The captain of the Czech tennis players, Jaroslav Navrátil, assessed Wednesday’s failure in the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup as an honorable defeat, but also a great loss.
The Czechs did not finish the well-played duel with Australia, they lost 1:2 on the hard surface in Málaga and lost the chance to advance to the semi-finals, where they would have met Finland. However, the experienced captain was proud of the player in an interview with journalists and would like to strengthen the team with a second player in the future.
“It’s a hard loss, but it was an honor. The boys performed as well as they did during the previous phase in Valencia. However, we played against a very high-quality opponent. It was very close, but in the end we lost,” said Navrátil.
The Czechs took the lead after the opening singles match over last year’s finalists. The first point was secured by Tomáš Macháč, who defeated Jordan Thompson 6:4, 7:5. “Even though Tomas was tired because he had antibiotics before and his legs weren’t quite ideal, he made a very important point. We had the Australians under a bit of pressure,” said the 66-year-old captain.
The thirty-first player in the world, Leheček, could have sealed the Czech advance, but he lost to Alex de Minaur 6:4, 6:7, 5:7 in the team’s singles match.
“Jirka played the best match since the US Open. There were also mistakes, but the match developed well,” Navrátil described. However, he regretted the situation when Leheček did not serve in the second set of the match and did not use three break points in the third set at 3:2. “In the end, De Minaur served well,” said Navrátil.
The native of Přerov then put Lehečka in the final doubles match with Pavlásek. Australians Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell already dominated it. Last year’s Wimbledon winners defeated the Czech pair 6:4, 7:5.
“The Australians were more active from the start and served excellently. They were more dribbling than our boys. Jirko, as a singles player, also missed a return. It was probably fatigue, but Adam returned much better. We didn’t get to any break points. Even though the result doesn’t look so bad, the Australians were better from the first to the last ball and they deservedly won the doubles,” added Navrátil.
The captain also considered keeping the initially reported Jakub Menšík in the nomination. But it was decided when Lehečka assured Navrátil that he was ready even after a more than two and a half hour match with De Minaur.
“I saw him here all week and thought he would return well and help Adam. After the battle, everyone is a general, but Jirka was bad on the return. It just didn’t work out,” said Navrátil. “Kuba is otherwise very confident, and if he improves even more, I am open to Macháč and Lehečka playing singles and Pavlásek and Menšík doubles in the future,” said Navrátil.
Lehečka admitted that it was more difficult for him to adapt to the doubles game.
“Physically, I felt pretty good and I was able to kick. But from my side, it wasn’t what we needed. I had the most important balls trained as I should play them in singles, which means through the middle. he can’t play doubles and it was one of the key factors. I wasn’t able to match Adam in that doubles quality. I left everything there, I tried, but I was the worst on the court,” noted Lehečka.
The long-time captain would like to nominate five players in the future, for example Dalibor Svrčina or Vít Kopřiva. But he would prefer to find another deblist. “I’m counting on Kopřiva and Svrčina in the future – I’ll definitely want to take five players. And it’s even more important for me to find another deblist,” said Navrátil, hoping for example to move Andrew Paulson or Petr Nouza.
He was proud of the current team, which made it to the knockout stage for the first time in the new Davis Cup format and was aiming for a first semi-final since 2014. “I think the team has moved a lot. The guys have done a lot of work in a year and a half. Moreover, they are young and I think they have a lot ahead of them. Even every loss teaches you a little bit. The quarter-finals is a success, but it’s also a shame. I think that with the quality we have and the way the boys presented themselves here, we could go to the final,” added Navrátil.
