Channel 9 In Australia Will Not Cover Wimbledon

Channel 9 in Australia recently confirmed that they will not be renewing their rights to cover The Wimbledon Championships next year.

Covering the year’s third Grand Slam for 40 years, Channel 9 has decided to focus its attention on more popular sports.

“Unfortunately it hasn’t rated well in recent years and we think that money is now better invested on other sporting properties,” said a spokesperson for Channel 9.

Nicolas Mahut: From Top to Bottom

A show of hands out there for those of you who have ever went on a “big” first date.

I’m not referring to a drive in movie and box of Smarties, or slaving over two perfect plates of Fusilli Bucati and a nice bottle of ice wine.

The impressiveness of limo service, a five star restaurant, a Broadway show, and maybe even a helicopter ride around the skyline of a metropolitan city sounds more in line with an evening to remember.

How many hands are still in the air?

Of course, I’m not claiming to be a dating specialist, or know the ins and outs of how to prepare pasta in any al dente form. But, what I am familiar with, and I’m pretty sure Nicolas Mahut is reminded of each and everyday, is the unfortunate repercussions of ending something on an extreme high—it only makes the fall that much more painful.

Although the Frenchman lost the longest match in tennis history to John Isner a little over three week’s ago at Wimbledon, one can’t help but wonder if Mahut will ever come close to the level of success and attention that he received at the world’s biggest tournament?

Living in obscurity for the better part of his tenor on Tour, Mahut briefly occupied a top 40 position before injuries and a dip in confidence knocked him out of the top 100.

However, during those three seemingly fabled days on Court 18 at the All England Club, Mahut’s Challenger level resume was transformed into the talk of the sports world. Becoming the pulse of England for those three days, the 28-year-old would finally exit the second-to-last court on the premises in tearful fashion. Mahut would forever write his name in the record books for something that will likely never happen again, even though that final passing shot will likely haunt him every time he ventures towards the net.

With all of the well-deserved praise and pats-on-the-back that Mahut received after his classic with Isner, it will be interesting to follow the Frenchman from here-on-in, and keep track of his tournament results. It goes without saying that Mahut will likely never win a Grand Slam event or even a Masters 1000 title. Although I was flabbergasted at times when he drilled backhands down-the-line at a ridiculous 55-all in the fifth set, I just can’t see his game translating into a deep charge in a premier tournament.

What’s more troubling when attempting to predict how the Frenchman will rebound from his cross-Atlantic loss, is whether or not he will be able to mentally reclaim a top 100 position. We are readily reminded from an early age that: “Whatever doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger,” but something tells me that Mahut would have rather not learned a trying lesson against Isner, and would’ve preferred to come away as the somersault winner.

We saw Mahut donate articles of his Wimbledon whites to the Tennis Hall of Fame during his trip to Newport last week. Although that gesture from Mahut will live in the archives of the venue for years to come, I really felt for the guy as he posed for a mandatory photo op with a generous wide smile.

Losing in the second-round of Newport, Mahut currently stands at 3-4 on the year, while holding a ranking of No. 148. He will be forced to play qualifying for the US Open in August—did we forget to mention that he won a 24-22 second-round qualifying match at Wimbledon?—and it’s also unlikely that he’ll make the cut for the forthcoming Masters events in North America.

If there’s any sort of solace for Mahut to walk away with at this point, it’s that he does have a certain (you would hope so) level of name recognition that he can ride after his Wimbledon performance. There are no guarantees as to how long that will last, considering his inactivity during the world’s premier events. But considering the Frenchman’s work ethic, which was displayed by his willingness to dive across Court 18 in his fifth set against Isner, he will likely continue to provide himself with ample opportunities to win matches.

Starting at the top and heading to the bottom is never an easy proposition for anyone to endure. The journey is seldom felt, and even when success is achieved, the appreciation for what took place is not immediately absorbed.

For Mahut, his challenge heading into the latter stages of his career will be to pinpoint the positives that occurred throughout his historic Wimbledon loss.

He was the fresher of the two players throughout; meaning that he should never get tired in future drawn out matches. His mental fortitude lasted more than three days, which would suggest that his future opponents will take note of his unbreakable focus. And finally, Mahut showed that he had the heart and charisma both during and after his defeat. That would unanimously suggest that fans across the globe (hopefully) will remember his efforts for quite sometime.

