"We just tip our hat to a better team": Captain Bob Bryan admits Team USA was second-best against Czechia in Davis Cup last-16 defeat

Team USA captain Bob Bryan has admitted that his team was beaten by a ‘better side’ after their recent defeat to Czechia. The most successful team in the history of the competition faced a shocking defeat in the last-16 tie against Czechia with a score of 3-2.

On the first day of the contest, Czechia started brightly as Jiri Lehecka defeated Frances Tiafoe in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-2. In the following contest, America’s Taylor Fritz managed to make it 1-1 after beating the Czech Republic’s Jakub Mensik.

On the second day of the contest, the momentum from one of the pendulums was transferred to the other. On the first day of the match, the American pair of Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek produced a stunning win over the pair of Mensik and Lehecka. The final score of the match was 7-6, 5-7, 6-4.

Despite taking the lead, the USA, who were clear favourites to go to the next round, suffered two consecutive defeats and were knocked out of the quarterfinals stage of the competition. In the fourth contest of the tie, first day’s hero Fritz was stunned by Lehecka, who came out on top in the singles contest with a score of 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. The defeat was a shocking one considering that Fritz was coming into the match unbeaten against Lehecka, winning all four meetings between them in the previous contests.

First served proved to be the major difference in the match as Lehecka won 79 percent points on first serve. On the other hand, Fritz won 69 percent points on his first serve. Lehecka converted three break points, just one more than Fritz on the day.

In the last tie of the round, Mensik proved to be too good for Tiafoe as he emerged victorious in straight sets with a score of 6-1, 6-4. It was Tiafoe’s second consecutive defeat in the Davis Cup tie against Czechia. Mensik was just far superior in the contest, where he converted four break points. In comparison, Tiafoe only managed to win one break point. Mensik won 77 percent service points as well, considerably higher than Tiafoe, who won 48 percent points while serving. Mensik won 81 percent points on his first serve whereas Tiafoe won just 58 percent points on his first serve.

Talking after the match, coach Bryan admitted that a better side beat his team over the course of five matches. “We just tip our hat to a better team over the last two days,” said Bryan. The 47-year-old also went on to reveal what he told Tiafoe midway through the last match of the contest. Bryan stated that he was trying to remind Tiafoe of the importance of extending the match as long as possible, especially considering that Mensik was involved in a lengthy doubles contest earlier in the day with Lehecka, where they came second-best. Bryan stated that Tiafoe tried to dig in the second set, and it was evident that Mensik was starting to struggle, but he was just too good when it mattered the most.

“Look, our doubles guys kept Mensik on court for a few hours in the heat,” said Bryan said. “That was a physical doubles match. I don’t care if it’s doubles or singles, that was a lot of time to be out there. Just kept telling Frances, ‘Hey, the guy’s playing well. Let’s just keep him on the court and see if we can wear him down, keep making the match physical. You never know what’s going to happen’. Frances sunk his teeth into the match in the second set, and, you know, and some of those points were starting to go our way. You could see Mensik, he was laboring, and he came up with the goods when he needed it.”