WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPEN

Catching Up With... Tomas Berdych

by Matt Fitzgerald |19.08.2011

World No. 9 Tomas Berdych has maintained his standing inside the Top 10 South African Airways ATP Rankings in 2011 through incredible consistency. The 25 year old has reached the quarter-finals or better at 13 of the 17 events he’s played this season.

The Czech stunned two-time defending Cincinnati champion Roger Federer 6-2, 7-6(3) on Friday to book his place in the semi-finals of the Western & Southern Open.

Earlier in the week at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, ATPWorldTour.com caught up with Berdych.

This year, you’ve really been “Mr. Consistency" – how satisfied are you with your season thus far, given that you’ve been in the latter stages of tournaments so frequently?
It’s great to have been so consistent as I wanted to do that before the season started, but I am also missing big results, so I’m looking forward to trying to go further the rest of the year. But so far, the season has been solid… I’m just missing something more.

Speaking of that, your last singles title came in Munich over two years ago. What do you need to do to get back in the winner’s circle?
It’s pretty tough. I’ve made a lot of quarter-finals and semi-finals but I’m missing one or two match wins. I need to bring a higher level of my game to those big matches so I can have some good results again.

How do you like the changes in Cincinnati, now that it is a combined event, making it feel like a larger tournament?
It’s a nice event. They’ve made huge improvements with the facilities and all the courts. They did a great job in making two tournaments into one combined together, so all respect to them.

The Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup this year. You’re a huge Red Wings fan… what are their chances of reclaiming the title after last winning it in 2008?
I’m a fan of the Red Wings but I was rooting for the Bruins as well because they also have Czech guys playing there. They did a great job, especially David Krejci as he had the most points in the playoffs which is a big achievement for him. I’m not a guy who should be judging whether or not the Red Wings can do better. I know some of the guys there, particularly the Czech ones, like Jiri Hudler. They know what they need to do and I think they’ll have a strong team again next season.

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