Heaping praise on his partner Adam Pavlasek after they defeated the fancied India duo of Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna to give Czech Republic a 2-1 lead in Davis Cup World Group play-off tie, Radek Stepanek said today's win was crucial for his team going into the reverse two singles tomorrow.
"Today's doubles was a very crucial point before tomorrow. This win will hopefully bring a little bit of calmness. We are in a good position for tomorrow," said Stepanek at the post match press conference.
Stepanek said his younger partner handled the situation very well.
"Adam played a great match today. He handled the situation very well. Our tactics, which we wanted to apply, worked very well for us. That's why the result came out like this. I knew they would be looking to take me out of play on the net and I told Adam to be ready for that as I knew the Indians would play the points on him. And he was ready. He was outstanding today.
"Our combination was pretty good. It worked out very well for us from the beginning till the end," said a relieved Stepanek.
Asked whether there was a talk of Lukas Rosol partnering him, Stepanek said: "There was a talk last night. We planned to play with Adam throughout the week and yesterday Lukas was great after the singles and was confident. We thought he was ready to play doubles. But in the end, we stayed with our idea to play Adam, because I thought in these conditions, you need every piece of energy. Conditions here are very tough and the heat and humidity can take you quickly down in your mind and then it comes to your body. And then it seems you are off."
Stepanek refused to divulge any details about who would be playing the two single matches tomorrow.
"I am not telling you. You will see tomorrow," said Stepanek.
Meanwhile, 20-year-old Adam said it was an advantage that the Indian did not have any idea about his game.
"It was an advantage for me that Rohan and Leander knew nothing about me. I am happy to have won this match," said Adam.
