Nadal vs. Berdych: From Breakfast at Wimbledon To Breakfast of Champions

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at Internationaled.org

Published: July 2, 2010

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Appetizer No. 1: Tomas Berdych vs. Novak Djokovic

From the first ball toss, from the slump of his shoulders to the resignation stamped on his face, you knew that Novak Djokovic was not going to win this match. Djokovic stood on the baseline with a defeatist attitude and allowed Tomas Berdych to dictate play. 

It was as if the soul had been sucked from his game and the Serb simply went through the motions, allowing mechanical movement to stand in place of truly inspired playing—lacking the assurance and deftness required of a champion. 

It is not enough simply to want the win.  You have to go out there and seize the match, wrestle your opponent to the ground and stamp out his will.  Tomas Berdych did that, proving he has what it takes to stand on Centre Court on Championship Sunday.

Djokovic does not seem to possess the killer instinct of a champion.  This was his latest and greatest opportunity to stand up to his critics and play the inspired game he needed to deliver in this semifinal against Berdych.  He needed to prove that his Australian Open Championship in 2008 was no fluke.

Instead, Djokovic folded in the heat, in the moment, without the requisite will to win.  The Serb’s forehand went AWOL.  He remained steadfastly content to play Berdych’s game from the back of the court, while the Czech beat him soundly from that vantage point. 

At age 23, the Serb may come back to win another major, but the odds seem to mount against him. 

Berdych, the 6’5” Czech, served like Goliath in this short-lived drama on Centre Court, where the baseline is bare of grass and the court sprouts uneven bounces like dandelions in the wild.

The man who dismissed Roger Federer, six-time Wimbledon Champion, in the quarterfinals, was not going to be denied by Djokovic.  The Czech swatted him aside in straight sets in less than two-and-a-half hour...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

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