Absolutely Tennis: Czech Renaissance or Just a Flash in the Pan?
Once upon a time, in a land near and far, where tennis balls fly like Cupid’s arrows, we’ve witnessed a revival of Czech men’s tennis. And no, we’re not just talking about more people attending the local pub after matches. Karolína Muchová has strutted her stuff on court, and let’s just say she’s party planning for a Grand Slam win while everyone else is still figuring out how to hold a racket without falling over.
I mean, come on! This woman is the best player on the WTA circuit yet to snag a Grand Slam. She powered through the 1000 tournament in Beijing like it was a Sunday stroll while knocking out fierce competitors like Aryna Sabalenkova and Olympic champ Cheng Chin-wen. She played some jaw-dropping attacking tennis. She wasn’t just hitting; she was painting masterpieces on a canvass of green!
However, there’s a caveat to her dazzling performance. In the finals, facing off against Gauff, her fight was more akin to a cat with a laser pointer—sort of there, but mostly confused. Meanwhile, just a week later in Wuhan, Gauff turned into a mere pastry chef, losing her serve faster than my last relationship. Here’s hoping Muchová takes that as a cue for next time!
Meanwhile, in the Darwinian arena that is the Shanghai tournament, Tomáš Macháč straight-up grabbed a scalp! And I’m not talking about a Halloween costume. He beat none other than the glittering Carlos Alcaraz, the winner of this year’s Roland Garros and Wimbledon. That, my friends, is to tennis what finding a fiver in your pocket is after a month of bank-breaking bills!
But let’s not forget Jakub Menšík who, at just 19 years of age, is mixing it up with top 10 talents like it’s part of his morning routine. He’s like the espresso shot of Czech tennis; a brimming cup of energy waiting to be savored. The lad even took down Rubljov—twice! For that, I’m willing to crown him the next Ivan Lendl! Assuming he doesn’t take a detour to a parallel universe of mediocre tennis.
Our Czech trio of Macháč, Menšík, and Jiří Lehečka might just be on their way to the top, provided they remember to work hard and stretch—because, let’s face it, no one wants a repeat of Lehečka’s back injury saga!
Ah, but we must tiptoe around the elephant in the locker room: the doping controversy swirling around current world number one Jannik Sinner. This chap is playing mental chess at the tender age of (drumroll please…!) twenty! With a 20-3 record in tie-breakers, he’s like a brick wall with a killer instinct. Yet, the world of tennis is holding its collective breath as WADA kicks up a fuss about a doping allegation. Because nothing says “I love tennis” like a sprinkle of scandal!
And let’s not forget the emotional farewell of the King of Clay, Rafael Nadal—a poetic tribute to a player whose left-handed play turned the game upside down. I mean, his uncle Toni taught him to play that way because hardly anyone else did. That’s strategy right there, folks! Now, if only they taught me how to win at lasagna after all the burnt attempts in my kitchen.
In closing, tennis isn’t just about hitting balls over a net—it’s about dreams, rivalries, and the occasional existential crisis brought about by a close tie-break. As we watch the grounds of our Czech players solidify, let’s hope they don’t just stop at a great showing, but instead go on to etch their names into the history books. Who knows? You might just find a new chapter entitled “The Rise of the Czech Titans” among the legends of tennis. Just remember: it’s always fun to aim for the stars, but keep your feet clear of the net!
This year’s Asian tournaments confirmed the renaissance of Czech men’s tennis and Karolína Muchová, who I consider to be the best player on the WTA circuit who has not yet won a Grand Slam. She played the 1000 in Beijing even better than the US Open, where she was in the semifinals. On the way to the final, she managed to knock out not only the best tennis player on hard surfaces in China, Aryna Sabalenkova, but also the Olympic champion Cheng Chin-wen.
Muchová played very attacking tennis with excellent volleys and a great variability of shots, it was great to watch. It’s a pity that she didn’t fight more against Gauff in the final, because I saw a week later in Wuhan, how the American completely lost her serve after losing the set.
The tournament in Shanghai was a great success for our players. Tomáš Macháč received the scalp of this year’s Roland Garros and Wimbledon winner Carlos Alcaraz here. Jakub Menšík beat two players from the top 10, the Russian Rubljov for the second time this year, which is very valuable.
Our trio with Macháč, Menšík and Jiří Lehečka, and now I’m going to be brave, I’m betting on the top 10! Macháč and Lehečka play in a similar style to current world number one Jannik Sinner, only they should go to the net more than the Italian from Tyrol. Macháč is our Alcaraz. He is decorated with excellent movement, killer instinct and also has a good transition to the net.
The rivalry between the Czech boys for the path to the top of the world is very healthy. Just to maintain good relations for the future…
Only 19 years old, Menšík is playing as well at his age as our best player in history Ivan Lendl did when he was a teenager. He has a long way to go, a lot of hard work, but he’s up to it! Lendl’s bar is set very high. At the age of twenty, he was already the head of the Davis Cup team that won the trophy in 1980. At the age of twenty-three, he was also world number one and won eight Grand Slams. Despite his undisputed talent, Menšík has all the conditions for a successful career.
If our three musketeers are to get to the top, they need endurance, a desire to work on their game and, above all, to be healthy. At the same time, Lehečka was out of action for several months this year due to a back injury… Another condition is to surround yourself with experts, but I feel that all three are well taken care of and the implementation teams have a lot of credit for their success.
This year, the sovereign Sinner, in addition to excellent hitting, mainly demonstrates mental resilience. He is 20-3 in tie breaks, which is amazing. This year’s winner of two Grand Slams and a total of 7 tournaments, however, faces difficult times when the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) does not agree with a mild sentence from the ATP for a doping finding. Compared to the past, however, the publication is already a big step forward, because positive findings in the world number one were hidden in the past, which was confirmed by André Agassi in his autobiography Open.
A ban would not only harm Sinner, but the whole of tennis. He is a role model for many players and it would be a disaster. It will be a very difficult decision. Look how, for example, Simona Halepova, the former number one, searches in vain for a way back after a forced break.
But from a different perspective: One of the best players of all time, Rafael Nadal, at the age of 38, announced the end of an incredible career when he struggled with health problems for the last two years. He chose the Davis Cup in Malaga for his farewell. 20 years ago, in the final of the team competition in Seville, he contributed to the 3:2 final win over the USA as an eighteen-year-old. And the next year he immediately won the French Open for the first time.
A key role was played by Nadal’s uncle Toni, who discovered that very few left-handed players play on the circuit and taught the right-handed Rafa to play left-handed… This contributed to the unsurpassed record of 14 triumphs in the Paris Grand Slam, which Nadal made his living room.
