Barbora Strycova was mad.
"I would not use the word 'friend' in relation to Karolina Pliskova]," she said last week, [as reported in Czech media. "Our relationship is zero."
That's because of a spat involving Pliskova plucking Strycova's coach, Tomas Krupa, to become her own for 2018. Strycova addressed the tension when asked about it by a reporter on October 15 after she won the title in Linz, Austria. She then expounded on that answer in a social media post.
Krupa has previously worked with Tomas Berdych, Jirí Vesely and Radek Sepanek.
Notably, Strycova did not dampen expectations that she will put "personal disputes" aside and place team and country first in joining the Czech Republic's Fed Cup squad, if and when she is tapped for that, next year.
Still, it's a shame for her that the so-called "dirty laundry" airs at such a time as this, when she should be wholeheartedly celebrating a solid season. That said, she chose to take to Facebook to clarify the issue, which also includes Krupa and his decision to take the offer from Pliskova.
“My coach texted me and called me that he cannot keep working with me because he accepted the offer. I was very sad. Especially because of the way I learned it. ... I get that Karolina wants him because he’s a good coach. I did not understand the way I got into this from one hour to the next, and I was sorry that coach didn’t stay with me.”
Strycova certainly found a bright spot in seizing her first singles title in six years in Linz.