daviscup.org
February 6, 2025

In two hours 33 minutes, Czech No. 1 Jiri Novak has dispatched 17-year-old Rafael Nadal 76(2) 63 76(3) to claim the first point for the Czech Republic in Brno.

The 28-year-old player beat the Spanish youngster, 17-year-old Rafael Nadal 76(2) 63 76(3) in 2 hours and 33 minutes in the opening match of the tie. Novak has now won nine consecutive Davis Cup singles matches.

"Truly, I don�t care about this kind of statistics. I am here to play and I am happy that I succeeded today," Novak smiled after the match.

The experience of the Czech Republic�s number one player was the key for the first match win in the sold-out exhibition hall in Brno. Nadal, currently at No. 40 in the ATP Entry Rankings and playing his first match in the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas, started with some very agressive tennis. He put a lot of pressure on Novak and saved six break points during the ninth game of the first set.

Although the 2002 Australian Open semifinalist converted the seventh breakpoint and took a 54 lead, he didn�t finish the set in the next service game. "This was not a good moment for me. I just said to myself that if I lose the first set it would be pretty bad for me," Novak added. But the tiebreaker was completely in his hands. Novak overpowered Nadal with three aces (two in a row at the beginning) and a lot of nice shots. The first set lasted 1 hour and 8 minutes.

"The tiebreak gave me a lot of optimism," Novak said.

But Nadal didn�t give up and continued to fight hard, pushing Novak into some long rallies without quite converting any of his chances, and making a few easy mistakes along the way. At one point, he caused amusement in the crowd when one of his wide shots finished in the hands of the watching President of the Czech Republic Mr. Vaclav Klaus.

"It was a pretty hard match for me. I tried my best, I concentrated for every shot but it was not enough against Jiri today," Nadal said.

Comparing their match in Auckland earlier in the year, when Nadal won, to today, the Spanish player added: "The surface is a lot faster here in Brno than in Auckland, and a completely different atmosphere, so�"

"The slower court in Auckland was more suitable for his game. It is strange but his backhand was more solid today. I didn�t give him a lot of time to run for his forehand. I played a very solid game from the baseline," said Novak.

In the third set Nadal had a 3-1 lead in the tiebreak, but the experienced Novak turned the tide and the tiebreak. By this stage, he was dealing well with not only his opponent, but also a noisy fan who was shouting at him.

"Unfortunatelly this can happen in a tennis match. It disturbs players from their concentration but what could I do at that moment?" Novak asked.

Thanks to good movement and by keeping away from Nadal�s strength, his forehand, Novak closed out the match and could celebrate the first point for the Czech Republic. He got a special reward for his win � a kiss from the Minister of Education, Youth and Sport, Ms. Petra Buzkova.

"It was sweet. I just hope that my wife didn�t notice it," Novak laughed.

The second singles is between the Czech number two Radek Stepanek and the Spanish number one Tommy Robredo.