First-time Winner Spotlight: Jiri Lehecka

Jiri Lehecka notched an early success in his 2024 season by winning his first ATP Tour title at the Adelaide International.

The 22-year-old, who will rise to a career-high No. 23 in Monday's Pepperstone ATP Rankings, is the first Czech titlist since Jiri Vesely won Pune in 2020. A quarter-finalist at last year's Australian Open, Lehecka will next aim at maintaining his form for another strong run at the season's first major. After triumphing in Adelaide, Lehecka caught up with ATPTour.com to discuss his biggest career title and what he is like off court.

What does it mean to you to win your first ATP Tour title?
It means a lot to me. After a tough loss at Winston-Salem last year in the final where I really played a bad match, I wanted to make that first title happen. It was one of my goals to win a title in 2024 and I’m happy to make it a reality in the first week. I’m super excited about the future events.

How will you celebrate?
I don’t think there will be much time to celebrate. We have a flight tonight to Melbourne and tomorrow we are going to practice there. We will sit down after the whole Australian swing and speak about it more.

Take a moment to acknowledge some of the key figures in your life and career who have helped you reach this milestone.
It’s one big process. I have a very experienced team around myself, they know what they are doing. Michal [Navratil] for five years has been here with me, helping me with everything he could. Also now Tomas [Berdych], who came into the team last year. My fitness coach [Radek Stepanek], who has been with me for seven years. It’s a big process and of course we are aiming for even more than this.

How would you describe yourself on-court versus off-court?
I think off court I’m trying to be relaxed, have some fun. Watch some movies, spend time with friends and family, that’s something that helps me a lot to focus again and relax. But of course on court, there is no time for this, you just need to be like a lion, go for every ball and fight every moment and have no mercy.

Do you have any pre-match routines you follow to keep you relaxed?
I don’t really have a specific routine. I just speak to my coach about the match, speaking about tactics and how he would like me to play and how I feel about playing the match. That is something we are trying to focus on before every match.

What do you consider to be your biggest passion outside of tennis?
I love cars. Everything that has four wheels and more than 500 horsepower, that’s something for me.

You have said previously that if you were not a tennis player, you would go to business school. Is there anything specific you would want to learn?
I don’t really think that there is. That’s not really any passion, but I don’t really know anybody from my whole family who hasn’t gone to college so I think that would be my fate as well if I wasn’t a tennis player but who knows.

We know you enjoy hiking, cycling and skiing too. How do you think these multi-sports help you with your tennis?
Yeah, hiking is one of my passions. It’s a great way to relax and work out at the same time. I love to walk around, hike, see some big spots. There is not much time for it, so every time I have a chance just to go on a bike and to go in the forest around my parents' house, that’s somewhere I can clear my mind and relax. I like it, I really look forward to doing that but I don’t really have much time for it as I’m on the Tour all the time.