Tomas Berdych wasn’t getting enough love. He had just upset Roger Federer, but it was Novak Djokovic that was slightly favored. Two reasons: Djokovic had never lost to Berdych (they’d only played twice, to be fair) and Djokovic had beaten Hewitt, considered a dark horse to win Wimbledon, and then demolished Lu. It was felt that after months of good, but not great play, Djokovic must have thought he was getting back to his good old days.
Djokovic started off the match tight while Berdych came back to serve and hit like he did against Federer. In particular, Djokovic struggled some to return Berdych’s serve, and even when he did return it, Berdych showed his effortless power or Djokovic would miss a shot, betraying some nerves. Berdych took the first set, 6-3.
In the second set, Berdych would get a break late in the second set, and it seemed Djokovic might be down two sets to love soon. However, at 5-6, Djokovic broke back and pushed it to a tiebreak. Djokovic quickly got down 6-2, but held his serve, got two points off Berdych, and then two points on his own serve. Each time Djokovic got to set point, Berdych would play 2 great points on his serve. Djokovic, who struggled with double faults today, double-faulted to give the second set away. But, up to that point, he had fought hard to stay in the second set.
In the third set, the two stayed pretty even until Djokovic had another poor game that he double-faulted to lose at 4-3, and gave Berdych the game to 5-3. Berdych then served it out to beat Djokovic in straight sets.
Final score: 6-3, 7-6(9), 6-3
Djokovic started off nervous, missing shots while Berdych played much like he did against Federer, with effortless power, and stayed mentally focused. Djokovic, like Federer, had some chances on Berdych’s serve, but couldn’t make an impression. Berdych now awaits the winner of Murray and Nadal.
Although the other three semifinalists are “veterans” meaning they’ve been on the tour a while, it’s Berdych that’s the oldest of the remaining players at 24 years old.
