By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Tuesday, March 12, 202
Jiri Lehecka’s first trip to Tennis Paradise was so profound, he felt himself living “a small fairy tale.”
These days, Lehecka is controlling the narrative making Masters magic.
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Striking clean, commanding strikes, Lehecka dismissed Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2, 6-4 charging into his first career Masters 1000 quarterfinal in Indian Wells.
World No. 32 Lehecka beat Tsitsipas for the first time in three meetings, snapping the Greek’s 13-match winning streak against opponents ranked outside the Top 20.
What a difference a year makes.
Last year, Lehecka was thrilled just to be part of the draw.
This year, Lehecka has been a human wrecking ball knocking out No. 5 Andrey Rublev, 6-4, 6-4, in the third round before topping Tsitsipas today.
Lehecka is the first Czech to reach a Masters 1000 quarterfinal since Tomas Berdych at the 2017 Miami Open and first Czech to reach the last eight in the desert since Berdych in 2015.
“For me to come here, for example, last year it was, like, a dream, you know, it was my first time playing Indian Wells, first time seeing these amazing stages, you know, amazing fans,” Lehecka told the media in Indian Wells. “So I was a bit like, it was, for me, like a small fairy tale, I would say, being here. I was very happy that I made it to my first Masters last year.
“But we felt in the end of last season that the results on these big tournaments were not what we wanted, and that I had some chances to go further in the tournaments, to play better, and to beat some players, but I did not accomplish that.”
Enter Berdman.
Tomas Berdych joined Lehecka’s coach, Michal Navratil, in Indian Wells this month and his experience has helped the Adelaide champion navigate a tough draw.
“There is still many, there are still many moments where I’m, like, yeah, what is this, how do I feel, what should I do, how should I react, what kind of shots should I make or what I should not do,” Lehecka said. “And that’s one of the reasons why having Tomas here with me is very good, because he has much more experience than I have, and with his willingness to share it, it’s just great for me to have him here by my side and to have some support even from these kind of guys like him who’ve been through this all many times, and who knows how it works.”
Though Berdych retired from the Tour by the time Lehecka debuted in 2021, he grew up with coach Navratil and reconnected with his old…
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