by Andrew Eichenholz
As Irish poet Samuel Beckett’s phrase reads on Stan Wawrinka’s tattooed arm, “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail Again. Fail better.” Tomas Berdych has failed 17 straight times against Rafael Nadal. On the 18th, he got up and tried again. He did not need to fail better, as he instead beat his kryptonite 6-2 6-0 7-6(5) to reach the semifinals of the Australian Open.
Former star player Vitas Gerulaitis once said, “Nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row” after beating Jimmy Connors following 16 straight losses. It may be hard for Berdych to find breaking his bugaboo that humorous, but at the end of the day, he is now only two matches from his very first Grand Slam title.
A lot of the time, it is hard to judge a match by its numbers, but this one’s defies normalcy. Berdych hit 25 more winners than unforced errors, while Nadal hit two fewer. When a player makes that many more mistakes, even with the heart and willpower of Nadal, it is too much to overcome.
The third set had its anxious moments as the Czech big man looked to close out a match, that despite winning 27 more points, still never seemed as if it was truly in hand. Berdych match point after match point went by with Nadal emerging bent but not broken, and one could only wonder if it was not meant to be.
But, two blown leads in the tiebreaker were not enough for Nadal, as Berdych survived what was otherwise a blowout, earning a major boost for his confidence heading into the rest of the tournament.
Nadal suffered a near devastating upset in the second round, in far from his best form, against American Smyczek, coming out on top 7-5 in the fifth and deciding set. Over the course of the tournament, he started to hit the ball better and better, but the sheer power of Berdych’s baseline game was too much to overcome.
Moving forward, if Berdych continues what has been fine play the entire tournament, he holds a respectable chance to reach his second Grand Slam final.
With a semifinal match-up with Andy Murray, there will be more than just a spot in the final on the line for the Czech. His new coach, Dani Vallverdu, is Murray’s close friend and former coach for years. There had been rumors of their split being due to differences between Vallverdu and Murray’s new coach, Amelie Mauresmo, rumors that have been denied by both parties.
Beat Berdych once, shame on Nadal. Beat Berdych 16 more times in a row, shame on Berdych. He showed that there was no way he would let that continue.
