Dubai: Germany's Michael Berrer is using his steady run at the 2010 Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships to send out warning signals to his higher-ranked opponents.
"The rest of the top guys here saw that I play good tennis and this makes them a little bit more frightened when they play me in the future. This is a good sign for me," Berrer told Gulf News after going down to Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis here late on Thursday.
"I think I can be much better. I need to play on like this. From January until now I have done well enough to be in the top 30. However, for this I need to stay healthy and see how things work," he added.
The German, who will turn 30 later this year, lauded the evolution of the game with players, especially the top ones paying a lot of attention to their fitness.
‘All very fit'
"Yes, the gap is small between players and one is capable of beating or upsetting anyone. The players now are all very fit and they play the ball hard and they do some damage all the time," he remarked.
"If you have a good day then you can win against a lot of guys out there, but if you have a bad day then you can lose even to a No 300 in the world. It's so close and the level is very high at the moment in men's tennis," Berrer added.
‘Difficult match'
The German insisted there was no reason for him to be severe on his showing here this week. "I think it was a very difficult match for me because it was different playing against him [Baghdatis]. He did not give me too many chances to attack him. He gave me a hard time out there and he was a better player today," Berrer said.
"Though the quarterfinals look good, I am disappointed that I could not do what I wanted to do and that is, finish the points quickly and be more aggressive. But it's good as I can get more hungry for the next tournament," he said.
"I got a great experience for myself and I can learn a lot by just being here," he added.
