Novak Djokovic is three wins away from his first title at Roland Garros. With the top half of the draw depleted by Rafael Nadal’s injury-induced exit, Djokovic can be expected to coast through two more rounds–starting with Tomas Berdych on Thursday.
One of the most lopsided “rivalries” in all of tennis will add another chapter when Novak Djokovic and Tomas Berdych meet again–for the 26th time–during quarterfinal action on Thursday at the French Open.
Djokovic is dominating the head-to-head series 23-2, including 10-0 in their last 10 encounters, and he has won four in a row in straight sets. On the bright side of Berdych, he is a more respectable 1-2 against Djokovic on clay and none of their showdowns on this surface has ended in straight sets.
But that is just about where the good news ends for the eighth-ranked Czech, and not simply because of his overall futility against the world No 1. Berdych’s form had been infamously woeful heading into Roland Garros, punctuated by a double-bagel loss to David Goffin in Rome that led to the firing of coach Dani Vallverdu. A sudden recovery of form combined with a favorable draw has led to a relatively surprising quarterfinal appearance for Berdych. He punched his ticket to the last eight by beating Vasek Pospisil, Malek Jaziri, a cooled-off Pablo Cuevas, and a slumping David Ferrer.
Djokovic has gotten past Yen-Hsun Lu, Steve Darcis, Aljaz Bedene, and Roberto Bautista Agut, surrendering just one set to Bautista Agut along the way. Although the top-seeded Serb failed to lift the winner’s trophy in either Monte-Carlo or Rome, he got the job done in Madrid and he is looking like an obvious favorite for his first French Open title with Rafael Nadal out, Roger Federer sidelined, and both Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka having required five-setters.
For many reasons, there is no reason to think Berdych will be the one to stop Djokovic’s current quest in Paris.
Pick: Djokovic in 3
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Berdy could take a set but I’ll go with Nole to continue his dominance over the Czech with a convincing straight sets win.
Berd looked the best I’ve seen him in months against Ferrer, but he won’t get a set off of Joker.
Novak is not in a good form. Not the same as 2015.
Berdych will win, for sure
Berdy won’t take a set…it will be over before you know it…
That means you are assuming djokovic will significantly raise his level… He won’t win RG unless he does that…. Berdych CAN win a set today..
no, I just think Berdy turns into mental midget when playing Nole…Nole does not need to be outstanding out there…and if Nole is focused to take one break in each set it will soon be over…and that is what I expect will happen…
definitely
Hahhahahahahahh
“Berdych will win, for sure”… I wouldn’t bet on it…
Brilliant, not. Why have RG chosen to wait till 1.0pm (local time) to start play?
Rain is forecast to arrive at that time. There are strong winds today so they may get lucky and the rain could be blown over quickly or even miss them. But why run the risk of more delays.
http://www.lachainemeteo.com/meteo-france/destination/previsions-meteo-roland-garros-42-0.php.
exactly what i thought when i saw the schedule last night ed. given that they are already behind why not start early if anything??
bet there are some very angry players out there. given the flak thrown out by halep and aga you would think they would get with it but no way.
the players ought to get together and voice their opinion in no uncertain terms.
Novak is on his way for the title…the stars aligned for him this year and he does not really need to play all that well to win the title…he will lift the trophy no doubt about it…
seeing Murray struggling with Gasquet yesterday made me think how he won’t stand a chance against Novak in the finals…Stan does not play sufficiently well to beat Andy let alone Novak…
yeah but the weather and useless scheduling by rg may end up determining the outcome. what if nole/thiem/goffin end up playing their semi the day before. when either andy or stan gets a day off?? if the match goes long then it would not only impact but potentially determine the outcome of the final. nole gets in real rages when the scheduling is out and the weather is bad and that makes him play badly as he tries to get things done way too fast. so he could be out for hours. how would he win the next day??
i agree with you that andy wasn’t convincing against richard. he was nearly down 2 sets to love and would have definitely been so against a better player.
it’s very very windy out there. is that going to upset nole?? we know he doesn’t like playing in the wind.
Not windy enough and Berdy is a bit of his pace.
Off not of
The Byrd is more at ease in the wind – pun intended
nole breaks!! what a ros winner!!!
have to say that i can’t warm to berdy..in fact my feelings about him are rather close to kim sear’s…
Djokovic gets the first break.
it’s so depressing to see the empty stands…almost as two outsiders playing a first round match at the 250 tourney…
RG fiasco in its entirety!
Don’t forget it’s the guillotine of the French lunch hour.
The French don’t deserve the French Open anymore.
Move it to a place that respects tennis.
The boorish rude behaviour of the French crowd is indefensible.
#EmptySeats
Know what you mean. He can be a prick at times but I often find myself rooting for him for some reason.
They were selling seats on line for the main courts earlier today and my son-in-law treated my daughter to a seat on Chartrier.
awesome. Should have chosen Lenglen though!
That’s the truth haha.
She couldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. She would have preferred to be watching Thiem.
Can sense the urgency in Djkovic’s play today…
what weapons he possesses vr….that ros!!!
Berdy is not going to break the H2H record playing like this. Also I suspect ND has been playing his bluffing game in the earlier rounds to give his prospective opponents a false sense of confidence.
Or maybe, just maybe:
1. He feels like he can conserve form and energy by not going 100 percent in earlier rounds.
2. He doesn’t have the same sense of urgency against lesser opponents.
3. The conditions today are more in his favour.
this ?
Masterful performance. Thank you Nole.
Let’s go!
Yup excellent stuff. Our boy is looking good.
Mikkers gets it.
Playing in the mud evens the playing field.
This happened in RG ’12 final when Rafa had the match under the control. It started raining HARD and all of a sudden Nole reeled off eight straight games against Rafa as the ball became soggy and heavy.
Once it was finally rain delayed, Rafa came back the next day to right the course and win the title.
if we are comparing levels of play then nole is playing better in his quarter final than either andy or stan.
also he is looking calm today. maybe the last match has got the gremlins out of his system..
Appears to have, amy!
incredible balance off both wings. cat and mouse out there. looking like the world number one.
yup!
Djokovic marches on relentlessly.
Berdych should fire himself, not his coach. I hope he drops out of top ten soon. He’s truly one dimensional,no plan B. For all his power, he is still being pushed around and gets pushed further and further away from the baseline. He cant even steps in to take control of his service games.
It reflects badly on the atp tour that a top ten player was badly bageled by a younger non top ten player. I hope Thiem and Goffin both make the top ten this year.
RT @AnnaK_4ever: According to ATP stats, today Berdych can tie Edberg in most Top-10 losses ever.
Edberg’s W/L is 96-114, Berdych currently stands at 49-113.