There’s no doubt that Mahut won’t find too many shoulders to lean on when trying to cope with a loss of this magnitude. Simply put, no other player—except of Isner—has ever played a match anywhere close to its vicinity.

It’s difficult to gauge at his point, but Mahut might have been better off ordering in some takeout, instead of opting for the house special.

Wimbledon Review: Part 2

Last time we looked at those who either met or exceeded their Wimbledon expectations. However, one player’s success at a major comes at another’s expense, and a surprise victory by one guy requires him to disrupt another’s plans. Here are some guys who left SW19 with regrets, and what we can expect from them on firmer footing.

Roger Federer: There certainly have been better times to be The Great Swiss. After a triumphant turn Down Under, Federer has not won a single tournament and has lost at the quarterfinal stage of the last two majors. That said, when one looks at each of the matches he’s lost this year —from Marcos Baghdatis in Indian Wells to Lleyton Hewitt in Halle—one sees that each match was competitive.

Even his four-set loss to Tomas Berdych at the All-England Club went four sets and Federer had break points as the Czech was trying to serve the match out. This indicates that a piece of the puzzle is missing, and if he finds it he’ll be back in the last weekend of majors.
I can’t tell you what that piece is, though; if Federer could tell us we probably wouldn’t be having to ask him about it.

The US Open is a month and a half away, and question is whether or not he can take the steps required to put himself back in contention there. His five straight titles from 2004-08 indicate that the surface suits his game just as well as grass and, as a bonus, suits Rafael Nadal’s game not so well.

However, it was at last year’s Open that the alarming trend of big guys with really big forehands who could simply hit through Federer’s more complete game began. Now a little more than a year removed from 30, the Swiss seems less able to counter their pace through defense, variety, and sheer wiliness.

He could hit the weight room, believing that greater strength would help him ward off the physical beating guys like Robin Soderling and Tomas Berdych inflict. He could also try updating his racket with more head space to improve his margin for error.
However, both of those steps require an adjustment that Federer probably won’t be interested in taking on with less than two months to go before the year’s last major, and a series of minor events to play between now and then.

One positive sign: A year and a half ago, with Nadal dominating the tour and questions about Federer’s ability to counter him circulating, the Swiss said that he had to work on his serve. A couple of months later, he was winning the Roland Garros final without being broken and then hitting 50 aces on the way to an epic Wimbledon triumph.

Federer has probably retreated after Wimbledon, looking to tweak some part of his game that has struggled as of late in time to reassert himself in New York. He’ll be 29 by then, so whether a technical fix is enough is the big question.

Robin Soderling: In many ways this was a successful Wimbledon for the Le Sod, who made American veteran Robbie Ginepri and up-and-coming Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci look well out of their weight classes in week one. Then he raced out to a 5-0 lead in the first set against Nadal and it looked like he was set to repeat the feat of Jim Courier in 1993: proving that on grass, the Big Forehand is the new first volley.
However, even in taking the first set of that match, Soderling ceded the momentum by allowing Nadal to grab back one break, and he facilitated that break by going for a reckless second serve ace down break point.

When Nadal is being outslugged he will, much like Andre Agassi used to, land little jabs that he can hopefully add to later. As the match progresses, and he starts forcing the big guy to run more, those little jabs add up and soon his opponent finds that he’s bruised all over.
Soderling did have a hurt foot, but the amount of running Nadal made him do probably had a lot to do with that.

Soderling’s lack of finesse and mobility don’t look good for his chances of winning a major one day. If he doesn’t learn to recognize a match’s critical points and play them accordingly, he has probably peaked. That realization is disappointing indeed.

Andy Roddick: To find a moment in the American’s career as low as this one, you have to go back pretty far. His early loss at Wimbledon 2008 was a setback, but he had recently missed several months due to a back injury.

His 2007 Wimbledon loss to Richard Gasquet had a remarkably similar score to his defeat this year against Lu Yen-Hsun, but that was against a young prodigy with vast quantities of untapped talent, not a 26-year-old journeyman whose heart and scrappiness masked a lack of offensive weapons.
Roddick’s preparation for this Wimbledon was not ideal, but we should explore his reasons for doing so. In 2008 he attempted to play a fuller season on the clay, which blunts his serve and requires more effort from him. What Roddick, then 25 (middle age for tennis pros) got for his troubles was the back injury that kept him out of Paris and sent him packing early in London.

