“It was a quality match. It’s just a shame that there were some mistakes. I also had to improvise because I was getting cramps. I went for a lot of volleys, played service volleys and used shorthand, which was a good change. It’s a big shame about break points at 4:3 in the fourth set. Who knows what the fifth would look like. Maybe I would have completely collapsed with convulsions there,” said Macháč.
The difficulties of the Czech tennis player were limited from the end of the third set, when he dropped the racket from his hand during the return at 1:4. “For a while I couldn’t get it loose at all and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to hold the racquet. I was trying to pull myself together and I was drinking a lot. I got to the point where I could play but I couldn’t take the long swings. So I shortened them ,” he explained.
The 108th player in the world also caught a similar cramp in the February duel with Novak Djokovic in Dubai. “I have to deal with it because it happened to me for the second time. I didn’t deal with it the first time, but now I will work on it,” he said.
Despite the difficulties, he impressed the British audience with attractive tennis. He cheered several times from the crowd, which was otherwise rooting for Norrie. “I enjoyed it. I played very good and entertaining tennis. I even managed to play a fish and the ball returned to my half. It was two in one,” smiled Macháč.
“I have to say that even though I played with a home player, the audience was very fair. Of course they cheered more for him, which is logical, but I was very surprised by the way the audience behaved. Big hats off to them,” he added.
He called the spectacular shot at the beginning of the fourth set one of the best in his career. “I don’t think I’ve played anything like that before. I’ve managed to get the ball back over the net a few times. But this was a hard ball, it was throwing me into the cross country, I was waiting for the line and at the last minute I had to jump because I wasn’t there “, he described.
Atmosphere? Everything came together
He was also the only Czech who took to the courts on Tuesday. And that’s thanks to the fact that he played in a stadium with a retractable roof. “Everything came together. I play good tennis on grass, it was a tough draw and it was raining, so there were no spectators on the other courts. I was playing against the home Englishman. Just the fact that when we went on court and the spectators started chanting, it was clear , that some nervousness will come. But she left from a 2:2 score. That’s normal. Even Novak Djokovic said that he is sometimes nervous,” said Macháč.
However, the loss complicated his plans after all. He set himself a plan to reach at least the 3rd round at Wimbledon. Instead, he finished first in a row for the third time. “The motivation was to hit the bottom and take time off. We’ll see, I’ll discuss it with the team. I plan to go to a tournament in Romania. I’m playing for the main event at the US Open and I wouldn’t have to play the qualifier. Last chance for points, to get closer to 100, but I’m there,” added Macháč.
