Dlouhý is favorite at Grand Slam

As this season's opening Grand Slam tennis tournament, the Australian Open, kicked off in Melbourne Jan. 17, Písek native Lukáš Dlouhý unexpectedly found himself in the spotlight with some of the game's biggest names, including Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

Dlouhý enters the tournament as a top contender in the men's doubles, teaming up with Australian Paul Hanley - despite the fact the two only just joined forces at the beginning of January. The players formed a formidable partnership almost immediately, winning their first tournament in Brisbane in the first week of January without dropping a single set. One week later, Dlouhý and Hanley won another tournament in Sydney. In the final, they beat the world No. 1 team of Bob and Mike Bryan of the United States.

"Beating the Bryan brothers does not happen every day," Dlouhý said. "To make things even better, we were outplaying them in particular stages of the match. My and Paul's games fit pretty well."

With the victory in Sydney, Dlouhý notched his 10th doubles title on the ATP Tour. The 27-year-old, who in 2009 won two Grand Slam tournaments with Leander Paes of India (the French Open and the U.S. Open), had been waiting for another tournament victory since March 2010. With a lack of success last year, the once-successful team of Dlouhý and Paes ended their cooperation at the end of last season.

"We were losing games that we should've won, and so we were stressed," Dlouhý said. "But that's now gone. I'm now playing my best tennis since last spring."

Dlouhý split with Paes after the Masters Tennis tournament in London in early December. Later that month, he agreed to a last-minute partnership with Hanley.

"Most other players already had commitments, but Paul was free," Dlouhý recalled. "So we agreed to play together in three tournaments in January, including the one in Brisbane, Sydney and then at the Australian Open. Then we'll sit together and talk about the future."

Before entering into their first tournament, Dlouhý and Hanley only had about eight training sessions.

"It's a common practice that two players first hit together in order to find out more about each other," Dlouhý said.

Dlouhý's first impression of Hanley was that the Australian was quite hard-working.

"He's quite diligent and doesn't drop a single point," Dlouhý said.

Still, Dlouhý knew he would have to adapt to a different role on the court.

"I knew that it was up to me to take over the position of team leader, and I wasn't used to that with Leander," Dlouhý said.

But that first tournament in Brisbane showed that the teamwork of Dlouhý and Hanley could be effective.

"We entered the tournament with virtually no expectations. We did not know what to expect from each other, and we also had a very difficult draw," Dlouhý said.

After winning in Sydney, Dlouhý admitted that he and Hanley could be rated favorites for the Australian Open.

"However," he added. "We have to take it match by match and focus on the first one."

After the Australian Open, Dlouhý and Hanley are set to consider future tournament appearances. Before this season, Dlouhý admitted he might play with other players. Now, he says he may continue with Hanley.

"Who would've known that Paul and I would play together so well?" he said.

František Bouc can be reached at
fbouc@praguepost.com