Reviewing Wimbledon: Part 1

It’s too early to make predictions for the US Open; I think they at least have to play the Master’s Series events in Canada and Cincinnati before we do that. That’s especially true now that the defending champion of the event won’t be playing it due to injury, the player who has dominated the event in the past decade is slumping, and the man dominating the tour at the moment hasn’t been past the semis there.

But one thing we can do is look at the players who made a splash at this year’s Wimbledon, where they stand now, and what they need to do between now and then to be ideally prepared for the year’s last major. We start with none other than …

*Rafael Nadal*: After winning his eighth major and solidifying his stature as the game’s No. 1, we’ve seen a few, including (sigh) Chris Chase speculating about whether the Spaniard can match Roger Federer’s 16 Grand Slam wins.

Let me be emphatic: We should not be talking about this yet. It’s been five years since Nadal won his first major and he now has eight; he’s also been through a grocery list of injuries in that time and is having to schedule more and more carefully to avoid hurting himself. For now, let’s focus on a few other goals that more attainable but far from automatic.

First of all there’s the US Open, the one major he hasn’t won. This year is reminiscent of 2008 in more ways than one, now that Nadal has completed the Channel Slam for the second time and has firmly established himself as the best in the world. He fell short that year, losing to Andy Murray in the semis, saying later that the season had finally caught up with him and he had “nothing left.”

The US Open’s position as the last major of the year is always going to be tough for the player who works hardest on the court, and it’s surface is both faster than Nadal’s liking and least forgiving of his brittle joints.

This year is different from 2008 in one key respect: no Summer Olympics, meaning the Spaniard won’t be flying halfway around the world to win one more event before the Open starts, thus tiring himself out even more. That should work in his favor, but if he’s going to win the Open, it’ll probably need to be in the next couple of years, and need to be accomplished by weathering the storm of huge, flat hitter who pushes him to the distance.

Rafa’s goals for the near future are probably to grab that US Open trophy and break Bjorn Borg’s record at Roland Garros. That would give him three more majors, which would also equal Borg’s GS total. If he achieves that in the next couple of years, then we can start talking about the possibility of him equaling Pete Sampras total. Then, and only then, would I start talking about him matching Federer’s total, and that’s assuming the Swiss hasn’t added to it.

*Tomas Berdych*: In between the stretches in which he appeared completely unnerved by the setting of the Wimbledon final, the big Czech looked as though he were capable of really hurting Nadal with his serve. He probably could have made a great match of it had he saved his best performance for final Sunday and raised his game for the big occasion; in other words, if he’d been a bit more like Nadal.

It goes without saying by this point that Nadalian characteristics, especially mental ones, aren’t that common. Berdych’s success on the grass (and his semifinal appearance) on the clay of Paris have contributed to his having a ranking of No. 8, and should make him confident going into the
summer hard court season (where he’s beaten Nadal twice).

New York fast courts should reward his serving and flat hitting, but will be hard on his slim physique. That bad news is that he’s never been past the fourth round there, but the good news is that he’d never been past the fourth of Roland Garros or the quarters of Wimbledon before this year.

*Andy Murray: *Britain’s No. 1 showed up at Wimbledon playing well, wasn’t overwhelmed by the occasion, and showed no fear of Rafael Nadal in the semis. In that sense, the fact that he lost in straight sets is all the more disheartening, as it appears he couldn’t have done much of anything better.

With Darren Cahill now at his side, the Scot has a lot of defense to play in North America, both in the sense that he’s defending points from his victory in Canada last year and must prove that he’s still a threat at the majors. Should he take good care of his body, though, a better result than last year’s fourth round showing at the Open should be a given, and it’s speed will make it more possible for him to take time away from guys with big forehands.

*Novak Djokovic: *After an early struggle with Oliver Rochus, who has a history of causing struggles for the Serb, Djokovic looked awfully good for four rounds, outdueling the hot grasscourt hand Lleyton Hewitt in the fourth and obliterating Andy Roddick’s conqueror Lu Yen-Hsun in the quarters.

Then, against Berdych in the semis, he simply didn’t have the answers. Berdych’s game had a lot to do with that, as he hits winners with ease, punishes weak serving, and offers few opportunities on his own service game.

What was most discouraging about that result, though, was how Djokovic responded to the loss of the second set. His body language suggested defeat was inevitable, and he surrendered his final break of service by double-faulting. True, he has struggled with his serve ever since Todd Martin made the odd choice of trying to tweak it, but the direction of that last double and his reaction to it suggested not so much a technical breakdown as indifference.

