By Chris Oddo | Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Worn down by the constant rigors of going deep in the Davis Cup draw, Tomas Berdych speaks his mind about the competition's current format.
Photo Source: Christopher Levy
The Czech Republic's No. 1 player and main contributor in the team's back-to-back Davis Cup titles has joined the growing group of disgruntled Davis Cuppers.
>>>Miami Musings: Five Questions With Tomas Berdych
Tomas Berdych, who will skip this weekend's tie in Japan, in which the Czech Republic will go for its eleventh consecutive tie victory, has become wary of the format. Speaking to reporters at the Sony Open in Miami, Berdych opened up on the subject.
“It should be at least every two years,” Berdych said. “It could go well with the Olympics. I think that's definitely the first thing that I would say.”
Berdych, who has played Davis Cup for his country since 2003 and amassed a 48-14 career record, does not believe changes will be easy to make, however.
“Even if you're gonna have 20 of us saying the same thing, then you will always find probably the one who will say, 'Well, no, I like it like this,'” he said. “Probably even if you are 20 of us saying the same thing, they like to do it the way they do, and that's it.”
When reporters mentioned that many small nations generate invaluable income on an annual basis for their tennis federations with the current format, and that that lost income could hurt their bottom lines, Berdych was engaged and thoughtful, saying he had not considered that scenario.
“Honestly I'm not in the side of any managers and, you know, dealing with stuff like that,” he said. “I mean, it's understandable, but I think you can always find a way, meaning, let's say, if you're gonna make it more attractive in those every two years, you're going to get all the players to play, you're gonna make more money than you can [when you] do it now, and you can have the one year off, and you can still earn that money.”
For star players that are already heavily taxed by the tour's incessant grind, Davis Cup has become a point of contention. Many have called for a format change in recent years, and many top players (Roger Federer, Juan Martin del Potro, Andy Murray and more) have skipped the event because if its uncanny ability to nudge up against the scheduling of Grand Slams. This week's quarterfinals will be played in the small window between a four-week grind on the North American hard courts and the beginning of the 2014 clay-court season.
Berdych will be joined on the sidelines this weekend by Germany's Tommy Haas, Florian Mayer and Philipp Kohlschreiber, as well as France's Richard Gasquet.
Nobody will be complaining in Switzerland, as Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka could end up being the main beneficiaries of all the depleted rosters. If the Swiss manage to get to the final and the Berdych-less Czechs fall to Japan this weekend and therefore give up their title defense, the road gets slightly easier for Switzerland.
If the Czechs don't reach their third consecutive Davis Cup final in 2014, Berdych will have one thing to look forward to this year: He won't have to endure pleas to commit for the following season just days after reaching the final.
“When you play semifinal, you win the semifinal in September, and I think it's the next Wednesday after that weekend you get a phone call and saying, 'So, Tomas, what do you think about the first round, playing against Holland? Are you excited about it?' I said, What? What are you talking about? We are playing final in Serbia. Just forget about it,” he said.