Radek Stepanek

Czech wild card Radek Stepanek saved two match points as he handed Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis his sixth successive defeat on the ATP World Tour with 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(7) victory.

Former World No. 8 Stepanek trailed 1-4 in the third-set tie-break and saved match points at 5-6 and 6-7 before converting his first match point opportunity to prevail in two hours and 33 minutes. The 32-year-old Czech has also struggled with form of late, having failed to win back-to-back tour-level matches since reaching the semi-finals at Brisbane (l. to Soderling) in the first week of the season.

The Czech will now look to extend Andy Murray’s poor run of results when he plays the World No. 4 in the second round. Murray has failed to win a match since reaching the Australian Open final (l. to Djokovic) in January.

Cronic fatigue syndrome on a honeymoon with your 21 year old wife doesn't sound like a very nice prospect.

Czech tennis players Radek Stepanek and Nicole Vaidisova have tied the knot in Prague.

They married Saturday in St. Vitus Cathedral, the country’s biggest and most famous church.

Czech public radio reported that guests included ice hockey star Jaromir Jagr and tennis player Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, who reached her first WTA final at the Prague Open on Saturday.

The 31-year-old Stepanek—ranked No. 29—missed most of the season with health problems. Vaidisova, who is 21 and a former top 10 player, retired this year after struggling with form.

Source: tennis.com

Confirmation with today's World Group teams for DC that Stepanek is still out. Czech's will be headed by Berdych.

"His health problems are more serious than he expected" Czech Davis Cup captain Jaroslav Navratil said in a statement.

Back in March, Steps said he was suffering from a fatigue syndrome and would need a couple of months rest, then he was injured in the Prague event prior to Wimbledon flaring up a knee complaint.

Debate lingers as to whether he will come back before the US Open, there are some who say he may have chronic fatigue syndrome - many athletes (some Olympians), as well as a couple of Aussie Rules footballers, have suffered from this and been out of their respective sports for over a year.

Here's hoping for a quick recovery.

AAP -

Radek Stepanek has been ruled out of Wimbledon and the Czech Republic's Davis Cup quarterfinal against Chile next month because of a left knee injury.

A Czech Davis Cup spokesman has said that Radek Stepanek will take two months off the ATP circuit citing exhaustion.

He reportedly started feeling tired during the Belgium tie and blood tests revealed that Steps needed to take some time off to see if that was to improve.

It means the French Open is a write-off, and Wimbledon will be in serious doubt, but he plans to be back for the Czech's next hitout against Chile in July.

Stepanek has pulled out of Miami now - must be that back pain that he suffered in Sunrise - orrrr maybe he is choosing his best man and helping Nicole with her bridal party arrangements...

Stepanek tweaked his back during a three-set loss in the Sunrise challenger where he was top seed.

Radek Stepanek beat Robby Ginepri 6-4 6-0 in an exhibition in Adelaide last night.

Davydenko can't get a racquet deal from Prince but in Stepanek's case he's deliberately gone for a racquet with no possibility of sponsorship.
Shows how keen Stepanek is to win matches:

News story: It's hard to imagine a player in today's multimillion dollar driven world of professional tennis choosing not to seek a racquet endorsement deal.

But that's exactly the alternative Radek Stepanek, the 12th-best player in the world, embraced when he switched to a Bosworth Tour 96 racquet during the December off-season last year.
The Bosworth Tour 96 can best be described as a private-label racquet with personally crafted specifications for each player.

When Stepanek took to the court in the Davis Cup final against Spain last weekend, he did so with his no-contract, custom-made racquet designed by the father-son duo of Warren and Jay Bosworth.

Stepanek explains the giant leap from his contracted Volkl racket, which the Bosworths would tweak, to the Bosworth-invented racket as a quest to sharpen his game: "I asked myself, 'What can help me to improve? What can help me with the small little things?' Since the first moment I played with it, I trusted the racquet. I believed in what I was holding in my hand."