Lehecka: “If you play a match thinking about asking the opponent to give you something, why be there?”

On the face of it, it was a harmless situation, but it nevertheless caused quite a stir. After being beaten by Rafael Nadal in the third round of the Madrid Masters 1,000 on Monday, Pedro Cachin shook hands with the Spaniard and then asked him if he could have one of his shirts, a sign of his admiration for him and the pleasure he had taken in playing him.

Seen like that, it’s not enough to start a picket line. But some nonetheless saw in Cachin’s gesture of allegiance a correlation with his psychological collapse glimpsed a few minutes earlier on court. In all honesty, the Argentinian had a great chance of beating this much-maligned version of Nadal, who was as approximate in his movements as he was awkward in his moves; he failed to do so, probably, beyond his current lack of confidence, out of excessive respect for his prestigious opponent.

With Jiri Lehecka on Tuesday evening, there was none of that. The Czech, who had already warned the day before that he should consider himself the ‘favourite’ against a player ranked 512th in the world, confirmed his total lack of complexes on court. After a rather timid first round of observations, he happily got back into the swing of things to knock out the former world No 1 in two sets, despite Nadal playing a much more accomplished match than the day before.

I totally respect what Pedro did. It’s absolutely fine for me. I have zero problem with it. But for me I would not do such a thing.

Jiri Lehecka

The post-match ceremony paid tribute to Nadal, who made official what he had been hinting at for several months, namely that this Madrid appearance would be his last. In this festive context, Lehecka could also have asked the man with 14 French Open titles for a souvenir gift. But he didn’t, and explained that he hadn’t come onto the court intending to do so.

“I went on the court to win, you know,” Lehecka said. “When you go on the court and you go there for the win, then it’s tough for me to run after him and to ask him for some things, you know, if he can give me something.

“I don’t want to sound disrespectful…but if you are playing a match and you are thinking about asking the guy to give you something, then, I mean, why you are there? It’s kind of weird, in my opinion. everyone can have his own opinion on this thing. I totally respect what Pedro did. It’s absolutely fine for me. I have zero problem with it. But for me I would not do such a thing.

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