And the 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 scoreline was depressingly similar to his loss to Marat Safin at Wimbledon 2008 (6-4, 7-6, 6-2). This, combined with his early (but thankfully not recent) tendency toward withdrawals suggests that, once he falls behind, Djokovic is already thinking about his next match.

That mentality bodes more ill than his serving woes or breathing problems.

*Lu Yen-Hsun:* Kudos to the man from Taoyuan for his big fourth round win over Roddick. That said, whenever a little-known player scores a big win over a big name, there’s a simple test for predicting where they go from here: Listen to the commentators, the coaches, or the other players to see if they say this little-known player has the biggest or best (insert shot) or the best or most (insert attribute) on tour.

No one was saying anything like that about Lu, which made his beating at the hands of Djokovic easy to anticipate. His age (26) also suggests that he won’t be back.

I’ll be back later to give similar treatment to players who had a disappointing Wimbledon.

Mahut Donates Apparel to HOF

After taking part in the longest match in history with John Isner at Wimbledon, Frenchman Nicolas Mahut recently donated his competitive shirt and one of his shoes to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I.

Mahut, who ended up losing the match to Isner after 11 hours and five minutes, was honored to have his memorabilia represent the classic encounter.

“The Museum at the International Tennis Hall of Fame is an incredible landmark for the game of tennis. I am humbled and honoured to have a piece of history from my career on display alongside memorabilia from the game’s greatest stars,” said Mahut.

Mahut is currently ranked No. 144 in the world and will face No. 3 seed Alejandro Falla in first-round action.

Quotes from atpworldtour.com.

Radio Podcast: July 5, 2010—Wimbledon Wrap Up

The A.E.L.T.C. will rest for another year, while the covers will be laid back on the bruised grass-courts of SW19.  Nima and Dan are back in action to wrap up an eventful fortnight which featured: Rafa’s dominance, Berdych’s final showing, and of course Federer’s outlook after his quarterfinal exit.

As always, you can alternatively listen to the #1 tennis PodCast via iTunes and never miss another episode. It is very easy and completely free.

Wimbledon Day 13 Blog: Halfway to History

Wimbledon—London, England

Could it be that at the ripe old age of 24, Rafael Nadal has already began his race against history, and not against defeating his on-court opponents?

Capturing his second Grand Slam title of 2010 on Sunday over Tomas Berdych at Wimbledon, Nadal pocketed his eighth Major championship, while leaving the window wide open for a march towards Roger Federer’s total of 16 titles.

With his dominating straight set win over the Czech, Nadal currently holds two more Majors than Federer did at 24.

Nadal’s ability to fight through the 128-man field, and display the courage and resilience to remain the last man standing at the end of a fortnight will likely continue.

Watching the Spaniard pick apart Berdych’s in form game, I couldn’t help but wonder if and when Nadal could potentially reach Federer’s mark of 16 Majors? I’m in no way stating that I believe that Federer is done winning big titles—because I don’t—but we must also not shy away from the overall mark of 16 titles when predicting what the future may entail, because unknown number aren’t helpful.

It would truly be a monumental feat if Nadal could continue to fight through the grinding Tour calender, and remain competitive until he was well into his 30s. I personally don’t believe that he will be able to play that long—especially with the brand of tennis that he chooses to play—but then again, the future remains an unknown commodity.

However, Nadal likely has at least five good year’s left in his body, which would leave him with 21 more Slams at his disposal, including this year’s US Open.

Hard-courts will always be difficult for Nadal to complete on, simply because of the stiff and pounding nature of the surface. Nadal has poured in more than respectable results on the asphalt, including his 2009 Australian Open victory. But when considering that seven of his eight Majors have come on either clay or grass, there’s no mystery that further hard-court success will be difficult to come by.

Not losing his serve against Berdych throughout his victory, Nadal showcased his continued strength at out-thinking his opponents. Nadal’s serve has never been the overpowering bullet that so many of the top players posses, but what he achieves perhaps better than any other player is the innate knowledge of knowing where the return is headed. Sprinting over to defend the second shot of his service games, Nadal either quickly takes the offense in a point, or better yet neutralizes his opponents by forcing them into drawn out rallies.

Nadal will have to address his point composition (and length of each point he plays) going forward in his career, especially if he intends on sustaining the health of his knees.

