Novak Djokovic and Tomas Berdych will be squaring off for the 28th time in their careers when they meet again in the Wimbledon quarterfinals on Wednesday.
This is one of the most lopsided matchups on the current ATP Tour, with Djokovic holding a massive 25-2 lead in the head-to-head series. A current streak of 13 consecutive wins began at this same event in 2013, when the Serb prevailed 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-3–also in the quarters. Djokovic, who is 23-1 in their last 24 matches, has also taken 15 straight sets from Berdych.
Berdych, though, has had a full year to erase the demons against his upcoming opponent (they have not faced each other since last summer’s Rogers Cup). Additional good news for the 15th-ranked Czech is that he is back in fine form at one of his favorite tournaments. He is 41-13 lifetime at the All-England Club with a runner-up performance in 2010 and a semifinal showing last year, when he succumbed to eventual champion Andy Murray. So far this fortnight Berdych has taken out Jeremy Chardy, Ryan Harrison, David Ferrer, and Dominic Thiem–the latter in five sets on Monday.
Djokovic was shelved from manic Monday when Gilles Muller’s upset of Rafael Nadal on Court 1 lasted four hours and 47 minutes, thus preventing any additional matches from behind played. The world No. 4 took the court on Tuesday afternoon and battled past Adrian Mannarino 6-2, 7-6(5), 6-4 despite an apparent shoulder issue. Djokovic, who is already adding points to his ranking after losing in last season’s third round to Sam Querrey, also beat Martin Klizan, Adam Pavlasek, and Ernests Gulbis without dropping a set en route to the last eight.
Based on current form and his past history against Berdych, a rejuvenated Djokovic should coast into the semis. If he is derailed on Wednesday, it would likely be because of a shoulder problem and not due to getting outclassed by Berdych.
Pick: Djokovic in 3
[polldaddy poll=9786454]
WWW?
Djokovic in 3 tiebreaks
Ricky is right. Novak in 3 if his shoulder is okay.
Can Djokovic take wimbeldon title?????
N. Djokovic would win 1 set and match or N. Djokovic to win & under 37.5 games.
I am not confident with the under 37,5 games because T. Berdych is a good server, he might push the match over but if i were to pick i will take the under.
Djoker in four
Nole in four , because he’s still not quite at his best.
Djokovic in 3
Could be back to his best after a few matches with his new entourage and a few nights to dream about it. For Berdych, this has always been a terrible match up and I dont see any reason for this to change. Berdych will give Djoko the baseline hit-out he requires before he faces Fed in the semi.
Wow a very pro djokovic view here, I feel berdych is in with a chance – serving well and his flat forehand doing heavy damage on grass. If Novak starts slow – this could be get very intresting!
Djokovic in 4
berdych in 4 .. mark my words …
I think Berdych has a chance, he’s pretty strong on grass, his form’s okay, and despite the 5-setter he has had more time to prepare for this one. Djokovic has probably got a bit more confidence after Eastbourne and his recent wins, but it’s not like he has taken out any big names. While the H2H is very much against Berdych, I do feel like this is a good opportunity – it’s grass, he loves the surface and knows he can go deep, and Novak (judging by the Gulbis match) is playing okay but still returning to form. Gulbis ultimately got crunched, but Berdych has more consistency. I think he will be pretty disappointed in himself (and he probably should be) if he can’t at least grab one set here.
Djokovic in 4
Berdych in 5
Would normally have picked Nole in 3, but things are not normalised yet, even with Andre on board and Nole apparently on the up. There have been a few ‘apparently’s over the past year. I don’t think anyone knows what’s going on inside his head. Maybe Nole doesn’t know himself. He certainly looked pretty non-plused yesterday morning – okay, he’d been messed about with scheduling, but the old Nole would have responded in a much more up beat way.
I’m stilling going for Nle but it wouldn’t surprise me if it went quite a bit longer than most are predicting. And a shock wouldn’t shock me.
Nole in 4, maybe 5 … but who knows?! Still waiting for the okd nole.
Yes…it’s possible….Berd in 4!!!!
Nole 63 62 64
Djokovic in 3. He’ll be thinking about Federer next. Beating Fed gets him out of bed in the morning. Plus he likes beating up on Berdych, always has for personal reasons.
He’d be lucky to take a set from Roger.
(Assuming he gets there which is far from given.)
Berdych is looking strong, fired up as anything.
Berdy running away with this TB.
Berdy wins the TB easily. First set to Berdy. Can he stay strong and keep it up?
Novak called for the trainer. Seems to be that elbow/shoulder again.
Berdych gets the break. Match is now on Berdych’s racquet.
That’s it! Novak retired due to injury!
I was just gonna post that Novak might retire and here we go…I feel for Novak and his s fans…
This is really something with both Murray and Novak struggling again with injuries. Murray was able to finish his match. But it was obvious that Novak couldn’t serve at his normal speed.
Three of the top four out! At least Rafa didn’t go out because of an injury.
Too bad for Novak!
Both Murray and Djoko lost a lot of ranking points this year, between 4600 to 5000+ points! Murray barely holds on to his no. 1 ranking with 7750 points (Rafa has 7465 points). Is this one of the lowest ranking points that a no. 1 ranked player is holding?
Murray is not going to hold on to his no.1 ranking for long, when he has so many points to defend from the NA HC swing onwards.