Tennis Prose




Jan/15

27

Berdych Obliterates Nadal, Now Into the Semis

P1010220
By Jayita Belcourt

History was in the making at this year’s Australian Open, as Tomas Berdych shocked a nation and made his country proud by sending world no.3 Rafael Nadal home. Bidding to reach multiple semifinals at the Australian Open for the first time, the Czech put on an impressive display to take down his opponent in straight sets 6-2, 6-0, 7-6 in the quarter-finals matchup. In doing so, Berdych has finally broken the drought of a 17-match winning streak held by the Spaniard.

Berdych needed just over 2 hours and 13 minutes to dispose of his opponent, powering down 10 aces and 46 winners to secure his place in the semi-finals. Obviously elated, the world no.7 was quick to acknowledge his own efforts, but credited his new coach Dani Vallverdu, who previously worked with Andy Murray, as pivotal to today’s win.

“He [Dani] changed a lot of things. He changed a lot of positive things. And the best is I’m really able to execute them really, really quickly. That’s how it should,” said Berdych.

“We set up before the match the right tactics. Then I was able to execute that on the court. That’s what I’m really happy. I was playing a really good game.”

And execute he sure did. Just like a perfectly scripted fairytale story, Berdych dominated the first two sets overpowering the Spaniard with his aggressive forehand and striking serves, leaving little room for Nadal to get into play and find his rhythm. The crowd sat in disbelief as the world’s most beloved Spaniard coped a beating. However, the tides started to turn in the third set, with more aggressive shot selection and a resurgence of Nadal’s fighting spirit, the match went into a tie-breaker.

But again, with more strong play from Berdych, Nadal trailed 2-5 in the tie-breaker. It looked like an upset on Rod Laver was inevitable. At the change of ends, Nadal appeared to find a new burst of energy, jumping around, fist-pumping and chanting his ‘cmons’ with a glimmer of hope of getting back into the match. Acutely aware of the dynamics of the game, Berdych remained resolute at the task at hand.

“I was able to keep going with the same plan all the way through the match. Even though that it was the first two sets kind of looks easy, you know, but you’re playing Rafa and you know what kind of opponent he is and you have to be ready for anything,” Berdych explained.

“Until the last point you can’t think about anything else. You have to really keep going til the last one [point].”

“So you know, that’s why I keep myself really focused and kept going all the way to the end and trying to make my chances. Even though he just changed a couple of things – he gets better in the third set – but still I was able to finish it and close it up in three sets”.

The Australian Open has been a very promising start to the 2015 season for Berdych. Recently relegating Australian Bernard Tomic out of the tournament in convincing form in the fourth round, the talented Czech is through to the semifinals without dropping a set for the 3rd consecutive year.

Noteworthy is that Berdych’s best result at a major is runner-up at 2010 Wimbledon where he defeated Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic on-route to the finals, eventually losing to Rafael Nadal.

So having taken down his most difficult opponent to date, can Berdych take out his first major title here in Australia?

When posed this question to the world no.3, he wasn’t so certain. Graciously acknowledging a solid game from his opponent, the Spaniard believes his lack-lustre performance in the first two sets played a big part in today’s results. Coupled with the number of high calibre players remaining in the tournament, some of which have Grand Slam titles under their belt, Nadal believes only time will tell.

“He played well, obvious. But my feeling was that I help him a lot in the beginning, no? Is easier to play well when you are up in the score, one break up, two breaks up from beginning of event set, no? That’s a big deal, big difference,” Nadal said.

“Tomas is a very regular [consistent] player that he deserves to be there. He has been in the top positions of the rankings for a long, long time, being very regular, being very professional on what he’s doing. So he deserves that.”

“I don’t know if he can go all the way to win this. There’s so many good players there that are playing very well. Andy is playing well. It’s true that Tomas is playing well. Just happy to see the way that the tournament develops. The best players are there fighting for the tournament.”

And yes, true, only time will tell whether Berdych can go all the way.

