Dubai: Tomas Berdych is determined to shift his nearly-man image to finally be crowned winner of next month’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships at the Dubai Tennis Stadium from February 15 to 27.
No other player who has failed to lift the trophy has a better record in Dubai than Berdych, with two finals, two semi-finals and a quarter-final in the last five years.
He has, however, run into insurmountable opposition each time - with three defeats by Novak Djokovic and one each by Roger Federer and Andy Murray ending his challenge.
In 2014 he stretched Federer to three sets in the final, and he did the same against Djokovic in the 2015 semis before succumbing.
With 12 career singles titles to his name and another 17 finals including 2010 at Wimbledon, the Czech clearly has what it takes and now he believes he might have found the key to end his frustration at so often coming off second-best.
“I think it’s always going to start with the fitness,” he said. “I am a tall, quite heavy guy and when you want to compete with guys like Andy, Novak, Rafa [Nadal] and Roger, you are going to have to be extremely fit and be prepared for that. So fitness is going to be the first thing. I am not saying it’s bad now, but to reach that top level, I need to improve.
“Once you have the physical fitness you can think ‘OK, now I am absolutely fine just to go there and not worry about anything else’. Then you can really focus on strategic plans and on the game.”
Berdych can draw encouragement from the fact that he has already managed to overcome his arguably most difficult Dubai opponents. He has two wins over Djokovic, including a semi-final victory at Wimbledon, and two of his three wins over Federer came not only in the quarter-finals of the 2012 US Open but in the 2013 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships semi-finals. He has also earned five wins over another strong contender for the title, Stan Wawrinka.
Whatever the outcome, Berdych will enjoy his time at what is one of the most popular tournaments on the ATP World Tour and clearly one of his favourites.
“This tournament is so good, because of everything that comes with it,” he said. “The tournament does extremely well looking after the players, which is always very important. The players feel like home here, it’s very easy and very relaxed. It’s one of the big tournaments, one of the ones you want to be a part of and compete in, and the whole package creates it. It’s a place where players like to be and like coming back to.”
The WTA event takes place from February 15 to 20, featuring World No.1 Serena Williams, Wimbledon finalist Garbine Muguruza, 2015 WTA Finals and 2016 Shenzhen champion Agnieszka Radwanska, and former World No.1’s Ana Ivanovic, Caroline Wozniacki and Jelena Jankovic.
Play then continues between February 22 to 27 with the ATP tournament featuring three of the world’s top five players with World No.1 Novak Djokovic, seven-time Dubai winner Roger Federer and two-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka.
Tickets for the event are on sale at the Box Office at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium, which is open from 9am to 9pm daily and online at http://www.dubaidutyfreetennischampionships.com/en/tickets
