by VernieBoi » 10 Jul 2019, 03:09 I decided, that I will play seasons mode as Tomas Berdych, starting in year 2004. And I have one main goal -> Do something Berdych never done in his successful career. Win a Grand Slam Title.
Before I start this diary I want to let you know about few changes I made to tournaments.
1)ATP 500 and lower are best of three sets, with third set being master tie-break.
2)ATP 1000 are same as real life, except finals are played as best of five sets.
3)And there is one major change to Grand Slams too, all grand slams have five set tie-breaker at 6-6. (Same for Davis Cup)
4)World Tour Finals are best of three with finals being best of five sets.
Also I play on Master 5 now.
Okay, let's go.
2004
As I wrote earlier, I will start as Tomas Berdych in 2004, this was the first year he had some success on ATP Tour and it was the first year he finished in Top 50.
Berdych started this year as no. 139. I really didn't want to play some qualyfying rounds, so I decided, that we will start this season in Brisbane.
Not only that he will play in main draw, he was place from being seeded player. Yeah Brisbane didn't have strong ranking field, but there were many good players.
(If you don't want to read full text, Quick Results and Final recap are down the page)
Brisbane (ATP 250)
In first round Berdych played no.8 seeded -> Julien Boutter, Boutter is ranked 118th in the world, one place higher than Berdych, so I thought it won't be that hard to win this match.
And I was wrong, Berdych lost his first service game and couldn't find any weapon on return, so he lost the first set 4/6.
He started well in the second, quickly going for his first break and holding serve. Berdych was much better in the second set and Boutter couldn't do just anything as Berdych won the second set 6/0.
Master tie-break wasn't as decisive. After two changes of sides, the score was 6-6, but Berdych started to play really great tennis from here, winning the next 4 points and finishing the match.
In the second round Berdych faced off against 123rd player of the world, Cecil Mamiit, after the first round troubles, Berdych didn't want to play another drama match.
And he didn't, as he went quickly for the 5/0 lead in the first, Mamiit won his first game, but Berdych had no problem to close the first set on his own service.
Second set wasn't much different to the first, as Berdych won him 6/2, progressing to Quaterfinals.
In his first quatefinals, Berdych went to play No.1 seed, number 43 in the world, Todd Woodbridge.
Woodbridge played a lot of good volleys in the first set, had 2 break points and used them both, Berdych didn't have any answer on the serve-volley tactic, that Woodbridge was playing as Woodbridge won the first set 6/2.
Second set was suddenly different, as Berdych served really well and didn't let Woodbridge to attack net. On the other side Woodbridge had to save 3 break points on his first service game in the second set, as he did some unusual faults in his net game. Berdych got to break points again at 2/1 on games, and finally converted the fifth break point to take the 3/1 lead. Berdych didn't have any problems on service and won the second set 6/3.
The master tie break for one sided for Berdych as he played some great passing shots and didn't lost any service point, as he won the tie break 10-3
In semifinals, Berdych faced Guillermo Canas, world number 12 back in 2001, Canas was number 145 now, but he is making his comeback to get back to the best positions.
Berdych went with one tactic to this match, try to finish the points at the net as much as possible, because Canas was really great defender, so making the points from baseline would be really hard.
Berdych went quickly for the break to lead 2/1 but Canas without any trouble re-broke to make it 2/2, Berdych again took the break and lead 3/2, held his serve to make it 4/2. At 4/3 Berdych was loosing 0-40 on his service, but got back to deuce. But he lost the next two points, so Canas made it back to 4/4. Berdych then went to break Canas again, to immediately lose his serve once again to make it 5/5. Both guys then held their services just for the third time to make it 6/6. Berdych won the longest (22 shots) rally to make it 3-3 in tie break. Canas then won another longest (24 shots) rally to make it 6-5 for him and serving. But Berdych won both return points, first after great volley game and then after perfect forehand shots. Canas then made amazing passing shot, but Berdych did the same on next point, Berdych was leading 8-7. Canas held both his service points without trouble. Canas was then leading 10-9 and went to serve once again. Canas then did some Nadal sort-of shots and finished the first set 7/6(9).
And man, Canas was just different player in the second set. He started to play more aggresive, he just did what he wanted with Berdych. One thing that worked better for Tomas was first serve, that's like the only reason why he wasn't broken for 4 games in the second set. Canas played like really good, much better than Berdych, he didn't let Berdych do his volley game, and when he did, it was after some great dropshot followed by winning passing shot. The first break came at 4/4, as Canas took his chance and went for 5/4 lead. And Canas without any problems closed the second set to win it 6/4. To compare stats, Berdych did 33 winners in the first set, but when Canas changed his game, Berdych could hit just 11 winners in the second.
Quick Results
1R - Berdych X Boutter(8) 4/6 6/0 1/0(6)
2R - Berdych X Mamiit 6/1 6/2
QF - Berdych X Woodbridge 2/6 6/3 1/0(3)
SF - Berdych X Canas 6/7(9) 4/6
Rank before: 119
Rank after: 108
Highlights of the week:
Doha -> Agassi d. Roddick 6/1 6/4
Chennai -> Nalbandian d. Federer 6/4 3/6 1/0(4)
Brisbane -> Canas d. Kiefer 6/3 6/2
I am happy with this first tournament, even though the SF loss kinda hurt, but more of these will come, so I need to toughen up a bit
Got wildcard to Auckland and Sydney, and I will probably try the Sydney tournament, to really make sure that I will be in main draw at Australian Open.
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