27-year-old Czech Andrea Hlavackova enjoyed a dream run at the US Open this year as she won the women’s doubles title with compatriot Lucie Hradecka and the mixed doubles title with Belarusian Max Mirnyi.
With a population of a little over 10 million, Czech Republic has a history of producing a pleasantly disproportionate number of tennis champions. Apart from tennis champions, another area where the country hoists in disproportionate quantity is beer. It is said that the average citizen consumes 131 litres of beer every year, which is 25 litres more than that in Germany, Austria and Ireland.
In Andrea Hlavackova, Czech Republic may have found a way to combine both its strengths. Hlavackova hails from the Plzen, the Czech town that gave Pilsner to the world. Her father, Jan, is the master brewer for Pilsner Urquell, who have been producing beer since 1842. Her family has run the company for nearly a century.
Born on August 10, 1986, Andrea began to play tennis at the age of 5 and was the last official junior world champion in doubles in 2003 when she won with fellow Czech Tereza Szafnerova. She entered the professional WTA tour in 2004 following the footsteps of elder sister Jana. Though she didn’t have an idol while growing up, she derived inspiration from Ivan Lendl’s book.
She competed on the ITF circuit where she won seven singles and 17 doubles titles. Entering into the WTA circuit, she formed a successful women’s doubles team with Lucie Hradecka, and the duo won the 2011 French Open defeating Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina in the final. The Hlavackova-Hradecka combo later went on to represent Czech Republic at the London Olympics where they won the silver medal. They beat top seeds Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond of the USA in the semis, but lost to the Williams sisters in the final.
Hlavackova made her Fed Cup debut for the Czech team in 2012 and was a member of the team that beat Serbia 3-1 in the final that year.
Apart from doubles, she also wants to leave a mark in the singles format. In the 2012 US Open, she reached the fourth round after defeating 14th seed Maria Kirilenko of Russia in the third round. (She was later blanked 6-0, 6-0 by Serena Williams in the fourth round.)
Hlavackova feels that her success in doubles has helped her improve as a singles player too: “You know you served out the finals of a Grand Slam, you know you served out semis to get a medal in Olympics. You know you can do it, and you know you have had huge pressure on court and you made it. You made it for two, even, which is harder. So it helps a lot, and I try to use it as much as possible. I try to sometimes tell myself on the court, Hey, come on, it’s like doubles. Just return it cross court and play it out. Give her a chance to miss it or something. Of course, singles is tougher; you have to run more and stuff. But you can translate it a lot.”
The highlight of her game is the fearless and attacking playing style. She throws herself into every shot, which usually means that she leads the counts of winners as well as unforced errors in her matches.
Commentator Sam Smith once remarked of Hlavackova’s risk-taking play saying: “I hope she doesn’t drive a car the way she drives her ground strokes.” In response Hlavackova said: “When I play aggressive, it’s not risky. It’s because it’s my game, it’s my only game. For me, risky is to play passive.”
Away from the tennis courts, Hlavackova maintains a keen interest in interior designing, and is pursuing a degree in law. She is also dedicated to charity and has organized successful auctions with her sports equipment and their proceeds are provided to charitable institutions.
The success at the US Open is a well-deserved result for Hlavackova. She will look to build on this and look to reach the top of the world rankings in doubles, and also aim for a rank in the top 50 in the singles, which has been a long term target for her. With her fearless game, along with hard work and dedication, the sky is the limit for the talented Czech.
