Jiri Vesely finding his target one match at a time
Jiri Vesely had many sparks in his ten years of being a pro but getting his first ATP crown at the 2015 Auckland Open might have been the first. It was in straight sets against France's Adrian Mannarino as he made his debut at the Heinkeken Open and as a qualifier. Just the fact of winning the qualifying round propelled his strength and determination to take his ambitions through to thre final. He is a big dude with a huge serve which helped him capture his first title. He was ever so happy at his post match interview. He was asked if he'd return to Auckland next year in 2016, he simply said with a large grin 'no doubt about that'. It was along the way to the final he defeated Ernests Gulbis and veteran Kevin Anderson of South Africa. Luck came again to Vesely who was point on in 2016 when he devastated Novak Djokovic at the Monte-Carlo Masters. "...when I saw that Novak wasn't in his perfect form, I just tried to push it, hold my serve, be ready...I was on a good level and through ther whole match it was a good game from my side..."
The unfortunate did hit with a forearm injury that caused Vesely to create a walkover for Novak Djokovic and a withdrawal for himself at the U.S. Open. "I'm very, very disappointed right now", Vesely had said. But speeding up to the present the Czech is healthy and this past Wimbledon he spun his talents upon top 10 player, Alexander Zverev ranked no. 5 in a tough two and a half hours. The German felt confident taking in the first set 6-4. This must have woken the Czech for he was unstoppable as he blasted and sliced his way to win the next 3 sets in the opening round.
Vesely has struggled since the beginning of the 2109 season bowing at the opening round of the Australian Open to Ryan Harrison in three straight sets. Thenit was the Challenger in Marbella where he would go through the quarterfinals only to lose it in 3 sets. He played an up and down bunch of tournaments throughout the season but Wimbledon might be his wakeup call once he had beaten a few weeks ago the NextGen. Vesely stepped up his game and won over Cedrik-Marcel Stebe in the first round of the Croatia Open but little did he know he would have to prove himself coming into the Swiss Open at Gstaad. Vesely would win his opening by defeating Ernests Gulbis in straight sets, feeling and looking rather confident. They've only met twice, but Vesely had the luck and strategies to win both of the matches. Proof may be in his recipe of tennis strategies as he's set to play Stebe again in the Swiss Open's second round.
Jiri Vesely has elevated his game and now must display the fortitude he had when capturing his first title at New Zealand. He needs to keep his foot to the pedal as he did over Djokovic at Monte Carlo. He also needs to keep being aggressive like he was in Wimbledon upon defeating Alexander Zverev. If he brings his 'A' game to the court again, he's for sure to produce good tennis sending him to the next round of the Swiss Open with no doubts.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2yhyCFv
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