“He’s 600 in the world, so I should be the favourite,” laughs Lehecka before facing Nadal in Madrid

Jiri Lehecka swears he’s not scared. At 22, he will enter the Manolo Santana stadium on Tuesday to face the greatest claycourt player of all time, who’s playing at home with the entire crowd behind him. But that’s fine. The young Czech is focused on one thing: not letting the fear in. And so he prefers to laugh about the whole thing: “He’s 600 in the world so I should be the favourite,” he said.

Well, Nadal is actually already close to 300 in the live rankings, but sure, it should be no match on paper to Lehecka’s ranking of No 31. At least, until we remember Rafael Nadal sent Alex de Minaur packing, despite the Australian being No 11. No, Lehecka knows perfectly well what’s waiting for him on Tuesday night but he’s not going to spend his time thinking about how his next rival is a legend because that’s the surest way to get dispatched.

“If I’d go on court scared about what is happening, then I don’t really need to go there,” he said. “This is something I’m trying to get away from my mind. But we know it’s Rafa and it’s clay… I also know I do have the level to play very good tennis this week, and these conditions are one of the worst for his claycourt tennis. I’ll go on the court like I’m going to win and I will try to show my best tennis.”

paging berdych

And he has some weapons to show with his huge serve and his easy power and strong tempo from the baseline. Nadal might even get flashbacks from Tomas Berdych while facing Lehecka’s forehand. It would be logical as Michal Navratil, who is the Czech’s main coach, is also the man who worked with Berdych.

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Full circle moment? Berdych is Lehecka’s second coach, but he will not be in the box on Tuesday as he’ll resume his on-site duty in the grass season. Still, Lehecka keeps in touch with him after each match and counts on his help to prep for Nadal. “He had some good results on clay and here, especially on that blue clay, and he will for sure have something to say about the way I should play against him. We’re in touch.”

Berdych did indeed beat Nadal in Madrid, but it was in 2006 when the tournament was played on indoor hard. And Nadal leads 20-4 in their battles. Still, having faced Nadal 24 times in his career, Berdych knows that lefty paw by heart and that should help Lehecka avoid some rookie mistakes.

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What could also help him is that he trained with Nadal last week and so will not need a few games to adjust to the infamous forehand. “When we practiced, it was windy, a smaller court… We were both trying to find our rhythm again. And it was just practice so it’s totally different. With Rafa, it’s a big difference between practice and when he gets the big court with all the fans supporting him. But definitely, he has improved his game since.”

Lehecka also hopes that the confidence he has gained since the start of the year will be enough to fight Nadal and the nerves that will for sure go with it. He won his first title in Adelaide, then found his form again in Dubai and Indian Wells where he reached the quarter-finals. OK, he’s playing his first event of the year on clay, but he’s been very impressive so far here in Madrid.

“Rafa on clay is one of the biggest challenges in tennis”

“I had a very good start of the season, even if I didn’t play the way I wanted to at the Australian Open (lost in the second round),” he said. “After that, I found my form back in Dubai, then continued with a great result in Indian Wells but I got injured (back) in Miami. I needed to skip the first weeks on clay, Monte-Carlo, and Barcelona, so this is my first claycourt tournament of the year and I’m very happy that I’m back with the level I had in Indian Wells. It’s good for me to see I can bring that level also on clay.”

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What does he expect against Nadal? Sure, he wasn’t there when Rafa was destroying everybody on that surface and so doesn’t wear the scars that go with it. Yet he knows the status of the myth. “It will be a great honour and a great experience for me,” he said. “We all know Rafa on clay is one of the biggest challenges in tennis. Even if he’s not having the best season, I saw his level against De Minaur and it made me want to say that his tennis was back. He proved he could play great tennis again. It will be a great challenge for me and I’ll be very happy to share the court with him.”

Lehecka has two main goals for his 2024 season: “To win my first title – I made it in the first week of the year – and to finish the year in the Top 20.” He also hopes to get more steady results in the Masters 1000 and the ATP 500: “I’m on a good path with all of this.”

True, and now that path collides with the idol of the game who’s playing for the last time in Madrid. A now-or-never kind of deal for the Czech and, for now, he seems to enjoy the idea.

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