Comment: The worst Czech grand slam in five years? Never mind, the new generation promises a crack

Fracture, surgery, long-term convalescence. A list of Czech tennis players this season would put on a pretty thick textbook for a sports physiotherapist. The public’s expectations before the Paris Grand Slam were thus unmatched.

Nevertheless, the tennis world was surprised when the last Czech representative Karolína Muchová dropped out in the third round of the French Open.

“With the elimination of Muchová, the Czech Republic no longer has a single single in the game. An unusually bad tournament for this colossus,” editor Ben Rothenberg, who writes for The New York Times, The Telegraph or Racquet magazine, remarked on Twitter.

And no wonder. Czech tennis last experienced such poor results less than five years ago at Wimbledon 2017. At that time, none of the Czechs made it to the third round. However, the bitter taste was made more pleasant by the fact that Karolína Plíšková became the new world number one despite her early dismissal from the London company.

Since then, at least one of the domestic players has always penetrated at least the eighth finals of the tournament, ie the phase in which the entire grand slam breaks into the second half and the successful ones are separated from the unsuccessful ones.

This year’s Paris ruined the incredibly long series. Markéta Vondroušová had to have wrist surgery before the grand slam, Karolína Plíšková was looking in vain for a wrestling rhythm after a broken arm, the carousel of injuries was constantly hampering Petra Kvitová’s form.

Until the last moment before leaving for France, Kateřina Siniaková and Barbora Krejčíková also treated the injuries. When it seemed that the elbow of last year’s triumph defender would withstand the match load, Krejčíková ran out of breath in the first round from the second set and then confirmed the coronavirus test at the hotel.

He also stopped another hope and probably the best Czech tennis player of the season, Maria Bouzková, who managed to claim only one win. When Muchová stumbled in a well-played battle of the third round, twisted her ankle and had to go through the match, there was no choice but for the Czech bad luck in Paris to smirk ironically.

At first glance, Czech tennis was hit by a series of unfortunate coincidences that even Master Murphy himself would not have invented. They would say “damn take a grand slam”. Unfortunately, it is not so easy.

The age of a teenager, the behavior of a professional

The truth is that the poor result from Paris will most likely result in not a single national tricolor in the top ten soon. And if one of the Czechs doesn’t start the engines quickly, maybe even in her twenties. For Wimbledon, points will only be deducted this year, so finalist Plíšková and eight-finalist Krejčíková will lose a proper package.

Yet everything is cause for optimism. Despite all the bizarre circumstances, the clay festival showed that Czech women’s tennis has a bright future. After all, nine girls peeked into the main stage of the junior grand slam, and three of them have already reached the quarterfinals.

Of course, it would be naive to measure the potential of the upcoming tennis generation only through the lens of results. In the past, many junior champions have not even made it to the top 50. But what is remarkable about these Czech girls is their behavior.

Even though they are still children and have the full right to have their hormones going through puberty, they are already behaving like professionals.

Although the Fruhvirt sisters did not make it far at the Paris stop, 17-year-old Linda dropped out in the adult qualifiers and 15-year-old Brenda failed unexpectedly in the first round of the junior, the experienced carousels still manage the carousel around the courts.

Thanks to the fact that the rich IMG agency is touring famous foreign academies and their interests are represented, they speak perfect English, they are not ashamed, they cut an interview in a foreign language on request and they do not even stutter.

Anyone who remembers Petra Kvitová’s first Wimbledon and her shy interview on camera must clearly see the difference and how far these teenagers are already ahead.

There is no star agency behind 17-year-old Linda Noskova who would be looking for free invitations to tournaments. On the other hand, she wants to prove something out of a hundred hunts. In the opening round, she almost shot down US Open champion Emma Raducanu. No waiting for the favorite to do, she went to play it herself. And if it weren’t for her own mistakes of youthful recklessness, she would certainly have succeeded.

No, these girls have a clear plan for what they want to accomplish. And if they manage to find a balance in how hard they train from an early age, not destroying their bodies and not losing their appetite for play, Paris 2022 will be just a small step on the otherwise magnificent Czech tennis history.