It helped the Krejčíková triumph in Paris to hold the Fed Cup final in Prague
If someone had told me a year ago that it would be here, I wouldn’t have believed it. I would probably believe more that he will become an astronaut than this can happen, and it did, “Kaderka shone at today’s press conference after the international federation ITF announced the event in Prague.
The final of the competition, formerly called the Fed Cup, was supposed to be played last year in Budapest, but due to the coronavirus, the Hungarian capital first postponed the tournament and gave it up this year.
The biggest event ever there is a tennis boss thundering. And he believes in the participation of the stars
Kaderka had information from the Hungarians that they had a problem and the situation was moving to an unsolvable state. The idea that the event would be hosted by the Visegrad Four did not take hold and no one else wanted to organize the competition in a hurry. “It was from the realm of dreams. No one can imagine that it will be manageable. The event was about to collapse. It seemed that it would not be at all,” Kaderka stated.
Bucket list ✅@BillieJeanKing see you in Prague at the first final of the Billie Jean King Cup 💪#BJKCup pic.twitter.com/rOgrUvae0C
– Billie Jean King Cup (@BJKCup) August 27, 2021
During the grand slam French Open, however, the head of Czech tennis began the team by holding the finals for twelve in Prague. “When Bára Krejčíková started beating her opponent one by one, my fellow presidents gradually sent me congratulations and wrote that I have another star in the Fed Cup. We started talking that it would be good to show the stars at home as well,” he said.
Kaderka was excited about the possibility of the biggest tournament in Prague. And during the Krejčíková final in Paris, he spoke with Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenko at the 1: 1 set with ITF boss David Haggerty. “I told him: ‘If Bára wins, I guarantee that I will get the Fed Cup to the Czech Republic. I will have a better position. Bára is in the Czech Republic. Everyone is a sweetheart. “If it hits, I can do it.”
For the first time, Krejčíková, then the winner of singles and doubles from Roland Garros, spoke publicly about the possibility of organizing a tournament. “I wrote to her on a piece of paper if she wanted the Fed Cup in Prague, and she wrote me amazing that it would be that she wanted five exclamation marks,” Kaderka said.
According to him, the key was to get the support of the government. “I met with Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and I didn’t even have to break him much. I said it would be,” Kaderka said, adding that the action could not be loss-making. “The money is to cover part of the organizational costs. And if only ten thousand people came, the event would earn the Czech Republic two hundred to three hundred million.”
The government knocked 65 million crowns into the organization of the tournament, and the tennis association managed to reach an agreement with the O2 arena, even though it did not yet have a signed contract with the ITF. “It was the greatest witchcraft, because we were still without money, only with a promise, without a final signature, as we agreed as an arena. I think this is really something remarkable,” Kaderka said.
He is excited about the possibility of organizing the final tournament, while he was one of the biggest critics of the ITF management in the competition system. “I would still prefer it to be played at home – outside, but when there is already a chance to bring the best tennis players to Prague, it’s an amazing thing,” he said.
The Czechs have only eight weeks to prepare. “Few can imagine the portion of responsibility and work that awaits us, but we are ready,” Kaderka said, coming to look forward to being after the tournament. “And we’ll have the expenses paid and everyone will say it was an amazing experience …”