Saving all four of his break points against Berdych, Nadal was optimistic on his return games by converting on four of seven break chances. Not losing a set to Berdych since 2006, Nadal has won an incredible 17 straight sets against the Czech. Appearing relaxed throughout his second career Euro Slam march, Nadal provided the on-court crowd with a forward somersault dive and fist pump to commemorate his successful campaign.

Admitting that a US Open triumph remains the top goal for the remainder of his career, Nadal went onto suggest that his immediate future will include some much deserved R&R.

“Right now I’m very happy to win Wimbledon. Yeah (smiling). We gonna think about US Open in one month. Right now we just relax and enjoy for me this amazing season,” said Nadal.

“Was very difficult for me to be back at my best. I did, so is very important and emotional moment for me. I want to enjoy that. For sure, keep working to try to be in the US Open finally ready to try to win. But for sure US Open gonna be one of my goals for rest of my career.

“But right now is enjoy the beach, fishing, golf, friends, party, and Mallorca.”

It remains to be seen if Nadal can cap off his fantastic return to dominance by taking home his first US Open title. However, what does seem apparent from the jaguar-quick Mallorcan is his balanced and professional lifestyle.

His family life seems to be in order after a trying ‘09. His tournament schedule appears ready to morph around his health, and his already invincible game still has room for improvement.

If anything, Nadal’s continued drive towards history, much like his willingness to wake up everyday and be a better player, will result in his prolonged stay at the reigns of the sport.

It’s goes without saying that it’s nearly impossible to determine what the future will hold for a player’s career when it’s all said and done. But taking into consideration what we already know about Nadal, and his desire to win the grandest titles the sport has to offer, I’d say it’s a safe bet to at least claim that we haven’t seen the last of the trophy biting Spaniard.

Standing halfway to history didn’t appear like a possibility at the beginning of the season, but now with eight Slam titles in the bag, Rafael Nadal has clearly cemented himself as menacing force towards the current record books.

McEnroe Believes Nadal Could Win in New York

Outspoken American John McEnroe told the atpworldtour.com on Sunday that he believes current world No. 1 and recent Wimbledon champ Rafael Nadal could win the US Open later this summer.

“Nadal wants to win the US Open so badly,” said McEnroe. “It’d be hard not to pick him at this time even though he’s never won it.”

“The guy’s just an animal; he’s mentally and physically incredible and he can definitely do it if he’s in this shape. The conditions in New York don’t suit Nadal so well and he needs to make his body hold up. So I think after Wimbledon he is going to take some time off and get his knees recovered and then maybe not play too many matches before the Open.”

Nadal, who claimed his eighth Grand Slam title over Tomas Berdych at Wimbledon, has never advanced past the semifinals in New York. Losing to Juan Martin del Potro during the semifinals last year, Nadal was defeated in the same round by Andy Murray during the ‘08 event.

Suffering from an abdominal strain during last year’s US Open, Nadal will be adamant on cutting down his schedule ahead of this year’s trip to the Big Apple.

Pulling out of this week’s Davis Cup tie against France, Nadal is not scheduled to return to competition until the Masters 1000 event in Toronto. Winning on Canadian soil on two different occasions, Nadal may limit his hard-court preparation to only one event in order to preserve the health of his knees.

A win for Nadal in New York would make him the seventh player all-time to hold all four Grand Slam titles.

Wimbledon 2010 Issue 14: July 5—Men’s Final Wrap Up

by: Tom Cochrane

The writing was on the wall after Robin Soderling snapped Roger Federer’s streak of 23 consecutive Grand Slam semi-finals in Paris, a feat juxtaposed with Rafael Nadal’s complete and utter French Open dominance. But, after the conclusion yesterday of the year’s third major, there is no longer any doubt. By capturing his second consecutive Grand Slam and the eighth of his illustrious career, Rafael Nadal confirmed in emphatic fashion that he is the best tennis player in the world right now.

Day 13 Recap

Playing in his first ever Grand Slam final, Tomas Berdych made a start that was eerily similar to the start made by Vera Zvonareva in the women’s final 24 hours earlier. Berdych held his opening few service games confidently and appeared as if he was ready to seriously challenge Nadal’s 13 match winning streak at the All England Club. But a sloppy Berdych service game at 3-all gave Nadal the first break of the match and, with Nadal conceding just 4 points on serve for the entire first set, it was duly and ruthlessly converted. A second break gave Nadal the opening set, 6-3, as part of a 5 game streak that included the successful defense of 3 break points by the Spaniard in the first game of the second set.

