So often the nearly man of the majors, big Czech Tomas Berdych has narrowed his focus in a single-minded attempt to enjoy long-overdue grand slam glory.
Berdych’s Australian Open quarter-final demolition job on a clearly underdone Rafael Nadal saw the world No.1 join Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as the only men to have beaten all of the big four at the slams.
But he is still the owner of the dreaded moniker of the best player yet to win a major – with the straight-sets loss to Nadal in the 2010 Wimbledon decider his best effort to date.
Berdych faces Australian Open party pooper Andy Murray in Thursday’s first semi-final at Melbourne Park, a month after snaring the Scot’s former coach and hitting partner Dani Vallverdu.
An earlier pitch to another of Murray’s former coaches, Ivan Lendl – the greatest-ever Czech-born men’s player – was rebuffed.
The coaching change was made with the majors in mind, as was the decision to skip the first-round Davis Cup tie against Australia in March, having previously missed only three ties for the Czech team since 2003.
“(Vallverdu) has changed a lot of things for me. He has changed a lot of positive things,” said Berdych, a veteran of 46 successive grand slam tournaments,.
“And the best thing is I’m able to execute them really, really quickly.
“It’s not only about sitting around the table and talking the tactics, it’s also about knowing what to do with that.
“If you have a plan, it’s a nice thing. But if you never tried it before or never practised before, that’s useless.”
Vallverdu should provide Berdych with some useful tactical insights into Murray, who has won only four of his previous 10 encounters against the Czech.
Berdych has marched into the semis with five straight-sets victories, while Murray’s only dropped set came in his tough fourth-round encounter against popular Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.
Having also beaten Australians Marinko Matosevic and Nick Kyrgios, Murray has made something of a habit of eliminating the crowd favourites this year, although he will enjoy plenty of support against Berdych.
“He’s a big guy and he strikes the ball very well and serves well,” said Murray.
“He’s fairly calm on the court, manages his emotions fairly well.
“He’s obviously played extremely well this tournament so far.
“Just by looking at the results, he’s had some good wins and played well in Doha.
“He’ll be coming into the match with confidence.”
HOW ANDY MURRAY AND TOMAS BERDYCH MATCH UP FOR THEIR AUSTRALIAN OPEN SEMI-FINAL AT MELBOURNE PARK ON THURSDAY:
7-TOMAS BERDYCH (CZE) leads 6-ANDY MURRAY (SCO) 6-4
Grand slam meetings: 1-1
2010 French Open, clay, R16, Berdych 6-4 7-5 6-3
2012 US Open, hard, SF, Murray 5-7 6-2 6-1 7-6 (9-7)
ANDY MURRAY
Age: 27
Ranking: 6
Career-high ranking: 2 (20009)
Plays: right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money: $US34,190,085 ($A43.49 million)
Career titles: 31
Grand slam titles: 2 (US Open 2012; Wimbledon 2013)
Australian Open win-loss record: 38-9
Best Australian Open performances: finalist 2010, 2011, 2013
TOMAS BERDYCH
Age: 29
Ranking: 7
Career-high ranking: 5 (2013)
Plays: right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money: $US20,152,143 ($A25.63 million)
Career titles: 10
Grand slam titles: 0
Australian Open win-loss record: 34-11
Best Australian Open performances: semi-finalist 2014, 2015
