As Sunday’s enthralling Wimbledon men's singles final between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz is being shown on the TV at West Ham United’s Germany pre-season training camp base, Tomáš Souček sits down on a leather sofa, exhales and smiles widely with his eyes glued to the screen.
A huge tennis fan, Souček is enjoying some well-deserved downtime following an intense training session, and after Sinner takes an epic third set 6-4, he invites me to sit down next to him before we assess his leadership role within the West Ham squad and how he is embracing his behind-the-scenes responsibilities as one of the more experienced heads.
Souček may only be 30 years old, but he is one of the more storied individuals within the current squad, and is one of the Club’s longest-serving players.
He is one of the leaders in Head Coach Graham Potter’s squad, having captained the team on four occasions in the Premier League last season, while our No28 is also the skipper of Ivan Hašek's Czechia national side.
The privilege of leadership brings plenty of responsibilities. For Souček, however, it is a part of the job that comes naturally. Used to being the focal point of his team from a very young age, having also captained SK Slavia Prague, he relishes the role of leader whenever he steps on to the pitch.
Approaching the start of his sixth full season in east London, Souček has almost surpassed 250 appearances for the Hammers, and his easy-going nature and sunny personality have made him a popular figure at London Stadium and Rush Green.
His experience is influential on several of our young players, and from Ollie Scarles and Freddie Potts at one end of the scale to Academy of Football youngsters such as 17-year-olds Airidas Golambeckis and Emeka Adiele, Souček is keen to ensure he continues to make a positive impact across every area of the Club going forward.
“I just want to be a positive influence, because that’s all people need sometimes,” said Souček. “I’m a person who wants to see everyone do well and become the best player and person they can possibly be on and off the pitch.
“I think that's one of my biggest strengths. It's not about how I defend, how I can score goals and how I can run.
“One of my biggest strengths is that I can make the players around me feel more confident and perform better because I try to push them to their absolute limits, and even on the pitch, I try to speak with everyone and encourage them because I'm here to help and to make the players around me be better.
“It’s one of my big motivations, to help not only the senior players but the Academy players.
“When you’re a senior player and you see young players, there are only two ways you can go about it. You can either be negative, or you can be positive and give them as much confidence as possible so they can perform to their best on the pitch, and I want to get them as confident as possible so they can flourish and be one of us in the future.
“I remember the players who really wanted to help me when I was with Slavia Prague, but I also remember the players who were negative, and I don't want to be that person because it can be a bad influence.
“I want to influence everyone as positively as possible, and I want to give them everything I had in the hope that they can achieve their own footballing dreams.
“Milan Škoda helped me a lot at Slavia Prague. He was my captain, and then I became the captain a few years later, and he was very pleased for me.
“I also had the likes of Martin Latka, Jiří Bílek and Radek Černý, who all put their arms around me and led by example.”
Like many of our players this summer, the Czech had a well-deserved summer break before returning to Rush Green on Monday 7 July.
Indeed, Souček enjoyed some quality time with his wife Natálie and three children back in his home town of Havlíčkův Brod, 75 miles south east of Prague, though he admits he was particularly keen to come back early as one of our most senior professionals.
“I’ve always tried to set an example since I arrived here and want to make the players more determined, be more as a team, be one family and make one group all together,” continued the No28. “I’ve been here for over five years now, and I’ve always tried to show the right example to everyone and always be here with my teammates.
“I had a really nice four or five weeks off after the international window with Czechia, so quite a lot of rest.
“I spent the first two weeks with my wife and three children, and the other two weeks, I started preparing for the new season as well.
“I feel great, really strong, both physically and mentally, and I’m ready for pre-season, as it’s a very important one.
“For the first week, I am positive that we are heading in the right direction, so I just hope that we stay this way.
“I want to improve myself and be the heart of the team in a positive way, and want to guide us to good performances as a team and individuals.
“I really believe the Head Coach wants to get the best from us and really wants to make the team become one group, and now we have to show the quality of the individual players we have.”
With pre-season now well underway, it is providing opportunities for a cohort of our Academy of Football youngsters to be involved in training and friendlies, with no fewer than 12 graduates and prospects part of Potter’s first-team squad in Donaueschingen.
As an experienced member of the squad, Souček admits that long spells away from loved ones can be difficult and knows some of the younger players might struggle being away from their families, but he has urged everyone to seize their chance to impress during pre-season.
“It’s great to see so many younger players on pre-season,” he said. “It just shows that we want to try to give our Academy the best possible opportunity to be a part of our first team.
“This pre-season is another motivation for young players, as they have the chance to go on pre-season, then to stay in the first team or to go out somewhere on loan after learning a lot, and then come back even stronger.
“If they work hard, they really have a chance to be with us and to be a footballer with West Ham United.
“Being a leader is something that just comes naturally to me, and even here at West Ham, I'm not the captain.
“But it doesn't matter who has the armband. We need more captains in the team and more leadership, and whenever I have the shirt on, I want to be myself and show the team that we all need to do the maximum and have these standards set in our heads.
“I'm really happy [with the young players’ performances in pre-season] so far because they’ve really tried to compare themselves to us and are trying their best so they can be the best they can be at football, but it's just been one week, so we have to work with each other more and have to spend more time together.
“I'm happy with how good the young lads are performing, and they’re really talented footballers. This is the biggest chance for them in their careers so far, and this is a massive opportunity for them, so I'm happy that they came ready from the summer break and are already impressing.
“Now is their chance to show that they are good enough to stay with us and be a part of this Club.”
