“I didn’t want to interrupt the series. I knew that Kordič was a great player. He was in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and in the semifinals of the Queen’s Club. But he also didn’t play for a long time because of his wrist,” said Veselý. “The victory is therefore a great encouragement. I know that my opponents are a little bit afraid of me. They know that I have often beaten excellent players here and respect certainly comes from me. I am after an eight-month break and the return was a little complicated due to another injury. It is even more this encouraging. I proved to myself that it can still be done,” he added.
He defeated the 23-year-old Korda 7:6, 4:6, 6:2 and 6:3, giving his opponent 23 aces. He praised how he handled the match both physically and mentally. “Until the third set, we almost didn’t play exchanges. As nerves grew, the first serve didn’t go as well and there were longer exchanges. The positive thing is that I was able to keep up in them. I feel better physically and I ran a lot of things. Gradually everything is starting to settle down I mainly want to enjoy it here,” noted Veselý.
Although Veselý knows coach Radek Štěpánek and the son of Australian Open winner Petr Korda, they are not in close contact. “We know each other from the tournaments and now we see each other at Sparta, which is great for me. But it’s not like we’re having more fun. He’s much younger and he’s quieter, so we didn’t get into a deeper conversation,” he described Cheerful.
Even before Wimbledon, the currently 528th player in the world ranking had health problems. But he solved them before the start of the Grand Slam. “My back caught me, probably from the bed. But I’m fine now and I hope I won’t break my neck again,” he smiled.
His friend and singer Mirai came to London to see him. However, since Veselý’s match was postponed by a day due to rain and he had to return to Karlovy Vary, he did not see the triumph over Korda. “Before, he didn’t catch me even in Paris, so maybe America will work for the third time,” Veselý wished.
He knows the popular singer through Dušan Lojda, who used to train with Veselý. “We didn’t know each other for a long time. Only then did we realize that we knew each other from tennis, when Mirai was still playing. I already told him last year to fly to see me at some big tournament. He played tennis himself, he experiences it and writes to me every win,” revealed the former Czech number one.
He has seven people around him in London. His father, wife and two of the three children are not missing. “The oldest daughter goes to kindergarten here, which is great. She loves it there. We always drop her off at eleven and pick her back up at five in the afternoon. It’s great that she can be in the company of children who speak another language. And the children have no problem getting along, ” added Veselý, who will face either Australian Christopher O’Connell or Serbian Hamad Medjedovič in the 2nd round.