In a recent interview with Tennis Majors, the 39-year-old Tomas Berdych talked about the new talents in modern tennis and how the sport has evolved since his time.
The former 2010 Wimbledon finalist spoke in detail about how the rivalry between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner is good for men’s tennis, which needed it at the dawn of this new tennis era
“We need a rivalry: it’s good for tennis. The biggest one so far is Alcaraz-Sinner, and only then can they become better players. If there was only one Sinner, it would be difficult to keep motivation and anger in the game. So I think it’s good,” he explained.
Alcaraz and Sinner© Stream screenshot
The former Czech tennis player spoke about his chances of competing on the Tour today, analyzing: “I think the game has changed, definitely. I would say the game has become less creative. If you look at the top 10 players, you don’t see many differences between them. That’s my point of view. I’m not saying whether it’s good or bad. It’s like that, because it’s definitely a new generation that has taken over men’s tennis, and that’s the way they play and compete. And if you ask me if I would be able to play or if I would like to compare my younger self with them, then I would definitely like to. It would also be a nice experience to play with all these guys.”
The Czech has never won a Grand Slam title and, precisely about this statistic, he explained with great honesty: “As I said, I’m a very realistic guy and if you look at the players I’ve competed with, it’s like this. I know I’ve done the best I can. And unfortunately I ended up with zero Slams, but that’s okay; I’m at peace with myself. But if they asked me if I could trade a Slam for two or three years in the top ten, I would probably say yes.”
The former number four concluded by saying he was proud of having inspired some young colleagues: “It’s nice to see that some guys started playing tennis because they followed me, that maybe they were inspired by it, that my way of playing was something they were connected to. So, having a real influence on them is a new reward.”
Berdych was one of the protagonists of the ATP Tour of the last decade, whose only limit was being born in the wrong era. The former Czech tennis player, who retired in 2019, reached the 4th place in the world ranking, never managing to conquer that much sought-after Slam that would have further embellished a career made up of 13 ATP titles and two Davis Cup triumphs with his national team.
Tennis World USA