Berdych’s betrayal of talent

On Monday in Paris, an inspired Gael Monfils shepherded a reluctant Tomas Berdych to the exit door at Roland Garros. As he walked out, the Czech must have felt a sense of déjà vu course through his veins, for he is no stranger to early exits. For all his talent and power, the Czech is as fickle as a feather in the wind – floating like a rhyme one moment before weltering without direction in the next. Berdych had promised much in the run up to the second major of the year. He defeated Andy Murray in Madrid and followed that with another spectacular victory over Novak Djokovic in Rome. Alas, he led us to another mirage as was proved by his fighting loss to Monfils in five sets.

The loss against Monfils was his tenth opening round exit from a Grand Slam event. It is a major disappointment for the hordes of tennis fans who have been waiting patiently for someone to upset the hegemony of the big four on the biggest stages of the game. Just as the other men in his league – David Ferrer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet for instance –Berdych promises by night only to put out the flame himself with some lacklustre play the next morning.

Berdych suffered a first round exit when he made his debut at the French Open in 2004. The Czech had lost to Paradorn Srichapan, ranked 13^th, in four tough sets. It was only the 3^rd Grand Slam event of his career and the loss came as no surprise. In fact, his pugnaciousness (was ranked 78^th) drew attention, for he managed to challenge a much higher ranked player. But then Berdych continued to climb up the ranking ladder despite making early exits from the Grand Slam events, including twice in the first round.

But then Berdych finally attained a certain degree of consistency – making the round of 16 at four consecutive majors – between the French Open in 2006 and the Australian Open in 2007. The run of success catapulted the Czech into the top 10. It was one of the reasons why many were surprised to see Berdych surrender 5-7, 4-6, 4-6 to Guillermo Garcia Lopez in the first round of the 2007 French Open. And though Tomas made up for that disappointment with his first grand slam quarter-final at the Wimbledon that followed, another poor run of results tempered the success in London.

By 2009, Berdych slipped to 19^th in the rankings and a shattering five set loss to Simone Bolelli in the first round at Roland Garros underlined his continued unease on clay. The Czech possessed a lethal forehand and a potent serve, but both those weapons were blunted to a certain degree by the gripping soil. At times, Berdych struggled to deal with the heavy top spin that characterised the game of more successful men.

The next season saw Berdych take bloom finally, reaching the semi-finals at the French open, the first of his career. Unfortunately, Berdych blew a two sets to one lead losing to Robin Soderling. The Wimbledon that followed saw the Valasske Mezirici native reach the first and only Grand Slam final of his career. In fact, the Czech had garnered enough temerity to upend Roger Federer in the quarter-finals to pave the path to his first grand slam finale.

But since then, Berdych seems to have returned into the lap of his annoying habit. Just to give credit where it is due, Berdych did reach the quarters of the Australian Open the past three years. He has also made it to the last four of the US Open in 2012, but those results have been more than dampened by the fact that Berdych has succumbed in the first round of the French Open in 2011 and this year, and more surprisingly at Wimbledon last year.

In fact, Berdych was leading two sets to nothing over a qualifier, Stephane Roberts, at Paris two years ago. But the inconsistent Berdyrch, ranked No.6 at the time, suffered an inexplicable 6-3, 6-3, 2-6, 2-6, 7-9 defeat. The Czech did mount a late fight back, but Roberts was already in his element and the confidence helped him score an upset victory over Berdych. On Monday, Monfils, who is playing as a wildcard extracted maximum benefits by defeating the Czech.

A surprisingly tentative Berdych lost the first two sets and even though he took the third and fourth, Monfils had enough belief to break when it most mattered to take a famous 7-6(8), 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-7(4), 7-5 after four hours of intense drama. The two warriors had combined for an incredible 138 winners in the match, but it was the world No. 6 who was on the wrong end of the stick. Berdych’s inconsistencies must frustrate his longtime coach Tomas Krupa, who had laboured hard to bring his pupil to fruition.

Unlike many other misguided young men who sacrifice talent at the altar of fame and falsehood, Berdych is a hardworking professional. Unfortunately though, the Czech seems to suffer from strange bouts of self-doubt that consume his game and confine him to sorry defeats. Berdych is 27 and irrespective of the presence of the dominant pack ahead of him, many will consider his lack of grand slam title a jarring aberration. It would be one great travesty if Czech star fails to fix the glaring anomaly before it is too late.