{"id":107310,"date":"2025-09-01T17:06:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T17:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/107310\/"},"modified":"2025-09-01T17:06:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T17:06:08","slug":"jiri-lehecka-shares-how-hes-really-feeling-about-having-to-face-carlos-alcaraz-in-the-us-open-quarter-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/107310\/","title":{"rendered":"Jiri Lehecka shares how he\u2019s really feeling about having to face Carlos Alcaraz in the US Open quarter-finals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jiri Lehecka will be the latest player to try and somehow find a way to stop Carlos Alcaraz at the US Open, having booked his spot in the quarter-finals last night.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old has enjoyed an impressive year after suffering so many laden with injuries, and this ongoing Grand Slam run backs up a solid record at the majors this year, which includes two fourth-round exits.<\/p>\n

However, he will have grand aspirations of toppling the Spaniard, regardless of how unstoppable he has looked over the first week and, realistically, since March.<\/p>\n

Asked about the upcoming clash, many would forgive him for looking fearful and sheepish.<\/p>\n

Lehecka was anything but.<\/p>\n

Jiri Lehecka previews his US Open quarter-final vs Carlos Alcaraz<\/p>\n

Speaking in his press conference after battling through in four sets against Adrian Mannarino, it did not take long for attention to turn to Carlos Alcaraz<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Naturally, he was glowing in his praise for the five-time Grand Slam champion: \u201cAgainst a rival like Carlos, you must play the highest possible level of tennis. <\/p>\n

\"CarlosPhoto by Elsa\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not about playing a special shot all the time, because he knows how to react, that\u2019s his best weapon. He knows how to react when the opponent is playing well and when he\u2019s trying to play more in one way or another. You need to give your best and be focused throughout the game. I will try to do it and play my game. We\u2019ll see how it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaying against Alcaraz is one of the biggest challenges in tennis. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a great player and has made great progress in recent years. He has already won this tournament and knows how to play it.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, despite all his claims, the Czech tennis star was not fazed: \u201cI am happy to face him, and the games we have shared this year were intense. I\u2019m going to try to show my weapons, and we\u2019ve never played together in a Grand Slam. I hope it\u2019s a great match.\u201d<\/p>\n

There could be cause for optimism for Lehecka, given Martina Navratilova actually gave Alcaraz advice<\/a> after his win last night too.<\/p>\n

Jiri Lehecka pushed Carlos Alcaraz at Queen\u2019s<\/p>\n

Lehecka has every right to feel confident ahead of his clash with Alcaraz, especially given how hard he pushed him in their last meeting on the grass.<\/p>\n

Having battled through into the final of Queen\u2019s, his fitness was called into question heading into the clash with the world number two.<\/p>\n

However, he seemed up for the challenge regardless, and despite losing the first set 7-5, he rallied back to win the second set on a tiebreak.<\/p>\n

Just one set away from his third career title and the biggest win of his career to date, his fitness sadly waned, and Alcaraz ran away with it.<\/p>\n

Afterwards, the 22-year-old admitted: \u201cI have to say Jiri, incredible week.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, your level is truly really high. It is always I am going to say a nightmare playing against you, so that means how tough you are. Great week, great job, keep it up for Wimbledon with your team. Great job this week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alcaraz was praised for his post-match speech about Lehecka<\/a>, and it will be interesting to see if these words will offer the underdog a boost ahead of this US Open<\/a> meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jiri Lehecka will be the latest player to try and somehow find a way to stop Carlos Alcaraz…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107311,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[870,52172,101,118,56,54,55,6545],"class_list":{"0":"post-107310","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-carlos-alcaraz","9":"tag-jiri-lehecka","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom","15":"tag-us-open"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}