In his tracks will be the feisty Scotsman, Andy Murray who put on an equally impressive display, sending Nick Kyrios home with a straight set victory 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 booking a place in his 15th Grand Slam semifinal. Murray, bidding to claim his first Australian Open title, is acutely aware of the threat Berdych poses.

“He [Berdych] is a big guy. He strikes the ball very well. Yeah he serves well. Yeah, he’s fairly calm on court. I think he manages emotions fairly well. And yeah, he’s obviously played extremely well this tournament so far,” Murray said.

“He’ll be coming into the match with confidence.”

No tags

17 comments

  • Scoop Malinowski · January 27, 2015 at 10:46 am

    Korda won his first major late. So did Wawrinka. Maybe it’s Berdych’s turn. No doubt he has the goods to be a major champion.

  • Andrew Miller · January 27, 2015 at 11:06 am

    Berdych really executed. He kept going to plan a . The sustained belief that he could hit his shots seemed to make a difference.

  • Gaurang · January 27, 2015 at 1:43 pm

    Its going to be a great match with Murray. I just checked their head-to-head — 6 vs 4 in favor of Berdych! I didnt remember that Berdych had a winning record against Andy (though I did remember a couple of his wins), and that he has won their last 2 matches.

    Its going to be a great match — hard to call. I would put it square at 50-50. Murray can disturb the opponents rhythm by changing speed/spin/length during a rally so its always hard to bet against him when he is playing well.

  • Gaurang · January 27, 2015 at 1:47 pm

    Oh there’s this other angle to this match — Dani Vallverdu was working Andy Murray before joining as Berdych’s coach, so he may know Murray’s weaknesses. And plan a perfect strategy for Berdych!

  • Scoop Malinowski · January 27, 2015 at 2:47 pm

    Gaurang, Murray and Berd don’t really have a glaring weakness to exploit, the rivalry stands at 64 which shows it basically comes down to who plays a little bolder, sharper and better on that given day. I’d be shocked if Vallverdu has some kind of secret blueprint which will give Berd an easy win. Expect another close hard fought battle and the best man on the particular day will prevail.

  • Illuminatus · January 28, 2015 at 9:14 am

    IMO – berd’s got a good chance to the final but not against neither wawa or djoko…unless he takes metabolic / anabolic super-chargers before the match !

  • Scoop Malinowski · January 28, 2015 at 7:57 pm

    MARDY FISH RETURNS. Will play at Indian Wells. Maybe the shocker of the year.

  • Scoop Malinowski · January 28, 2015 at 9:04 pm

    Mardy Fish returns. To play Indian Wells.

  • Dan Markowitz · January 29, 2015 at 9:07 am

    Scoop, that is shocking. And you are breaking the news here at Tennis-Prose.com. Hopefully, I will be in the press box or in the stands for Mardy’s first match at Indy Wells and I’ll try to pull a Lloyd Carroll in the presser after Mardy’s match and get down to what has been going on with Mardy these last 18 months.

    Fish comes back I guess with a protected ranking of #25.

  • EddietheEagle · January 29, 2015 at 10:25 am

    Berdych defused, dismantled, befuddled. A huge victory for Murray today, a mental test passed with flying colours where he fought as much for the honour of his coach and his choice of her, as for the glory of reaching another grand slam final. This was personal because there’s form between these two.

  • Scoop Malinowski · January 29, 2015 at 10:26 am

    Got the info from Fish twitter yesterday.

  • Andrew Miller · January 29, 2015 at 11:20 am

    The Fish farewell tour begins, good on him to end his career right way. Hewitt’s just started and ends at Australian 2016, after which he takes the Davis Cup captain job from Wally Masur. Good player that Masur.

  • Scoop Malinowski · January 29, 2015 at 12:48 pm

    Hewitt did not commit to retire after the next Aus Open Andrew, he said he would decide then. The door is still open. I believe Hewitt will continue to fight on for as long as he possibly can.

