And with the victory in Madrid he has claimed the Number 2 spot from Rafa.
A very productive afternoon for Roger Federer in Madrid. Not only is he #2 but he now holds the record for the number of Masters Titles, 20.
It was not all plain sailing for Federer, he had to work to get his hands on the rather unusual Mutua Madrid Open trophy.
It took a fightback from a set down to beat against Tomas Berdych 3-6, 7-5, 7-5. Is this the first step towards reclaiming the coveted World Number One spot and break Pete Sampras’ record?
Naturally Roger was very pleased with his afternoon’s work.
It is amazing to win here again,”
“It has been a tough tournament. Tough to move, but you’ve got to try to make the most of it. Here there was some good tennis and some bad tennis, but you see that in all tournaments.”
Berdych was understandably disappointed
“I would just say that it was a very close game,”
“You sometimes need to make those small adjustments to win a match like this, but it wasn’t my case today.
“The week was great until the last day, right now I am really upset and I am sad because of how I finished it. I lost the final but in a couple of hours I am going to see it in a more positive way. I had a great week, I beat a lot of great guys and made it to the finals.”
Let’s see how Rafa responds and if Novak can build on his lead as Number One. It is going to be tense over the next month in Rome & Paris.
Novak Djokovic is just hanging in during his semifinal match currently underway at the Monte Carlo Country Club. Djokovic lost the first set 6-4 and is current 3-0 in the second set, even though Tomas Berdych has had break points in both of Djokovic’s service games.
It is very blustery conditions in Monte Carlo and the court surface has given the players a lot of trouble in this match and previously in the week.
Its going to be very interesting to see if Djokovic can come back.
Tomas Berdych acted like a child at the Australian Open 2012 and was booed off court after Nicolas Almagro hit a ball that struck Berdych during a point toward the end of the fourth set. Berdych thought this was done deliberately, but come on its a serious game of tennis and you need to do whatever you have to do to win.
Almagro put the shot away and then approached the net to apologize, but Berdych didn’t respond to him.
We have reached the last tournament of the ATP season featuring the 8 best players of the year competing for the ultimate honor in men’s tennis. Let’s take a look at the two groups and who will feature in each one.
Group A:
1. Novak Djokovic
3. Andy Murray
5. David Ferrer
7. Tomas Berdych
Group B:
2. Rafael Nadal
4. Roger Federer
6. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
8. Mardy Fish
Play is due to start on Sunday November 20, 2011 at 7 am Eastern time with coverage being streamed on the Tennis Channel in the US. First up is Group B with Federer vs Tsonga and later on Nadal vs Fish. There should be some very good tennis up on display during the week and it will be exciting to see which of the Top 4 will hold up best, or if a dark horse should emerge from the shadows to claim the title at this year’s year-ending championships. Stay tuned!
After losing to Tomas Berdych in the Paris Masters quarterfinals, Andy Murray complained that his opponent should not have been given three new balls during the third set of their match. While facing two break points, the umpire Fergus Murphy gave Berdych new balls because he complained that those were too soft. Here is what the Brit had to say:
“Tomas decided that the balls were too soft—which they weren’t,” asserted Murray. “The umpire gave him three brand new balls to serve with … I wasn’t aware that they were just changing three brand new balls. Then that totally changed the way the ball plays and the court plays. That was what happened. I just asked, ‘Is it not normal to let the opponent also see the balls?”
Murray then also received a warning for his behavior towards the umpire, ”Actually I said bollocks to the chair umpire and that got me a warning. I have been to watch a lot of football matches and you say a lot worse than that and you don’t get yellow card,” he said.
Despite all the commotion, Berdych won the match with a score of 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 and Murray went home the loser. If you ask me, Murray is just wasting his time complaining about this and should think about his next tournament. What happened, happened and no excuse is going to help him win the match. Both players played with the new balls and Berdych was the one who handled it better, end of story.
Here is a little clip from the 2010 ATP year end finals in London. I love it when they ask players funny and embarrassing questions.. makes them a little bit more human and you can relate.
The injury list for the US Open is growing by the day, so it is going to be a very interesting tournament. The only top male player not on the list is Roger Federer.
Novak Djokovic – Shoulder and general fatigue. Has had some issues with patella tendinitis this season
Rafael Nadal – Large burn blisters on fingers and left foot
Andy Murray – Sore arm
Mardy Fish – Heel
Tomas Berdych – Shoulder
Robin Soderling – Wrist – he has announced he will travel to NYC
Jo Wilfried Tsonga – Arm. Ultrasound showed no muscle tear after he withdrew in Montreal.
Andy Roddick – Recently pulled out of Montreal with an oblique but played in Cincinnati.
Milos Raonic – Recovering from hip surgery
David Ferrer – Recovering from hairline fracture in left hand
Tommy Robredo – Withdrawn – Ongoing groin issues
Sam Querrey – Withdrawn – Recovering from elbow surgery (spurs)
Juan Carlos Ferrero – Recovering from multiple injuries
Both Li Na and Petra Kvitova have confirmed that they will be playing at the Hopman Cup next January.
Li Na will play for China with Wu Di and Kvitova with Tomas Berdych. The Kvitova and Berdych combination are going to be extremely hard to beat!
Additionally, it will be interesting to see how Australia do with Lleyton Hewitt and Jarmila Gajdosova. I would have much rather seen Bernard Tomic and Samantha Stosur play for Australia!!
Nike Sport will start offering tennis players with their own ability to customise their Nike Zoom Breathe 2K11 iD shoe. Any colour combination, any way you want.
