Radek Stepanek
Radek Stepanek
Radek Štěpánekis a professional tennis player from the Czech Republic. His career-high singles ranking is World No. 8 and best doubles ranking is World No. 4. Štěpánek's biggest achievements are reaching two Masters 1000 event finals and the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 2006, as well as winning the deciding match for Czech Republic's Davis Cup winning team in 2012 and again in 2013. In doubles, he won his first major title at the 2012 Australian Open, along with Indian partner...
ProfessionTennis Player
Date of Birth27 November 1978
CityKarvina, Czech Republic
I needed some time into the game, but in the second and third sets I played great tennis,
He pushed hard early on and I decided to play more aggressively in the second set.
In the beginning of the second set, he looked to be a little tired and I felt fresh. At the time he showed he was a little tired, I was the one who controlled the game.
The first set was very tough, Luis played incredible well and I wasn't close to getting a break point. I had to survive and hang in there waiting for my chances. The chance came right away in the second set, and I picked up my game and I was controlling it until the end of the match.
I should have closed the first set in the tiebreak earlier than I did, but I tried to stay positive all the way through and I think that was the difference between us.
During those finals, I was just not good enough. I knew my time would come.
I've lost three finals before this one and I'm very happy that I won. When I got up in the morning, I knew this was going to be my day. I played my best match in a long time. I controlled the match until the end.
That was the crucial part of the match. It gave me a lot of confidence because before that I was really nervous.
It feels great. I will remember this day forever.
Jonas played a perfect match today, ... I was caught up by his very quick playing from the beginning with his kick serves, his returns, passing shots...all of them were so powerful. He didn't let me play much, he controlled the game and played very aggressively.
I beat the defending champion from last year and I think that today the conditions were tough for both of us, ... It was our first match on clay so the tennis was not that pretty. But I'm pretty happy with the win because I remember the Davis Cup from last year when it was two sets all and I lost 6-0 in the fifth set, so this one was payback time.
I am surprised with what I have done but I have been pretty confident since the tournament started,
I have found my rhythm and am winning matches, which is the most important thing.
I don't have an explanation for today's game. I felt good going into it, but somehow things did not work out.