Berdych Loses In London And Immediately Gets Ready For Davis Cup Final

Written by: Staff on 12th November 2012

Berdych Loses In London And Immediately Gets Ready For Davis Cup Final

epa03465028 Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic returns to Novak Djokovic of Serbia during their match at the ATP World Tour Finals in London, Britain, 09 November 2012. EPA/KERIM OKTEN |

Tomas Berdych is intent on putting his disappointment at not qualifying for the knockout stages of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals to one side and now concentrate on making the Czech Republic the champions of the Davis Cup for the first time as an independent nation.

Czechoslovakia’s one and only title triumph came in the competition 1980, when Berdych was just five years old, but the world no.6, beaten by both Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray at the London 02, is raring to go as he heads to the Prague venue that has the same corporate name.

And Berdych is insistent the aftermath of individual disappointment in London will have no bearing when he represents his country in front of his own countrymen. “It doesn’t matter at all,” said Berdych, who will again shoulder responsibility in both singles and doubles alongside Radek Stepanek who was also the World Tour Finals alongside India’s Leander Paes and reached Sunday’s semi-finals. “It’s another week, another event, another big thing. So I will try to get ready for that again.”

However Berdych admitted fatigue may become a factor. He has now played 82 singles matches and 17 doubles encounters this year. By comparison Spain’s leading player David Ferrer has battled through 90 singles contests and 13 doubles but Berdych said: “I’m getting even more tired, and that’s it. I’m just going to try to prepare myself as possible as I can for that event, and that’s it.”

The clash with Spain will be a repeat of the 2009 final, in which the Rafael Nadal-led hosts came out on top in a one-sided affair at Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona. Berdych and Stepanek will be looking for a first victory over Spain since the days of Ivan Lendl inspired Czechoslovakia in 1971.

However Berdych was responsible for winning three points in the surprise semi-final victory against Argentina in the clay court fortress of Buenos Aires. Having come from behind to defeat Juan Monaco in five sets on the opening day, he then paired with Stepanek for victory in doubles before finishing the tie off with a straight sets victory over Carlos Berlocq, after Juan Martin del Potro was forced out of the tie due to injury.

The Spanish team will be looking for their nation’s fourth Davis Cup title in five years, but Berdych wants home advantage to be crucial. However, he revealed it has not been possible to lay as fast a court as the hosts would have liked. “There are some rules that you cannot make the surface actually as fast as you want,” he said.

Regardless of the fact the Czechs are again likely to base their hopes on just two players, with Lukas Rosol and Ivo Minar as back up, team captain Jaroslav Navratil sees no reason to change the successful Buenos Aires line-up.

“It was fantastic in Argentina,” he said to the CTK news agency. “We are again close to the title but also still far away.”

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: Andy Murray, Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, British tennis new, CZECH REPUBLIC tennis news, Davis Cup 2012, Sports, Tennis News, Tomas Berdych