The Nike Zoom Breathe 2K11 iD shoe is worn by Juan Martin del Potro and Tomas Berdych as well as many other players.
Tomas Berdych debuted his new racquet at the Rogers Cup last week and it seem to somehow improved his game. Berdych lost in the quarterfinals to Janko Tipsarevic 6-4 6-4, but it looks promising for Tomas.
The racquet is the HEAD YouTek™ IG Instinct MP.
This racquet is already used by Tomas Berdych and Maria Sharapova, so if your a top level player it might be worth checking it out. Currently they are on sale on Tennis Warehouse for $169.95
Petra Kvitova and Tomas Berdych will be representing the Czech Republic at this years Hopman Cup. Both players are within the top 10 in the world and it is going to be amazingly difficult to beat them.
“They are both thrilled by the idea,” said Miroslav Cernosek, who acts as the pair’s agent.
“Mixed doubles will definitely be a very attractive event at the Olympics, with players like (Roger) Federer and (Martina) Hingis taking part,” said Cernosek.
The Hopman Cup, held in Perth from December 31 to January 7.
Well the French Open 2011 Day 2 had a great deal of expectations, with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic in action. Federer and Djokovic didn’t disappoint.
Roger Federer had a tough first round match against Feliciano Lopez and it seemed that Federer was always up for the challenge. Roger played very solid and it seemed like Lopez couldnt really handle the pressure. Roger won in a very close straight set match 6-3 6-4 7-6.
It was a very similar story for Novak Djokovic. Djokovic is on an amazing run in 2011 and is still undefeated. Novak was up against Thiemo De Bakker a young Dutch player who seemed a little to eratic on the clay. Novak won the match 6-2 6-1 6-3.
In most of the other mens singles matches today the favoured players got through, apart from Tomas Berdych (6) who fell to Stephane Robert of France in an amazing five set match. 3-6 3-6 6-2 6-2 9-7.
Womens Singles:
On the womens side there were a lot of strong performances from the top players. Caroline Wozniacki, Marion Bartoli, Francesca Schiavone, Vera Zvonareva and Petra Kvitova all won.
The only upset of the day was Nadia Petrova (26) who lost in three tough sets, 6-7 6-3 6-4.
Overall:
It was a great day for all the main seeds as a whole they performed very well. The outstanding players of the day Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Francesca Schiavone.
Schiavone looked very strong in her match today. She didnt play amazingly well, but she played very solid on the clay and looked at home. If I was a betting man I would pop a few quid on Schiavone to get back to back titles.
In recognition of the new presenting sponsorship of Rogers Cup presented by National Bank in Toronto, world No. 8 Tomas Berdych will join Tennis Canada and National Bank Financial to open trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Monday.
On the back of making the Wimbledon final, Tomas Berdych has decided to take a little break and ruled himself out of the Czech Republic’s Davis Cup quarterfinal against Chile because of an abdominal muscle injury.
“If I have a problem, it’s this muscle,” Berdych told Czech public radio on Sunday just hours after losing the Wimbledon final to Rafael Nadal 6-3, 7-5, 6-4.
“The windy conditions [in the match] contributed to it,” Berdych said. “There are so many matches but I have just one body. Nobody’s a machine to cope with everything.”
On Facebook, the Czech team said that Berdych will take a three-week rest after his first Grand Slam final.
The Czech team will now consist of Jan Hajek and Ivo Minar, with Lukas Dlouhy and Frantisek Cermak teaming up for the doubles.
Congratulations to Rafael Nadal who is Wimbledon Mens Singles champion for 2010!
Rafael Nadal is again the Mens singles champion at Wimbledon. Nadal defeated Tomas Berdych 6-3 7-5 6-4. Nadal played some very solid tennis today, but Berdych just looked a little over-awed and didn’t play his best tennis today.
Nadal is now tied with Fred Perry, Ken Rosewall, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl and Andre Agassi on the all-time Grand Slam list with his eight major titles. However, if I was a betting man I would put my money on Nadal to move to nine Grand Slam titles at this years US Open.
Roger Federer was outed at Wimbledon yesterday by Tomas Berdych 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. The 6 time champion Federer just had no answers for the big serving of the Czech player.
After the match Federer had this to say in the interview.
Q. You beat him almost every time you played him. Was he any different?
ROGER FEDERER: Like I said, I think he was a bit more consistent than in the past. I lost to him in Miami this year, where it was a really tight match as well. But from my end, obviously, you know, I’m unhappy with the way I’m playing. I couldn’t play the way I wanted to play. You know, I am struggling with a little bit of a back and a leg issue. That just doesn’t quite allow me to play the way I would like to play. So it’s frustrating, to say the least. Looking forward to some rest anyway.
Q. How do those physical things affect you the most?
ROGER FEDERER: Well, when you’re hurting, it’s just a combination of many things. You know, you just don’t feel as comfortable. You can’t concentrate on each and every point because you do feel the pain sometimes. And, uhm, yeah, then you tend to play differently than the way you want to play. Under the circumstances I think I played a decent match, you know. But I’ve been feeling bad for the last two, three matches now. It’s just not good and healthy to play under these kind of conditions, you know. So if there’s anything good about this it’s I’m gonna get some rest, that’s for sure.
It was great to see yesterday Robin Soderling turn around his result from last year and defeat Roger Federer in 4 sets. The score was 3-6 6-3 7-5 6-4. What a great result for Soderling! Now he plays Tomas Berdych in the semifinals.
