2010 US Open - "I miss Tomas Berdych's Vlog on Eurosport"

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:01:00 -0400

Click the Picture to go to Video from French Eurosport

Video I recorded is in French, but no need to speak French...

you can have a look into his bag at his tennis things, shoes

some ball exchanges with Michael Llodra and... Tomas says Good-Bye!

2010 US Open. It must be Love. Oh yeah?

2010 US Open Round 1: Tomas Berdych vs Michael Llodra

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:29:00 -0400

Excerpt from a Czech interview (my translation)

When asked about the draw: "For your first round you've been drawn against Frenchman Michael Llodra who is a weak opponent...."

Tomas: "Definitely not."

Click the Thumbnail to view head to head

H2H Tomas Berdych vs Michael Llodra

Of course, a match against Michal Llodra may be tricky, and the first round of a Grand Slam it's something important, but don’t worry too much Tomas, knowing that :

Michael Llodra: Grass is his favorite surface. In June 2010 he won Eastbourne in Great Britain, a 250 ATP tournament on grass.

On Outdoor Hard, it’s another story, this year:

-         Brisbane: he lost to Harel Levy (ISR) ATP 119 in Round 1
-         Sydney: he lost to Pablo Cuevas (URU) ATP 50 in Round 1
-         Australian Open: he lost to Juan Monaco (ARG) ATP 33 in Round 2
-         Dubai: he lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) ATP 11 in Round 1
-         Indian Wells: he lost to Marinko Matosevic (AUS) ATP 240 in Round 1
-         Miami: he lost to David Ferrer (ESP) ATP 17 in Round 2
-         Washington: he lost to Ryan Sweeting (USA) ATP 119 in Round 1
-         Toronto: he lost to Roger Federer (SWI) ATP 3 in Round 3
-         Cincinnati: he lost to Julien Benneteau (FRA) ATP 32 in Round 1

Well, Llodra’s record on Outdoor Hard surface is (W-L) 4-9

Click the Thumbnail to view full picture

USO 2010 - The 32 Men Seeds and their first round opponent

Order of Play – Wednesday, 1st September, 2010

GRANDSTAND Matches Start At: 11:00 A.M.

Women's Singles - 2nd Round
Gisela Dulko (ARG) vs Victoria Azarenka (BLR)[10]

Men's Singles - 1st Round
Michael Llodra (FRA) vs Tomas Berdych (CZE)[7]

Women's Singles - 2nd Round
Francesca Schiavone (ITA)[6] vs Maria Elena Camerin (ITA)

Men's Singles - 2nd Round
Gael Monfils (FRA)[17] vs Igor Andreev (RUS)

Mood Aug. 31, 2010

I'm worried about Tomas...seems all the Frenchmen are on fire!
They have already ousted 4 seeds in Round 1.
see... some major upsets Gulbis *oops* Baghdatis *ouch* even PHM a winner over Hewitt *eek*

Richard Gasquet (FRA) d. Simon Greul (GER) 6-3 6-4 6-2
17)Gael Monfils (FRA) d. (Q)Robert Kendrick (USA) 3-6 6-3 6-4 6-7(5) 6-4
Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA) d. [32]Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) 6-3 6-4 5-7 4-6 6-1
(WC)Guillaume Rufin (FRA) d. Leonardo Mayer (ARG) 2-6 7-6(4) 7-6(2) 6-1
Jeremy Chardy (FRA) d. [24]Ernests Gulbis (LAT) 6-2 7-6(1) 6-4
(Q) Benoit Paire (FRA) d. Rainer Schuettler (GER) 6-3 6-3 4-6 3-6 7-6(2)
Arnaud Clement d. [16]Marcos Baghdatis 6-3, 2-6, 1-6, 6-4, 7-5
Julien Benneteau d. [28] Radek Stepanek 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
Adrian Mannarino (FRA) d. Pere Riba (ESP) 3-6 6-1 6-4 4-6 7-6(1)
Florent Serra (FRA) d. Florian Mayer (GER) 7-5 6-2 6-0

Tomorrow please, please, please.... not Llodra, not Llodra, not him, noooooooo!

I had some fears about this first round and... it happened!

Seventh seed Berdych knocked out of U.S. Open

REUTERS By Matt Majendie

NEW YORK, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Czech Tomas Berdych became the first big casualty of the U.S. Open after being outclassed 7-6 6-4 6-4 by France’s Michael Llodra on Wednesday.

Llodra, a doubles specialist, used serve-and-volley tactics to increasingly take a stranglehold over the number seven seed during the first-round match.

Berdych, runner-up at Wimbledon this year and a semi-finalist at the French Open in June, struggled to match his French rival’s tactics as the contest wore on.

Not even a medical timeout in the second set after Llodra landed awkwardly could curtail his progress into the second round.

Beau Berdych

gif File Size: 962 kb - 252 x 176

Matt Cronin (from official site USO) was right

This is without a doubt the toughest first-round match for any high seed, as Llodra just missed the top-32 cut, and when his head is in a good space, he can serve and volley with the best of them. He's not a great mover and can certainly be had from the baseline, but the lefthander is tough to break and to pass when he's climbing all over the net.

Michael Llodra (R) of France shakes hand with Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic after defeating him during their first round men's singles match during day three of the 2010 U.S. Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 1, 2010 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City

Berdych at a loss to explain early U.S. Open exit

Matt Majendie, Reuters September 1, 2010

NEW YORK, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych was at a loss to explain his first-round U.S. Open exit at the hands of France's Michael Llodra on Wednesday.

The number seven seed, with a strong record in grand slams this season having also reached the French Open semi-finals, limped out at Flushing Meadows in straight sets 7-6 6-4 6-4.

"I don't know whether I played well or not today," he said afterwards. "I had no chance to realise whether I played well as I played just three or four times from the baseline. I had no chance to play on my terms."

"From my point of view, I don't even see what I could have done better or differently. I need to sit down with my coach who saw the match from the stands."

Llodra dominated the contest from the net and Berdych felt that tactic kept him from settling into a rhythm.

Left-hander Llodra won 60 out his 101 points from the net, giving Berdych just two break-point opportunities in the entire two hour, 26 minute match.

But Berdych refused to blame the hot temperatures for the result on the Grandstand court against an opponent who had previously beaten just one top-ten player this season, Robin Soderling, en route to a tournament win in Marseille.

"That had no affect on me at all," added Berdych. "I felt good in the morning and good in the warm-up. Of course, it was hot but that wasn't a problem."

2010 Washington Quarterfinal - German Tennis Magazine agrees that Tomas Berdych is right about scandalous schedule

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:05:00 -0400

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Scan Page 7 - German Tennis Magazine of September 2010

Tennis specialists of the last German Tennis Magazine agrees that Tomas Berdych is right about the insane order of play of his quarter-final match against Xavier Malisse in Washington.

Do you remember?

Top seed Berdych loses in quarters of ATP Washington Classic

Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych lost 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 to unseeded Xavier Malisse of Belgium in the quarterfinals of the ATP Washington Classic on Friday.

Czech Berdych complained that organizers made him play in the day's first match (at noon) and said he might not enter the tournament in 2011.

"I was feeling like I was still sleeping, went to bed at 2.00 a.m." said Berdych, adding that he thought he deserved preferential treatment as the hard-court tournament's No. 1 seed."

Now I translate the last sentence of the German Tennis Mag:

«Unmöglich sei die Ansetzung gewesen, einer Nummer 1 der Setzliste nicht würdig. Recht hatte er (Berdych).»

«It's simply not possible to have established such a schedule, outrageous to the tournament Top Seed. He (Berdych) was right.»