Urged on by his entourage, Berdych held serve comfortably throughout the second set and a tiebreaker appeared on the cards. But down 5-6, Berdych then delivered the most disastrous of service games, with an errant forehand giving Nadal the game to love and a 2 sets to love lead. A glimmer of hope, in the form of a break point, was presented to the Czech early on in the third set, but he was unable to capitalize. After that, the door was firmly shut for Berdych in the Nadal service games and, in a near-replica of the second set, Berdych came out at 4-5 attempting to stay in the set, the match and the tournament.

Once again, Nadal played tough, making lots of returns and not providing Berdych with cheap points. And once more, Berdych faltered under the constant pressure piled on by Nadal. After a little over 2 hours on-court, Rafael Nadal was the Wimbledon champion once again, 6-3 7-5 6-4.

For Berdych, who spoke and handled himself exceptionally well after the match, it was a case of missed opportunities. The Czech’s inability to convert any of the 4 break points he earned during the match was the most glaring of his faults, but Berdych also didn’t serve as well as he had done in previous matches, particularly in the first set and a half of the final. Nonetheless, the fortnight has to go down as the best of Berdych’s career, and as I mentioned the other day, I think he will be one of the leading contenders in future Grand Slams, especially the two which are played on hard-courts.

For Nadal, it was a solid rather than spectacular win, the Spaniard perhaps at his most dynamic in performing a forward somersault immediately following his victory. But just like Serena Williams on Saturday, Nadal did enough to win and claim Grand Slam number 8. That tally moves him past John McEnroe and puts him equal with legends Lendl, Connors and Agassi. Still just 24 years old, it will be fascinating to see how Nadal’s body holds up as he chases the record of 16 (and counting) held by his great rival, Roger Federer.

That’s it for Wimbledon 2010. The ATP and WTA Tours now move to the hard-courts of North America, as the players gear up for the year’s final major, the US Open in New York. Rest assured I’ll be back for the start of all the action from Flushing Meadows in late August.

W: Tomas Berdych Finals Press Conference

Q. How good was Rafa today?

TOMAS BERDYCH: Yeah, he was really good. I mean, he was strong. I think the biggest difference between us was that when he get a chance, he just took it, you know. He give me one in the second set, one in the third set, and none of them I can, you know, bring it to my side and just made a break.

That just show how strong he is. I think it was just really about the small difference.

Q. We all know what makes Rafa so good on clay: his movement and his spin. What are the most difficult things about his grass court style of play?

TOMAS BERDYCH: You know, I think he can ?? the things what he can do on the clay is that he’s moving extremely well. You know, he can play really with a lot of spin, which makes him not to making almost any mistakes.

And on top of that, he just bring that, you know, he can play more aggressive on the faster court here, on the grass. It just makes him really dangerous.

Q. Can you talk about what your game strategy was going in and how you tried to vary it as it played out.

TOMAS BERDYCH: Well, I mean, it’s tough to say that I don’t have any strategy. But, of course, you know, I don’t know if you can say like weaker parts of him ? it’s not many of them ? and, you know, you just try play your best tennis.

You know, it’s not like that you gonna go there and you know that he’s doing something wrong or something like that. You know, it’s the final, so you gonna face the toughest opponent in the draw, you know.

So it’s really tough to find out some special tactic. So my strategy was just, you know, concentrate for myself, start well and, you know, waiting for some little chances.

But, as I said before, he took it, you know.

Q. Do you consider at this time Nadal the best and Federer behind him?

TOMAS BERDYCH: I mean, ranking shows that. So if it’s fine like that, then yeah.

Q. What are your thoughts about the differences between the two of them right now?

TOMAS BERDYCH: I mean, you can see the differences when they gonna play each other. You cannot say that I beat Federer here and lost to Nadal, because every match is completely different.

So I don’t want to judge it like that, that I play to one guy and lost to another opponent in the final. So, yeah, only what you can see is in the ranking, and that’s it.

Q. There’s only one slam that Nadal hasn’t won yet: the US Open. What are your thoughts about his game on the hard courts at the Open?

TOMAS BERDYCH: Yeah, I think, you know, his results on hard court are, yeah, quite not that good as on the clay and on the grass. So maybe it could be the reason of, you know, the schedule of the tournament in the States which is quite a little bit later on in the season, and, you know, how he’s struggling with the injuries and health.

