| By Chris Oddo |
Photo Credit: Tony Chang/Chang Photography
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(March 13, 2012) –Tomas Berdych shrugged off questions about there being any bad blood between he and his BNP Paribas Open round of 16 opponent Nicolas Almagro, when talking to the press after his win over Andy Roddick last night.
“I don't know,” said Berdych, “I mean, that's really just the past, and as I said, nothing serious happened. It's just the way that you guys coming up with these stories again and again.”
Berdych, who was hit in the right arm by an Almagro forehand during his 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(3), 7-6(2) fourth-round victory at the Australian Open, refused to shake hands with the Spaniard after the match, and had much of his post-match on-court interview drowned out by a chorus of boos from the Aussie fans.
Most people in the media took Almagro’s side, saying the Berdych over reacted. “I just thought he was a bit of a wuss there,” said Darren Cahill, while commentating for ESPN after the match.
“The only thing worse than a bad loser is a bad winner,” added ESPN’s Chris Evert.
Now that a few months have passed, Berdych claims that the highly anticipated battle will be just another match for him.
“It's gonna be same match like any others, and I'm gonna try to find, fight, go through, try to go for the quarterfinal.”
When asked if he’d talked to Almagro since the incident, Berdych stuck to his script. “Yeah, I mean, we meeting many times in the locker room, practice courts, anywhere else,” he said. “There is nothing wrong, and [it’s] all is good.”
Berdych holds a 5-2 advantage in the career head-to-head over Almagro, including victories in their last two tilts.