ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL

January 12, 2024

Jiri Lehecka

Press Conference

J. LEHECKA/S. Korda

6-2, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations on the win and making it through to a final. How were you feeling about your game today?

JIRI LEHECKA: Yeah, thank you. I feel great. It was a good match from my side. Everything what I wanted to play today worked well, so good match from my side. Happy with the win.

Q. That looked almost like the perfect match, 6-1, 6-2. Is that how you saw it?

JIRI LEHECKA: I mean, before the match, of course. I thought it wouldn't be that fast. But when I take a look back on the match and I tried to think about how he was, then I think it was really great match from my side. Was playing great tennis, trying to serve well, and of course it wasn't that easy as it looked like because there was many key moments, mostly in the first set, going for the tough game for 5-2 in the first set, then trying to hold serve all the time. It's not that easy if you are playing against a guy who's returning well as Sebby does.

Yeah, it's great for me that I managed to go through, even though I had some tough moments, but yeah, it's a good win.

Q. Obviously Seb has Czech parents. Do you know him well, and do you speak to him in Czech or in English?

JIRI LEHECKA: I mean, always we speak in Czech because for us he's speaking like normal Czech. We don't see any difference in the way he's speaking, he's talking. We speak normally in a Czech way. But of course I don't see him much as he is based in Prague when he's in Europe, I'm based in Prostejov, so it's like two and a half hours apart from each other. We don't see each other very often when we are both back in Czech, but when we are on tournaments we always speak Czech, and it's fun.

Q. The other semifinal tonight, Draper and Bublik, you haven't played them before. Will you watch it on TV or come here and watch it?

JIRI LEHECKA: Yeah, I remember I played Jack when I was like 14 years old. There was some Tennis Europe tournament back in Slovakia.

Obviously both of these guys are serving pretty well. They are trying to play what they like to play. It's not something very easy to prepare for. But I will watch the match. I will definitely see some key moments, and hopefully I will get a win tomorrow.

Q. Given tomorrow is an ATP title, do you get nervous? Will you think about it overnight or sleep like a baby?

JIRI LEHECKA: I think I will be all right. I just try to be confident as I am right now. It's just another match for me. Of course it will be a championship match, but for me, all the routines will be the same. I will not try to do anything differently. I don't have a reason to.

I think that it will be great match whoever wins, but I will just try to keep focused on myself and try to do the right things.