UNITED CUP

January 3, 2026

Jiri Novak

Jakub Mensik

Dalibor Svrcina

Adam Pavlasek

Barbora Krejcikova

Linda Fruhvirtova

Miriam Skoch

Team Czechia

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Team Czechia, welcome to the 2026 United Cup. We would like to hear about your preparation for the tournament and your first time against Norway.

JIRI NOVAK: Hello, everybody. Thank you.

I think that all of us, we had very good preparation, because I think this competition is very popular. Myself, I had a chance to play the Hopman Cup many years ago, so I know how it works. It's still that we are representing our country. We are trying to be always in the good mood during the team competitions.

We are really looking forward to play on Monday against Norway and on Tuesday against Australia. I think all of the players had very good preparation. We are really looking forward to play the matches.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Barbora, in addition to your singles success, you've had success in women's doubles and mixed doubles. What do you think makes a good mixed doubles player as opposed to a men's or women's doubles player? What did you think of the US Open's mixed doubles experiment last year?

BARBORA KREJCIKOVA: First of all, I would like to start with in the way I'm happy that I can be here, happy that I'm healthy, that I can play some tennis. Really excited and looking forward for the competition.

Regarding the mixed doubles, I mean, for me, it's always been great to play mixed. I always enjoyed it very much. Also, this week I'm looking forward very much to play. I think it's always about the guy. No pressure, Jakub, on you (laughter). Yeah, that's my feeling.

What was the second question?

Q. The US Open mixed doubles.

BARBORA KREJCIKOVA: I think it was a really nice event. I think it was really interesting to see it. I mean, for me it was more kind of, yeah, an exhibition. Yeah, exhibition event for the fans, which I think was really good, especially before the tournament started.

But I'm very, in general, traditional. I liked it the old way.

Q. Jakub, you pulled out of the Next Gen Finals. How are you feeling physically? What are your goals for this year?

JAKUB MENSIK: I would start also as well with the thing that I'm healthy during the new year. Yeah, unfortunately I pulled out from the Next Gen. I didn't feel that well.

I mean, especially we finished the Davis Cup at the end of November. So pretty much super, super difficult to get proper off-season and pre-season before the new season.

Actually the fact that I start feeling bad before the Next Gen, unfortunately I needed to pull out. At least I had much more time to prepare for the whole season.

Basically I'm happy that I can be here healthy. Did really good pre-season in Spain in Tenerife. Already a few days here and feeling much more better.

Q. Jakub and Barbora, you're kicking off your Australian swing here with United Cup. What makes this tournament something that you want to start off your season with?

BARBORA KREJCIKOVA: Well, so for me, this is the first time. I mean, I always love to play for the team. I always love the team competition. I love to represent Czech Republic.

When I got this opportunity to be part of the team, to play this competition finally after a couple of years, I was really excited right away. As I already said, I'm really happy that I can be here, that I can represent this team.

I believe we have a good team. I hope we going to do well, and mostly we going to have a good time here.

Q. Adam, what are you looking to get out of this week in terms of preparation for the Australian Open? If you end up playing against J.P. Smith, your doubles partner, will that be a strange experience for you?

ADAM PAVLASEK: Hello, I mean, it's always strange experience playing against my partner. We're going to play together for the first time. We used to play together only one tournament two years ago. I'm looking forward.

I'm always happy to come back to Australia swing. I have some a good memories. As our captain said before, I used to play Hopman Cup also when I was younger. Not as young as Jakub. I'm getting older every single year. So I am just looking forward to just enjoy the time here with the team and trying to do our best as a player, also as a person in the team, and enjoy the time with the J.P. because we used to practice here a lot here in the last couple days.

I'm looking forward to sharing the stage with him and also the guys here, doing our best.

JAKUB MENSIK: Thank you for the opportunity to talk (smiling).

No, I mean, back to that question before... Yeah, like Barbora said, for me it's the first time, as well, playing United Cup. I heard a lot about it, about the event. Watching it in the past years, it looked really excited.

I'm super excited to be in the team. Of course, representing the country, it's the best what I can do in this sport. Actually it's big honor. Of course, I'm super excited for the next couple of days for our ties with Norway and Australia.

Yeah, basically in the team everyone knows each other pretty well, so it's a good vibe, good mood. Yeah, let's see. Let's kick it off on Monday.