Jiri Lehecka: Golf, Scottie Scheffler's mentality & facing Carlos Alcaraz

ATP Tour

Jiri Lehecka: Golf, Scottie Scheffler's mentality & facing Carlos Alcaraz

Exclusive insight from Lehecka and coach Michal Navratil

Jiri Lehecka and Corinne Dubreuil Jiri Lehecka has played golf when time has allowed over the past year. By Andrew Eichenholz

Throughout the season, Carlos Alcaraz has made clear how much he enjoys golf. At the US Open, the Spaniard has even tied a bow on his victories by shadowing his golf swing.

But he is far from the only ATP Tour star interested in the sport. In fact his quarter-final opponent, Jiri Lehecka, has taken to golf in the past year.

“It's very important for players to have something outside of the tennis court and outside of the the environment,” Lehecka told ATPTour.com. “So me, when I have a chance, I like to go to play golf. Many players like that. It's fun, you are in cool nature, the courses are nice.”

When Lehecka is back home and has a free afternoon, he will put on Golf Channel and check out the action. The Czech is a fan of Bryson DeChambeau and was “very happy” when Rory McIlroy won The Masters. His game might not measure up to the most experienced golfers among his fellow tennis players, though.

“I'm very, very bad. For me, the biggest challenge still is to have the ball flying straight, so that's something I'm focusing on right now,” Lehecka said. “But the same way as in tennis, I like the way how I feel in myself that I'm improving in some things, and I don't really need to be very emotional about it because it's just fun and I'm not a pro in that sport. It's relaxing and at the same time, some extra motivation and I like to watch it on TV.”

One day Lehecka was scrolling Instagram when he saw a recent press conference answer Scheffler gave in which the American discussed what fulfills him most completely. Winning means a lot to him because of all he has put into becoming as good as he is at the sport. But ultimately, Scheffler is more fulfilled by supporting his family than lifting trophies.

“It’s such an interesting thing to hear. And I think that he is right because he's in the [prime] of his career where he has a child already. He sees most probably the career and the sport by itself a little bit differently,” Lehecka said. “I think that also that’s something that resonates with me pretty well when I'm on the court, I’m playing and I'm not doing well. It happens sometimes.

“It's just something that I'm trying to repeat to myself: that it’s just a sport. It's not the end of the world if something is not going in the right direction.”

At the same time, Lehecka believes this does not only apply to when things are not going well. It is a consistent mindset he would like to maintain.

“When I'm playing very, very well and I'm winning matches, I'm trying to say these things towards myself as well,” Lehecka said. “In the end, it's just something that we all do. It’s something that we all love, that's for sure. But there are more important things than sport in the world. I think that’s something we will all agree on, and I like that he said it out loud.”

An important part of his life is his girlfriend, Lucie Neumannova, who played tennis growing up and is now a track athlete, who often pushes Lehecka to stay on top of his sleep and recovery.

“She knows everything about the sport and at the same time, as she moved to track right after, it's such an inspiration to see the other approaches to different sports,” Lehecka said. “And to see that she can also understand what it really takes to work hard, to go to sleep early. So sometimes it's funny that she kind of pushes me towards doing things better than I'm doing.”

On the court, Lehecka is preparing for his second major quarter-final after advancing to the last eight at the 2023 Australian Open, when he was the No. 71 player in the PIF ATP Rankings. According to his longtime coach, Michal Navratil, the Czech, at a career-high World No. 21, has improved not only physically since that run.

“Jiri was always the guy who had solid technique, I would say. Nice strikes. The power was always in him,” Navratil said. “But we were struggling mostly with mental power or maybe not even mental, but experience.”

Lehecka will need to use everything he has learned when he faces 2022 champion Alcaraz on Tuesday. Alcaraz leads Lehecka 2-1 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series, but the 23-year-old Czech will take confidence from his victory against the Spaniard earlier this year in Doha.

“Jiri is dangerous and these matches that of course he already played with Carlos can help him for the match,” said Navratil, who added that the more Lehecka competes against the best players, he is not as fearful when playing them.

“This is also the most important thing, because when you have a big respect, then of course, it's hard to manage it. But if you understand these guys are playable and you can do it, then it's easier, because, [as] I've been trying to explain him, everybody's beatable.”

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