As expected following Wednesday’s news leak on social media, Tomas Berdych announced his retirement from tennis on Saturday. Berdych joined several other outgoing players for an on-court ceremony at the Nitto ATP Finals in London before holding a press conference.
“I decided very quickly after the U.S. Open,” the Czech said when asked when he made the decision. “My last official match told me, ‘That’s it. You tried absolutely everything.”
Berdych lost in the first round of the year’s final Grand Slam, falling to little-known American Jenson Brooksby 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Due to hip and back problems, the 34-year-old played only five matches since the end of February. He missed the clay-court season before appearing at Wimbledon and in two hard-court tournaments (Winston-Salem and the U.S. Open).
There are no immediate plans for Berdych, who says he is unsure if he will be involved with tennis in the future.
“Not having a plan is the next plan,” he explained. “I think I deserve it…. Maybe I’ll see you around.”
Berdych turned pro in 2002 and made his first big waves when he upset Roger Federer at the 2004 Athens Olympics. He was ranked 79th in the world at the time, while Federer was No. 1. Berdych captured the first of his 13 career ATP titles one month later on the red clay of Palermo. His next title at the 2005 Paris Masters was by far the biggest of his career.
Even though he never matched that achievement over the course of the next 14 years, Berdych was a consistent force at Grand Slams and finished runner-up to Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon in 2010. The former world No. 4 turned in six semifinal showings at slams and 10 quarterfinal performances.
see you around, Bird
Fly high Bird…
In Agassi’s autobiography, he described Berdych as something like, “a tennis player’s tennis player.” He meant that Tomas’ technique was almost perfect. He hit the ball so cleanly, with lots of power. Everything was sound- great forehand, backhand, serve, etc. I think his relative lack of big time success to 2 things. The first and most important being that he so frequently had the 3 greatest players ever waiting for him at the “business end” of the big tournaments. He scored a few big wins at the majors over the Big 4, but there was usually a 2nd member of the Big 4 waiting for him in the following rounds. While it sucks he was never able to ultimately capitalize when he actually did get through one of those guys, he still fared better than almost anyone else! I think we can all agree that there isn’t much shame in coming up slam-less in the age of the Big 4+Stan.
I was going to discuss another reason why I believe that Tomas maybe had less success than he could have had. But I realized that this is not the time for that. Tomas Berdych had a professional sports career that 99.9999% of athletes could only dream of having. He was a phenomenal tennis player during the age of the Big 4, and that can never be denied. He had a tennis talent level that very few players have. His consistency at the big tournaments was quite impressive. During his prime, it was pretty much as sure as the sun would shine that he would be in the QF. And he did manage to win a Masters title in his career- something that very few from his age group can claim. Congrats to Tomas on an incredible career!
Loved watching him play…always a class act.
All the best for your future endeavours, Berdych.