04.06.2016 11:49:20 | What did the tournament director Petra Černošková say after the UniCredit Czech Open? “Thank you for the words of praise. I believe that we have acquitted ourselves with honour in the of the tournament and special thanks go to the organization team. We’ve already implemented a number of projects. Everybody knows his role and everybody works hard to ensure the greatest quality of the tournament. I’d like to thank the UniCredit Bank director Jiří Kunert for his words of praise and for his support, as well as Ivo Kaderka and the Czech Tennis Association.
Except for one larger storm, we were very lucky with the weather this year again. Moreover, we’ve got the retracting roof thanks to which we may be sure to complete the matches. It’s been one of the most balanced tournaments in terms of quality. Ten of the players ranked from 50 to 100, and another ten just beyond the top 100. Matches were very tight from the beginning and were usually decided in three sets. The finalist Marton Fucsovics almost lost in the second qualification round against Šafránek, he faced a match point from Lama of Chile in the second round, yet still he made it through to the final. Mikchail Kukushkin is a great player. We remember him from the Davis Cup in Ostrava in 2011. He defeated Hájek with ease at 2:2 and Kazakhstan finally won. Veselý beat him in the quarter-final two years ago and Kukushkin took his revenge this year.
I would also like to point out the semi-finalist Karen Khachanov of Russia. He only turned twenty two weeks ago and he occupies the fourth place among players up to 21 years of age, after Zverev, Coric, and Fritz. He’s considered a rising star. After some time, we may say: he was here, he started to his great tennis career in Prostějov. What really made me happy? The crowd! The entire facility as well as the Centre Court were always full even though all Czechs had already been ousted. People kept coming because they were sure to see great tennis. They proved they understood tennis. And the exhibition match? It was a decent prelude to the final. The Centre Court was crowded and filled with great atmosphere.“
