Jiri Lehecka has moved into the top 50 of the ATP Tour Ranking after reaching the quarter finals at the Australian Open and the semifinals in Doha.
Lehecka started the 2022 season as the world number 141 and broke the top 100 in February 2022 after reaching the semifinal in Rotterdam. He beat Dominic Stricker in the semifinal before finishing runner-up to Brandon Nakashima in the title match of the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan last November a few days after celebrating his 21st birthday.
Lehecka reached the top 50 in January 2023, peaking at a career-high world number 39. The Czech player has a record of 11 wins to 4 losses this year.
Lehecka started the 2023 season at the top-ranked Czech male player at the inaugural edition of last January’s United Cup, where he lost to Taylor Fritz but he beat Alexander Zverev.
Lehecka beat Cameron Norrie taking his revenge after he was beaten by the British player in Auckland the previous week. Lehecka scored his first top 10 win against world number 7 Felix Auger Aliassime to reach his first Grand Slam quarter final at the 2023 Australian Open.
At this year’s edition of the ATP tournament in Doha Lehecka recorded his first top 5 win against Andrey Rublev in three sets in the quarter final before losing to Andy Murray again in three sets in the semifinal.
Former Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych, who spent a couple of days with Lehecka in Dubai last week after returning home from vacation, praised Lehecka and predicts a bright future for his compatriot. Berdych is a good friend of Michal Navratil, who coaches Lehecka.
“He is very young, but what I have seen, it’s really the way he is composed with game. I think he is very good. What I like is his fitness preparation or his body being strong and some of the young kids, they might struggle with it. They need more muscles or lack power. That’s definitely not his case, which I like”, said Berdych.
Berdych called his game and and that of Lehecka as very similar. Lehecka admired Berdych and Radek Stepanek, when he started playing tennis.
“Even he mentioned it many times, so it’s nice to hear for me when somebody took a but of that inspiration. It’s funny to hear, he was 10,11 when we won the Davis Cup, so he was really a kid and we were really doing really well. You already start to see differencies in ages, but, other than that, I think he has a bright future ahead of him”, said Berdych.
Berdych sat in Lehecka’s box during the match between the young Czech player and Alexander Zverev in Dubai, but he is not planning a contribution in his coaching team in the near future.
“I was always the guy going by the instinct and by the constant feeling at the moment, so we will see how things develop, how it goes. There are not yet commitments put on the table yet, which I don’t think is necessary. His team is good, is strong. They are doing a good job, so just maybe in the right moment, we will see”.
Berdych hopes that Lehecka will continue the proud tradition of Czech tennis. “I think following a bit of a slow period after me and Radek Stepanek, we stopped and we left the stage to the other guys. I think he is definitely the one that should carry the flag and go forward. That’s one of the reasons why I went to Dubai. I just want to stop by and see him personally, closely. We will see how things develop, how things go. Good stuff”, said Berdych.