  • Andrew Miller · January 29, 2015 at 1:20 pm

    Scoop – sorry to say this but it looks like Hewitt will end his career at the end of the 2016 Australian Open, making it 20 Australian Opens for him. This looks like the final push: 12 months, goal of the Davis Cup victory, any tournament wins along the way and capping it off with an Australian run with the crowd more than behind him. This is a well-planned goodbye. Looking at Masur, it’s clear he probably doesn’t want this role for more than 1 year. This also puts special pressure on Groth, Kyrgios and Kokkinakis to commit in a push to win the Davis Cup.

    This seems like a well thought out plan!

    Video from the Australian Open, below.

    http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/video/index.html?id=fiy4tilc5fd9ssahyofnwuqrpq4vzicv

    Hewitt flags retirement after next Australian Open
    BY IAN RANSOM
    MELBOURNE Thu Jan 29, 2015 6:11am EST

    (Reuters) – Two-time grand slam champion Lleyton Hewitt has flagged his retirement after a record 20th campaign at his home Australian Open next year.

    Hewitt, who has battled a number of injuries in recent years and will be 34 next month, was knocked out of the second round of this year’s campaign at Melbourne Park.

    “I’ve thought long and hard. I plan to play the Aussie Open next year and most likely finish then,” the former world number one told reporters at Melbourne Park on Thursday.

    “Personally I’ll be looking towards the grass court season and most likely finishing here in Melbourne, which for me would obviously be special to play 20 Australian Opens.”

    Australia’s last men’s grand slam champion, who won the 2001 U.S. Open and 2002 Wimbledon, said he hoped to help Australia in their Davis Cup campaign, believing the team had a “genuine shot” with young talents like Nick Kyrgios rising to the fore.

    Once his playing career is up, Hewitt will take over the Davis Cup captaincy, outgoing captain Pat Rafter told reporters.

    Rafter, promoted to director of performance at Tennis Australia, said he was stepping down from the Davis Cup captaincy with Wally Masur taking on the role in an interim capacity until Hewitt was ready to take over.”

  • Dan Markowitz · January 29, 2015 at 1:31 pm

    Hewitt just loves playing. It’s very interesting to see him in Newport where he brings his whole family. He’s got this deep bond with Chris Guccione, his doubles partner, and former Aussie players like Roche and even Jaymon Crabb, who was coaching him last year. If anyone’s going to pull a Connors and play till he’s 40 I think it’s Hewitt, who really personifies Jimbo in today’s game, although he’s not nearly as good or as much of a personality as Connors. With Connors, even when he retired at 40, he still played awfully well up until 45 or so on his seniors tour, destroyed guys like Borg and Vilas, left them in his dust, and even stayed competitive with Johnny Mac at the beginning.

  • Andrew Miller · January 29, 2015 at 5:41 pm

    Dan, you and Scoop both may be right, but the signs in Australia are that a deal is more or less in place. It’s strange for an entire tennis body’s leadership – Rafter, Masur and Hewitt, to hold a press conference. Out of the blue.

    Tipping the hand if you ask me, but then again they could be making alternative arrangements in the event Hewitt opts to keep playing. Maybe if he sees Haas pull another big slam result he’ll think otherwise, but Hewitt’s trajectory on the flip side of his playing days looks a lot more like Michael Chang than it does Agassi.

  • Scoop Malinowski · January 29, 2015 at 7:16 pm

    Andrew, Chang was not winning titles at the end, Hewitt won three last year. I find it curious that Rafter willingly left, though he got a promotion out of the deal. But couldn’t he have handled both gigs? There does seem an urgency to get Hewitt in as the captain. Maybe Rafter and Kyrgios don’t get along, maybe the players wanted Hewitt. Definitely a surprise moves with the Australian Davis Cup team. Looks like we will see Hewitt in Newport again.

<<

>>

Find it!

Copyright 2010
Tennis-Prose.com
To top