Berdych and the Big Time

This has been a good, good tournament for the Czech Republic, better than they ever would have hoped. Not only did they get Petra Kvitova, surprise semi finalist, now they have Tomas Berdych, surprise finalist. And even though I am still totally mad at Tomas for beating my beloved Federer, I am kind of excited to see how he goes lining up in this final.

He was absolutely outstanding in his match against Djokovic yesterday. Djokovic may be ranked higher, but I would argue that Tomas is more innately talented, and yesterday, it showed. Djokovic did not play his bestest match ever, but he didn't actively suck or anything - Berdych just caught fire. And I am really, really interested to see what happens when he goes into the final.

At long last, is this it? Has Tomas Berdych finally realised his potential?

He will face Rafa in the final, and even though you have to like Rafa to win, Tomas is exactly the kind of player that can trouble him. He plays quite similarly to Soderling, and we know how that one's gone down in the past. Make no mistake, Tomas will have to redline his game. But if he does, he has a really good shot.

But yeah. Rafa. I think it is really, really likely that he will lift his second Wimbledon trophy this weekend. And more power to him.

He played wonderfully against Andy Murray. I think he really hit his stride in this tournament when he was down 5-0 in the first set of his match against Soderling. Even though he didn't end up winning that set, he came charging back so hard that Soderling was totally knocked on his arse by the momentum and Rafa stormed away with the match. He didn't give Murray a look yesterday, not at all. Murray didn't play his awesomest tennis ever or anything, but he didn't (like Djokovic) actively suck. Rafa just took his chances away.

As anti-climactic as a non-Fed final is for a Fedfan, I think the men's final is going to be really interesting. You have to make Rafa the favourite, but I'm not writing off Berdych. This could finally be the break everyone knew he could make.