performance, in my opinion. But, yeah, hopefully Jakub can pull this off, yeah.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. What are you taking away from this win? And also the fact you got two points on the board for your country?

JIRI LEHECKA: Yeah, I think that I'm very happy about it, because, you know, to play in a Davis Cup tie, which is tough like this against a country which is one of the strongest in the world tennis-wise, and tennis, is good result. I never beaten Taylor before. So to get this win for me is super special and very important.

Yeah, for me, the most important thing is that I kept the consistency through both matches and that I was able to push myself beyond some limits in terms of physically pushing through, even though I was not feeling great this whole week.

You know, I was very tired after the US Open. I didn't really have time to recover well. We have a great team with us here, which is of course very helpful, but, you know, sometimes you just need some time, you know, to rest your body. I didn't really have that.

So, yeah, it was very mentally tough here this whole week here to push through the tiredness and to push through all the negative thoughts in terms of how I'm feeling, you know, how my body hurts.

But, yeah, I mean, that's something what people expect from me if you are No. 1 in your team, and I think that I delivered. Yeah, that's something I'm very proud of, yeah, about.

Q. Congratulations on taking two points. When we talked to you after you beat Frances, you talked about taking his legs out a little bit. Was that part of your strategy with Taylor today, knowing he may not have been 100%? Were you trying to keep him out there and wear him down?

JIRI LEHECKA: I'm not sure. I mean, I felt that he's playing very well. I don't know. I mean, he must know if he was 100% or not. I think that a player like him, he can push through whatever he's fighting with.

But I felt that he's very tough to beat, you know, and I didn't really feel big differences, if I compare this to our last matches on tour.

But I think that today from both sides, you know, I mean, me, I was not also feeling 100% all week. I was not sick, but basically the body was very tired. You know, I felt that my legs are not as sharp as I wanted.

So I felt that this match was very physical since the first point, from the first point, because the conditions, it was very humid, a late match.

Yeah, in terms of this, I was just focusing on myself. Mostly I was not thinking about him. I was focusing on myself to keep myself running, you know, to keep myself focused on what I'm supposed to do.

Yeah, I mean, it worked well, but my tactics were mostly on how to play, you know, and not to wear him down.

Q. Does this win against Taylor give you some good confidence going into the rest of the season and still be one of the top players when you're not feeling your best?

JIRI LEHECKA: Yeah, for sure. It's one of the most important wins in my career, I would say. For us, you know, Davis Cup is very special. It has a big tradition in our country back home. So we try to do our best.

We try to come here ready and to be able to produce our maximum. Unfortunately since the first day, Tomas Machac was not feeling himself, he was sick or something like that, so he was not able to practice well in first couple of days.

So since the first day we kind of knew that it would be me and Jakub who would play singles and who will really need to work our asses off out on the court.

Yeah, in these terms, I think it gives me good motivation for the rest of the season, because you don't beat a player like Taylor every day. It's great win.

Yeah, you're right, yeah. It's good.

Q. We have had a chance to talk to Captain Berdych over the last couple of days. He's very analytical, very thoughtful. Besides his legendary résumé and success, can you talk a little bit about how he helps you to succeed?

JIRI LEHECKA: I think that the biggest advantage we have with him as our captain is that he knows exactly how we feel, and that he exactly knows what we are going through and what we are playing on the court.

He was in the same situation so many times. That's something what I think is very, very important, because even when you are not feeling yourself on court, even when you are tired, you know, and everything, he knows how it is, you know, and he knows how you feel.

That's very important that there is not just someone who just say, Let's go, come on, let's try to fight. But there is someone who exactly knows, yeah, I know how he feels, and he can help us with some advices, you know.

For us, knowing that he knows how it feels to be there, to play, it's tough, you know, you're tired, crowd is against you, you are not feeling great, or you feel great, blah, blah, blah, so that's his biggest advantage. It's not that long time ago when he was playing, when he was there playing on the court as a player.

That's very important that he knows exactly, yeah. I mean, in today's match, he sat down to the bench, was very pissed about a few decisions I made on the court, and he just gave me the space, you know, to talk through it. He just gave me -- he was there for me, you know, and he knew how I feel.

So he was not trying to go against me. He was not trying to cheer me up or something. He just knew that I need to go through some emotions, and then he knew exactly when he needs to speak out and when he needs to tell me some advice, you know.

So I think that, you know, him being on the court is our biggest weapon and the fact that he knows how it is is also very important, together with the fact he's great tactician, very experienced in terms of basically everything what is happening on the court.

Yeah, that's it.