Chapter 662 Heart of Compassion

Thomas Berdych, a Czech player, officially turned professional in 2003, 196 cm, 91 kg. As of 2014, the highest ranking in his career has come to fifth.

So, when people mention Berdych, what is the first impression that comes to mind?

Is it because the surname is pronounced close to "Bird", so he was nicknamed "Bird Brother"? Or is it the handsome appearance and the glamorous supermodel girlfriend?

Are the first members of the "Big Four" ten-defeat club? Or facing Nadal's tragic eighteen-game losing streak?

Since breaking into the top ten in the world for the first time in 2010, Berdych has never fallen out of the top ten in the world. His stable and outstanding performance coupled with his idol-like appearance has also won Berdych a lot of popularity. .

Berdych has always been a "good boy" image on the tour, in real life and on the court.

He has a gentle personality and rarely gets angry; his technical movements are rigid, basically copied and pasted from textbooks. For coaches, all his movements can be used as templates for teaching; his playing style is also standardized. Be well-behaved and complete every shot conscientiously.

However, it is precisely because of this that he lacks a little "spark of inspiration", and his performance on the field has always been unable to break through the shackles, and he is a bit tepid.

Berdych, born in 1985, happened to collide head-on with Federer and Nadal at their peak, so for a long time, he was the background board behind the giants—

In the face of other players, Berdych is always able to win solidly and brilliantly, and rarely has upsets; but in the face of the Big Four, he is always at a loss what to do.

So much so that when fans mention him, they always have a little pity, a little sympathy, and a little bit of dumbfounding, which seems to be a supplement to his "good boy" image.

but it is not the truth.

In the eyes of industry insiders, Berdych is one of the few players who "have never won a Grand Slam but are definitely the best".

Looking carefully at Berdych's career resume, there are quite a few amazing records.

First of all, Berdych's career prize money can rank tenth among all male players in the entire history.

Secondly, Berdych is the second player after Nalbandian to beat Federer more than once in a Grand Slam outside of the "Big Four".

Again, Berdych is the third player who has successfully defeated the "Big Four" in the Masters or Grand Slam after Tsonga and Wawrinka.

In 2005, Berdych went all the way to the top of the Paris Masters as an unseeded player, but this was not the masterpiece of his career.

In 2010, at Wimbledon, Berdych defeated Federer, the world's number one, and Djokovic, the world's number three at the time, and reached the Grand Slam final in his career, and then faced the world's second Nadal, unfortunately lost in straight sets.

At the beginning of this year, Berdych broke into the semi-finals at the Australian Open, which also made him one of the few players in the "Big Four era" who could break into the semi-finals in all the four Grand Slams.

From Ferrer to Berdych to Wawrinka, these players have all personally experienced the peak of the "Big Four era", and they are basically the strongest players outside the Big Four, but they have never been able to break through until this year At the Australian Open, Wawrinka advanced to the final after defeating Berdych in the semifinals, and finally broke out of the cocoon.

Time also, life also.

Therefore, when the fans mentioned these players, they inevitably felt more compassion.

In fact, later on, the fans' memories of Berdych seemed to stay on the unbelievable losing streak against the Big Four. Against Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, Berdych lost more than two games. Ten, and more than ten losses against Murray. He is one of the earliest members of the "Big Four Ten Loss Club".

But looking at it from another perspective, Berdych has played against the Big Four so many times, which proves that he has been at the top for a long time, and he can beat other players to get in front of the Big Four in every game , Other players may not be able to encounter the Big Four ten times in their entire career.

Moreover, Berdych's record against the Big Four even slightly leads Wawrinka:

With Federer and Murray, he has won six; with Nadal, he has won four; with Djokovic, he has won three.

And, very importantly, not all of these victories were won by the Big Four early in his career. He defeated them all at the peak of the Big Four.

This year, Berdych's performance is still stable, the Australian Open semi-finals, the French Open and the US Open quarter-finals, only Wimbledon is slightly unsatisfactory, and was eliminated in the third round.

Therefore, Berdych's world ranking has been stable at fifth place, above the championship standings, as well; he has been striving to be shortlisted for the year-end finals for the fifth consecutive year, and the overall situation is very good, basically as long as there are no major mistakes , you will be able to ensure that you are shortlisted.

However, 2014 is indeed a magical year, full of variables.

In the sprint stage at the end of the year, Murray made continuous efforts and came from behind. After Berdych won the championship in Stockholm, he was upset in the first round of Valencia and lost to his opponent Andujar in the first round of the Gawain Metropolis Masters. Not only was Murray overtaken in the championship standings, but the great situation also became chaotic.

The fans also lamented that "Bird Brother" is still the familiar "Bird Brother", and he lost the chain at the critical moment, not because he has no such ability, but because his character lacks a bit of ruthlessness and decisiveness. Always bite the situation, often the first to fluctuate is Berdych.

Of course, despite this, Berdych still ranks sixth in the championship standings, and leads Ferrer by more than 200 points, which is an obvious advantage.

Therefore, as long as Berdych's performance in Paris is not too bad, he can also be sure to be shortlisted for the year-end finals.

After winning the first game and advancing to the third round, Berdych's heart that was blocked in his throat was able to go back a little bit, but he still couldn't feel at ease—

Because the second round of the Paris Masters~lightnovelpub.net~ was uneventful.

The only upset is... Cilic.

Facing the young French player Lucas-Pouille born in 1994, Cilic wasted two set points in the second set and eventually lost two tie-breaks in a row and was upset.

After dedicating the best performance of his career at the US Open, Cilic also looked forward to a new stage in his career, and then things backfired. The "Grand Slam Syndrome" was very, very serious:

The Imperial Capital won two games, and the Shanghai Metropolis was eliminated in the first round. Although they won four games in a row in Moscow, they were eliminated in the first round of the subsequent two races in Valencia and Paris.

In the end, Cilic officially announced that he missed the year-end finals with a two-game losing streak, and ended his 2014 season in a very embarrassing manner.

Suspense, one less.

But the other competitors all successfully won and advanced, which also means that Berdych still can't relax, he needs to win as many victories as possible to ensure his place in the finals—

What's more, the third round is still a head-to-head confrontation between competitors!

(end of this chapter)