Jiri Lehecka has taken the view of some that the whole Pedro Cachin situation for him is a 'kind of weird' after he asked Rafael Nadal for a souvenir after he was defeated by him at the 2024 Madrid Open earlier this week.
Lehecka though while Pedro Cachin advanced the Spaniard, the Czech ace was the party pooper as he handed Nadal his final loss in Spain barring if he plays Davis Cup and did so in expert style 7-5, 6-4 and will now face Daniil Medvedev in the next round.
He said though that when asked if he would ask for a shirt that he wouldn't but that he wasn't trying to belittle Cachin. In fact that he wouldn't employ a similar tact to it and wouldn't be the first thing that crosses his mind when facing a great like Nadal.
“I don't know. Maybe, I don't know, it's tough for me to say, because I went on the court to win, you know. When you go on the court and you go there for the win, then it's tough for me to run after him and to ask him for some things, you know, if he can give me something," said Lehecka in press after his win at the Madrid Open.
"Because I don't really know, I don't want to sound disrespectful or something, that's the last thing I would like to, but if you are playing a match and you are thinking about asking the guy to give you something, then, I mean, why you are there? It's kind of weird, in my opinion. I mean, everyone can have his own opinion on this thing. I totally respect what Pedro did. It's absolutely fine for me. I have zero problem with it. But for me I would not do such a thing.
"I would do this maybe after the whole tournament, after, when I see him somewhere, just asking for a photo like I did after our practice. This is what I did, because of course I didn't know if I would have a chance to play with him again or if we would play a match together.
"That's why I asked Rafa to take a picture with me after our practice earlier this week. But if we are speaking about him giving me a T-shirt, I mean, I don't know, I just don't go into a match with these kind of intentions, and I just have different approach in this thing.”
Lehecka says he would not have asked Rafa Nadal for his t-shirt like Pedro Cachin did, ‘If you’re playing a match & thinking about asking the guy to give you something, why are you there?’ “Congratulations. I don't know if you saw, Cachin asked Rafa for the shirt. I wonder if…
