Czech Republic Wins Davis Cup, Fed Cup, Hopman Cup
PAT CASH, HOST: It's the dawn of a new era for Czech tennis on this edition of "OPEN COURT." Coming up on the show, the Davis Cup drought is over. The trophy returns to Prague for the first time in 32 years.</s>ALEX THOMAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Can you rule out another comeback?</s>KIM CLIJSTERS, FORMER PROFESSIONAL TENNIS PLAYER: For sure, this is it. I'm done.</s>CASH: Farewell to a fan favorite. 'Tis the season for a few unforced errors, courtesy of myself.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You cannot stop this (inaudible).</s>CASH: No, cut that out, I'm not only joking, I'm joking.</s>CASH: The Czech Republic is the first nation to simultaneously hold the Davis Cup for men, the Fed Cup for women, and the Hopman Cup for mixed doubles. Sports fans here love their ice hockey and football, but as Pedro Pinto found out, they are warming to tennis all over again.</s>PEDRO PINTO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Davis Cup is back in Prague for the first time in 32 years. The last time, this city was the capital of a different country. The Czech Republic was then merely a part of Czechoslovakia.</s>JIRI NOVAK, FORMER WORLD NO. 5: This is really unbelievable for such a small country like the Czech Republic.</s>MAREK VANOUS, TENNIS JOURNALIST: I think people see it as an opportunity, as a dream come true.</s>PINTO: Radek Stepanek and Tomas Berdych powered the Czechs past the Spaniards in a three-day drama that left fans on the edge of their seats. It all came to a close when Stepanek won the decider.</s>RADEK STEPANEK, 2012 DAVIS CUP CHAMPION: After the (inaudible) he jumped on me, but something really, really remarkable happened today.</s>TOMAS BERDYCH, 2012 DAVIS CUP CHAMPION: It is going to be really hard to match it or to make it even better, so you know, that's definitely the highlight of my career so far.</s>PINTO: Eight-time Grand Slam winner and Davis Cup champion Ivan Lendl was one of the 14,000 fans who filled the arena. He was joined by members of the class of 1980, the Davis Cup team which reunited to watch the action and reminisce about their own special night more than three decades earlier.</s>IVAN LENDL, 1980 DAVIS CUP CHAMPION: It is very important for me. I really look forward to it. As soon as the boys won in Argentina in the semis like we did, I said I have to make sure I'm in Prague for this, because it's going to be special. I could have been in Florida playing golf, you better not lose.</s>PINTO: The current crop of Czechs did not disappoint the player who remains an inspiration to them.</s>STEPANEK: Seeing Ivan Lendl with little tears in his eyes is something really amazing to happen, and I'm very glad that all the guys were there, because, you know, it gives to this moment something really, really extra.</s>PINTO: The game of tennis has survived the transition from Iron Curtain Czechoslovakia to the Czech Republic. Among the great names such as Martina Navratilova, Jana Novotna, Ivan Lendl and Jan Kodes, very different career paths were chosen. Some defected to the west, or were allowed to travel and based themselves abroad, while others remained at home. Three-time Grand Slam champion Kodes is proud to see this next generation of tennis stars succeed, but he remembers the confines of playing under the Communist regime.</s>JAN KODES, 1980 DAVIS CUP CHAMPION: The government, they wanted to control us during the -- what are we going to do, where we are playing, which countries we are playing, you know? So we had to always put up some kind of schedule, beginning of January, and we were restricted to play in a few countries for political reasons, so we just couldn't play like South Africa, we couldn't play in Chile, we couldn't play in Israel.</s>PINTO: Kodes considered following Navratilova's defection in 1975, but decided to stay, and has lived here ever since.</s>KODES: I was 28 already. I mean, if I -- I had a feeling it's too late to do this, you know? And also, I was born in Prague, you know, so this is my country, my city. Had my family here. I had two sisters, my aunts, so it was very, very difficult.</s>PINTO: Kodes was on hand to see the Iron Curtain fall apart, releasing many young athletes to pursue their dream on a global stage for the first time.</s>VANOUS: Especially for Eastern Europe, suddenly everything opened up, you know, all the political regime and all these things. Maybe people saw their chance to do what they really wanted to do. All these players who were coming up, they saw what you can do if you believe in yourself and if you show it and if you pump yourself up.</s>LENDL: Part of being a professional athlete, especially in individual sports, you have to deal with the pressure. If you want to be good or great, you have to handle it.</s>PINTO: Stepanek and Berdych handled the pressure and won. Now, the generation that cheered for the 1980 Davis Cup champions is finally getting its chance to see the Davis Cup in Prague once again. A journey that turned out to be more than 30 years in the making.</s>CASH: Before we go any further, it's the ladies who first got fans cheering here in Prague when they won the Fed Cup for the second straight year.</s>CASH: It was party time in Prague. The ladies from the Czech Republic defended their Fed Cup final in front of a home town crowd. Lucie Safarova played well above her no. 17 world ranking and won the deciding match, beating Jelena Jankovic of Serbia.</s>LUCIE SAFAROVA, 2011 AND 2012 FED CUP CHAMPION: It was one of my best matches ever. When you have this huge crowd behind you and we are really good team, we are all friends, and it was such a great support for me, that I just played amazingly.</s>CASH: Safarova and Petra Kvitova teamed up to win the Cup for the second consecutive year. Czech tennis great Jana Novotna cheered from the stands, while Martina Navratilova sent messages of support.</s>MARTINA NAVRATILOVA, 18-TIME GRAND SLAM CHAMPION: Lucie, she played so well. I hope she takes some of that feeling into regular tournaments. And builds on that, the way Novak Djokovic kind of pulled himself a couple of years ago at Davis Cup. When you can come through that much pressure in your home town, play that well and win, and then win the whole thing, not just win your matches but win the whole thing, I think it's going to really turn a corner for a player.</s>CASH: Safarova showed the Czech Republic that she had nerves of steel, and when it was time to celebrate, she was prepared for that, too. She had a victory dance ready just in case.</s>SAFAROVA: We came in the morning to the locker room with Andrea, and she put on this song, and we really liked this song, and then we started dancing, and it was just fun. And then they posted it on our Facebook page, and so many comments that we have to do this dance if we win, that we said, OK, if we win, we will do it.</s>CASH: A huge chapter of tennis history is now in the books. 2012 will be remembered as the year the Czechs won the Hopman Cup, the Federation Cup, and the Davis Cup.</s>NAVRATILOVA: It just goes to show how well balanced Czech tennis is, that we have great women and men. Czechs, they're tough, we're tough, you know. (inaudible).</s>CASH: And still to come, I come face to face with Petra Kvitova's lengthy (ph) serve.</s>CASH: Not a bad shot, that one.