So, you know, it could be the reason. But still, I mean, he never losted to bad opponent. So, you know, you need so many things to do the great results. I think it could wait for him this year, but who knows.

Q. Do you consider him the favorite at the Open?

TOMAS BERDYCH: I mean, it’s tough to say right now favorite. You don’t know what’s gonna happen in next few days. It can happen anything. Whatever. Tough to say right now when the US Open’s gonna be in two months.

Everybody can be favorite, you know.

Q. You’re disappointed now, but you’ve had a superb tournament. You beat Federer; you beat Djokovic; you’ve had had a good season. Do you feel differently about your game now? What are your aims going forward? Do you think you can become a fixture in the top five as your game should allow you to be?

TOMAS BERDYCH: That’s what I’m trying to do, you know. If I’m gonna get there and I’m gonna stay there for a couple of years, then I can tell you yes, I can do that. That’s what I’m trying to do every day when I go for practice, for match, for everything.

So right now I’m still, yeah, climbing higher and higher. But still it can go little bit more. But just, you know, need more tournaments, more matches.

Q. What’s been the difference for you this year?

TOMAS BERDYCH: Oh, yeah, I was talking about that many times. As I said, you know, just grow up a little bit, get older, get more experience. Can be more patient on court, but still can play my tennis, be aggressive, be more concentrated on court. That’s it.

Q. Is it difficult to appreciate what you’ve done in the last couple weeks right now because of the disappointment, or do you feel inside it’s been a great run?

TOMAS BERDYCH: Right now it’s really tough, you know. I think it’s same like when you win the match against those guys before. You just feeled great and you beat those players and you enjoying that, and then you needs to see something different.

But right now, of course I’m disappointing. You know, was my first final. It could go, you know, better than this. But still, you know, it was a lot of experience for me, and I hope if I can, you know, work with those experience like I did from experience of reaching semifinals in Paris, then when I get to the semis again, just go through.

So if I can do it same with the final, that would be great.

Q. What was the wind like today?

TOMAS BERDYCH: Yeah, was quite windy today.

Q. How did it affect things?

TOMAS BERDYCH: Well, affect? I mean, it was same for both of us. I mean, of course his game is I would say quite easier to play in the wind. But I needs to figure it out, how to play, as well, in the wind. I don’t think it just play a big difference.

But, of course if I can just, you know, choose, then I don’t like to play in the wind. But I can’t, so I need to fight with it.

Q. Do you think the size of the occasion affected the way you played?

TOMAS BERDYCH: Definitely not.

Q. Even though your first serve was a bit slow to get going?

TOMAS BERDYCH: Well, slower than maybe the days before, but his was stronger. So, whatever. I mean, yeah. As you said, maybe it could be slower, but I don’t think it played that much difference.

Q. What will you learn from this?

TOMAS BERDYCH: Oh, I mean, it’s gonna be many things. Right now it’s really tough to say what’s, you know, the right things I just learn from that match. I mean, it’s really many experience to just go on court, step there, to play my first final of Grand Slam.

Yeah, I mean, it’s so many just emotional experience that you have no chance to learn from any other matches. So it’s gonna be this ones. I think the only way how I can, you know, get improved and be better than right now is to play more of these matches.

You know, especially to play Rafa more because, you know, as I said, his biggest weapon is his left hand. It’s not many players like that. It’s really tough to, you know, find the right rhythm.

And I think more matches against him, then just I can get the feeling that I can do it better for next time. That’s it.

Q. You proved that you’re great on clay; you’re great on grass; your game is probably best suited to hard court. What have you got ahead for the rest of the season from that point of view?

TOMAS BERDYCH: Yeah, if you just took it like this, by statistics, then only the good time is waiting for me ahead (smiling).

No, I mean, you never know what’s gonna happen next day. So I cannot say what’s gonna be on my next tournament.

Of course, I will do the same what I did for preparation right now and Paris every day, and we will see. Of course, my tennis, I hope it’s the best for hard court.

But I think the better thing is that, you know, I can play well on all of those surfaces, which is really important for today’s tennis, which is not only like that you gonna play on clay and it’s enough for you, or just on the other ones.

So I think this is my biggest, you know, weapon, that I can play on all of those surfaces.

Q. Are you going to Bastad as planned?

TOMAS BERDYCH: Definitely I will just need to take some time to think about that, what I’m gonna do. So I cannot tell you now.

Next Page »