The Czech A-Teams

Although the Czech Republic has given so many great tennis champions in previous years, recently the country failed to produced the same amount of talent. Martina Navratilova, Iva Lendl,  Hana Mandlikova or Jana Novotna are all legends of the game, but after their retirement, their place was hard to fill.

However with Kvitova's stunning triumph at Wimbledon and Berdych's sudden glimpses of magic, the nation finally got something to cheer about. The duo showed their class in the beginning of the season, teaming up to win the mixed-doubles event in Perth. They were imperious in winning the Hopman Cup, disposing of the Frenchmen Marion Bartoli and Richard Gasquet in the final.

The successes kept on coming for the Czech, as Kvitova and co. successfully defended their Fed Cup title. It was Safarova though who clinched the final victory over Serbia, as she defeated both former number 1s, Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic, to bring in two vital points. 

Inspired by their female counterparts performance, the Czech squad lead by Berdych was determined to end Spain's reign in the Davis Cup and collect the country's first trophy as an independent nation. To help their cause, Corretja's team was deprived of its main superstar, Nadal continuing to be sidelined by the knee injury that forced him to miss the second half of the season. However, with Ferrer in hot form and Almagro as the supporting actor, the Spaniards were not to be dismissed easily.

Day 1 saw the two nations tied at 1-1, with Berdych beating Almagro in a five set thriller, while Ferrer cruised passed Stepanek. The doubles match proved vital in determining the winner. Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez were starting as hot favourites having just claimed the ATP World Tour Championships in London, but old fox Stepanek was yet to say his last word. He and Berdych produced a superb performance to recover from the loss of the opening set to stun the Spaniards 3-6,7-5,7-5,6-3. Stepanek was top notch on Sunday too, scoring the decisive point with a four set victory over Nicolas Almagro.

With Berdych losing in straight sets to Ferrer it was up to Radek to clinch the win and his older compatriot did not waste the opportunity. "I was dreaming about it my whole life and now we're standing here as Davis Cup champions, it's amazing," Stepanek said. "I had a lot of chances in the second set. I was playing very aggressive today; I wanted to be the one who was more active. Even though I lost the third set, I had no doubt about my tactics. I came on the court with a mindset that I had to stay calm, hungry and concentrated. That's what I did tremendously well today."

Having won all the team trophies in 2012, the Czech Republic has established itself as the dominant force in the world.

Radek Stepanek, Tomas Berdych, Ivo Minar and Lukas Rosol respectively, won Czech Republic's first Davis Cup trophy since the country's independence. They beat Spain 3-2 in front of a magnified crowd in Prague.

Earlier this month, Lucie Safarova, Petra Kvitova and doubles specialists, Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka, won the Fed Cup final against Serbia. Former world number 1s, Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic, were unable to cope with an inspired Safarova, who brought in two decisive points. 

At the start of the season, Petra Kvitova teamed up with Tomas Berdych to win the Hopman Cup in a final against Marion Bartoli and Richard Gasquet of France.

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Monfils, The Choking Kind

Having lost his 11 final, out of the 14 he played, Gael Monfils proved once more that he is one to choke whenever being presented with a great opportunity. After struggling on the European clay for the past few weeks, the Frenchman saw his American hard-courts campaign off to an excellent start, reaching the final at the first time of asking, in Washington. The scarcity of top players eased his path through the draw. Nevertheless, it wasn't all a walk in the park for Gael who had to dig deep to defeat the American giant John Isner in the semifinals. It was an enduring fight that ended in the third sets tiebreak with Monfils barely escaping after being match point down.

Following a familiar scenario, he threw everything up by delivering a very poor performance in the final, thus handing his opponent a rather straightforward win. Radek Stepanek was strong from start to finish and never gave Monfils a chance. He won the match 6-4,6-4 and at 32 years old, he became the oldest Washington champion since Connors, aged 35, won in 1988.
Now a constant top 10 figure, the Frenchman has had solid results in the Slams making a semifinal at Roland Garros in 2008 and several quarters. Nevertheless, considering the number of finals he lost, it seems he has developed a recurring problem in collecting ATP titles. The most worrying thing is that many of his rival loses came to lower ranked players (i.e. Monaco in Poertschach 2007, Petzschner in Vienna 2008 or Montanes in Stuttgart 2010). Stepanek is the latest addition to the list, Monfils having a 5-2 head-to-head record prior to the Washington clash.
Unfortunately, this result comes to prove my theory about the French players. Except for Simon, and, to a certain extent, for Tsonga, though he isn't competing that often, the rest are struggling to join the winning circle. Although they are hugely talented and have a great potential, they are left to rue the tones of missed chances.

Although he was the huge favorite, Monfils chocked once more, losing the Washington final to Czech Radek Stepanek 4-6,4-6.

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