Jiří Veselý is back! He defeated the number two seed in Ostrava and will play in the quarterfinals, but what preceded his expected return?

Jiri Vesely, the former Czech number one tennis player, was out of action for almost eight months. During this time, the twenty-nine-year-old native of Příbram experienced several changes in both his personal and career life. This week, however, he returned to the tennis courts, has already recorded two valuable victories and is heading even further.

After his August setback at the US Open, Jiří Veselý was placed under medical care for four long months. The reason? A long-standing torn tendon in his hamstring. He devoted the next dozen days to getting back into physical shape. Under the tutelage of fitness trainer David Vydra, he even lost seven kilos in weight.

Life and career changes

The last few weeks have been marked by changes for Jiří Veselý. First of all, after many years he replaced Jaroslav Navrátil as head coach, who was replaced by young Emanuel Řehola, a former youth number one.

The most significant life change for Vesely was the birth of his third child with his wife Denisa, the couple’s daughter Sara was born on 28 March.

And last but not least, last year’s champion from Dubai changed his tribal club. Very surprisingly, he switched from TK Agrofert Prostějov to Sparta Prague, which for the whole Vesely family meant moving to the capital. It was during the announcement of this news that the former world number 35 announced his tennis return at the Challenger tournament in Ostrava.

Expected return in Ostrava

In addition to Vesely, this year’s Ostrava Open also featured former elite tennis player Gael Monfils, an ideal marketing affair for the organisers.

The Czech player has been assigned a third-ranked opponent, Italian Lorenzo Giustino, for the opening round. Vesely started the match very well, not allowing his opponent a single break point in the opening set and winning the Italian’s serve twice himself to take the set 6::3.

When the native of Pribram was leading in the second set 5: 1, probably few would have expected the match to be a first-class drama.

However, as if the nerves from the first match in eight months were showing, Giustino managed to level the score. Fortunately for the Czech tennis player, the match was suspended at 5:5 and then moved to the next day.

Tuesday’s match was a winner for Vesely, but in the end it was a three-hour battle, after which the former Czech number one could raise his hands. The final result of 6::3, 6::7 and 6::2 meant that he advanced to the next round.

Another fight, another win

On Wednesday afternoon, Vesely took on the second round match. On the other side of the net, he faced the second seeded Russian Ivan Gakhov. A few weeks ago, the second-ranked player defeated Novak Djokovic, with whom Veselý has the best match record of all active players (2: 0).

This time the Czech had to turn the match around. The first set went badly wrong and he lost it 2::6.

However, after less than an hour of play, Vesely picked up his game, proved his experience and successfully turned the match around thanks to the packed stands in Ostrava.

In more than two hours he defeated the fierce Gachov 2::6, 6::3 and 6::4, thus guaranteeing his ticket to the quarter-finals, where he will face another Italian Riccardo Bonadio.

Source: ATP, cztenis.cz