Tomas Berdych - Czech Tennis Star

Career

At the 2005 Paris Masters he won his first career ATP Masters Series title. En route to the final, he beat Jiri Novak, 2nd seed Guillermo Coria, 13th seed Juan Carlos Ferrero, 7th seed Gaston Gaudio, 8th seed Radek Stepanek, and 6th seed Ivan Ljubicic.

Other notable highlights of his 2005 season included upsetting No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal in the first round of the Cincinnati Masters, reaching the final of the Swedish Open, and the semifinals in Washington D.C.

In 2006, Tomas Berdych reached his first grass court final at the Gerry Weber Open, falling to World No. 1 Roger Federer (0–6, 7–6, 2–6). Another highlight of his year was his victory over Rafael Nadal at the Canada Masters, beating the World No. 2 6–1, 3–6, 6–2.

In October, Berdych reached his second ATP final of 2006 in Mumbai. However, he was beaten by Dmitry Tursunov 6–3 4–6 7–6(5). In the ATP Masters Series tournament in Madrid, Berdych upset former World No.1 Andy Roddick7–6(7) 6–3 to reach the quarter finals. He then defeated Rafael Nadal 6–3 7–6(6) to reach the semi finals.

Tomas Berdych is now disliked by Spanish fans for his altercation with Spanish sensation Rafael Nadal in Madrid, in which the partisan crowd jeered Berdych during points and Berdych for hushing the crowd after he won the match 6–3, 7–6. As the players shook hands at the end, Nadal clearly showed his disapproval by shaking his head, and saying, "that was very bad.... very bad." Berdych never found his rhythm in his semi final match against Fernando Gonzalez as he slumped to a 6–3, 6–1 defeat.

Berdych failed to defend his Paris Masters title after he lost to Dominik Hrbatύ 6–4 1–6 6–2 in the quarter finals. In earlier rounds, Tomas defeated Olivier Rochus 6–7 6–4 6–2 and Robby Ginepri 6–3 6–3.

After a slump during the first quarter of 2007, Tomas Berdych found his form on clay as he reached the semifinals of the Monte Carlo Masters event, his best ever result at the event (and his first time past round 2), defeating Nicolas Almagro, Benjamin Becker, 5th seed Tommy Robredo, and Robin Soderling, before losing to 2nd seed Rafael Nadal. At Wimbledon, he made his best performance at a Grand Slam, making it to the quarterfinals, defeating Nicolas Massu, Michael Llodra, Hyung-Taik Lee, and #19 seed (35th-ranked) Jonas Bjorkman before losing to Nadal again.

In the Canadian Masters event, his first tournament since Wimbledon, as the #10 seed and as defending quarterfinalist, Tomas Berdych lost in round 1 to Robin Haase, who was making his Canadian debut. The following week in Cincinnati, as the #10 seed, he made round 3 before losing to Nikolay Davydenko, after which he rose to a new career high of #9.

Berdych is the first player to have defeated both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal since they reached their current positions at #1 and #2 respectively in the ATP world rankings. On August 12, 2007, after beating Federer, Novak Djokovic became the second one and David Nalbandian, after beating Nadal (and Federer again) became the third to do so at the 2007 Madrid Masters.

Berdych began 2008 by competing in the Hopman Cup, but his event was marred by a stomach virus. Entering the Australian Open as the number 13 seed, Tomas Berdych reached the fourth round, where he fell to Roger Federer 4–6, 6–7, 3–6. In March Berdych contested the Pacific Life Open as the number 10 seed, falling in the first round to Stanislas Wawrinka 6–2, 6–7, 4–6.

He is currently dating Lucie Šafαrovα, a professional Czech Republic tennis player. He is a fan of U2.

ATP Masters Series singles final

Win (1)
Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
2005 Paris Ivan Ljubicic 6–3, 6–4, 3–6, 4–6, 6–4

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Source of this article: Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia