He defeated Fernando Verdasco of Spain 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in this tournament, which is used by some of the top tennis players of the world for an Australian Open warm-up.

Stepanek, who is 30, is known as an unconventional player. He’s definitely comfortable at the net and has no problem with speed, some tricky angle shots and being a tad bit annoying to his rivals, as well as the crowd.

In regards to his match against Verdasco, he said, "He had great rhythm today and he was not able to miss a point, it seemed to me at some stages, so definitely I would like to destroy his rhythm. I always like to play against lefties since my coach Petr Korda is a lefty, so I’m hitting a lot with lefties, but his ball strokes are very heavy, he’s using very hard top-spin so he can hit winners nearly from everywhere, as we saw today."

Although he won the Brisbane International tournament, Stepanek noted that he could still use some improvement.

"I started to play on the highest level when I was 24, 25, so I’m not that tired yet. My body feels good, so if I’m going to stay healthy I know what I can achieve, because I made in 2006 No. 8 in the world, then my injury stopped me for six months and I had to start again, but I know what I’m capable to do and I’m working on it every single day to get back to those positions."

Stepanek is ranked number 26 in the world.

Source: The Age

Image Credit: Newscom

Post from: EveryJoe

Czech Player Radek Stepanek Wins Brisbane International