Jiří Lehečka (born 8 November 2001) is a Czech professional tennis player. Lehečka has a career high ATP singles ranking of world No. 23 achieved on 15 January 2024. He also has a career high ATP doubles ranking of No. 149 achieved on 11 September 2023. He is currently the No. 1 Czech player in men's singles.[1] Lehečka has a career high ITF junior combined ranking of No. 10 achieved on 11 March 2019.
Early life
Jiří Lehečka is the son of two athletes. His father was a swimmer, and his mother was a track and field star. He has long enjoyed skiing, cycling and swimming and remembers first touching a tennis racquet at three. His grandmother, who competed on a national level, taught his older sister the game, so naturally he wanted to play. When Lehečka was young, he admired Tomáš Berdych and Radek Štěpánek.[2]
Professional career
2021: Two singles & three doubles Challenger titles, Singles top 150, Doubles top 250
Lehečka won two ATP Challenger singles titles, one ATP Challenger doubles title with Vít Kopřiva and two with Zdeněk Kolář.
2022: Major & Masters debuts, first match win & semifinal on ATP debut, Top 60
At the 2022 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, he reached the second round as a qualifier, with a stunning upset over fifth seed Denis Shapovalov in straight sets in his first ATP Tour main-draw match.[4] He went on to defeat Botic van de Zandschulp and Lorenzo Musetti to reach the semifinals on his ATP debut, where he was defeated in three sets by top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas. He became the lowest-ranked Rotterdam semifinalist since then-World No. 225 Omar Camporese in 1995. As a result, he moved 42 positions up into the top 100 in the rankings at World No. 95 on 14 February 2022.[5]
At the 2022 Serbia Open he qualified into the main draw but lost in the second round to second seed, World No. 8 and eventual champion Andrey Rublev.
At the 2022 BMW Open he qualified into the main draw again defeating Alejandro Tabilo 6–4, 7–6(7–3) in the final round of qualifying.[6] He lost to wildcard and eventual champion Holger Rune in the first round.
2023: United Cup, Major quarterfinal, first top-10 and Masters wins & third round, maiden ATP final, top 30
Lehečka began his season as the top-ranked Czech male player at the inaugural 2023 United Cup where he lost to Taylor Fritz 3–6, 4–6 but defeated Alexander Zverev 6–4, 6–2 in Zverev's first ATP match coming back from injury. Lehečka also played mixed doubles with Marie Bouzková.
He reached the 2023 Australian Open fourth round defeating eleventh seed Cameron Norrie taking his revenge after he was beaten by Norrie at the 2023 Auckland Open the previous week.[12][13] Next he defeated sixth seed Félix Auger-Aliassime, his first top-10 win, to reach a Major quarterfinal for the first time in his career.[14] As a result, he moved more than 30 positions up into the top 40 at world No. 39 on 30 January 2023.[15]
At the same tournament he also reached the third round in doubles on his debut at the event at this Major with partner Alex Molčan.
He entered the 2023 Croatia Open Umag as the top seed at a tour-level event for the first time, and reached the quarterfinals with a win over Dominic Thiem.[22] He also reached the quarterfinals in doubles with partner Roman Jebavý.
He reached his first ATP final at the 2023 Winston-Salem Open where he lost to Sebastián Báez.[23] As a result, he reached the top 30 in the rankings at world No. 29 on 28 August 2023.[24]
Lehečka's record against players who have been ranked in the top 10, with those who are active in boldface. Only ATP Tour main draw matches are considered:
^ abDuring the season, he did not play in the main-draw of any ATP Tour-level tournaments. However, he played at the Davis Cup, which is not counted as a played tournament but as matches counted.