It’s very simple. Jiri Lehecka beats Frances Tiafoe 6-4, 7-6(4) in the quarter-finals of the ATP 250 in Stuttgart. He wins the second-set tie-break, gives his interview, goes back to the dressing room. And there, from the other end of the room, he hears a phrase I won’t repeat, twice in a row. Then both of them burst out laughing.
Lehecka told the ATP website: “It’s actually a really funny story, because we played at an incredible level.” He adds: “In those moments, you see how relaxed we really are.”
I said it back in January. The dressing room is where everything is decided, you know. Not on court. Me, in Kitzbühel, in ’92, against a future top 10 player, I lost in three sets. Or two, the context was different. In the dressing room he looked at me and said a word. German, I think. We laughed. Well, I laughed, he was getting changed. But the spirit was there.
Afterwards, according to Lehecka, they talked about the match: how it went, what they did well, what they did badly, and how the fans had cheered them on. A debrief between pundits, basically. Nobody called me.
Lehecka thinks it was one of the best matches he has played. I don’t deny it, but a 7-6 in the second, at my club we call that a tight match, not a masterpiece. Careful, I’m not saying the opposite of what I said. I’m clarifying: it was very good. In ninety per cent of cases, and I’m being kind, a match like that ends in insults. He got laughter on top.
Silly question, but if this is what they say when they get on well, what do they say when they fall out?
Since then, Lehecka has knocked out Stan Wawrinka in the first round of the ATP 500 in Basel. We’re still waiting for his account of the Basel dressing room. Me, I’m available.
It’s true, we checked: We Love Tennis.
