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French Open Contenders: Thomas Berdych is in top form

By Geoff Nichols

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French Open Contenders: Thomas Berdych is in top form

Thomas Berdych is sitting nicely at second in the ATP Race standings, having started 2015 in phenomenal form. He is striking the ball with tremendous power and seems to have gained a belief in the way he is executing his game plan in matches.

The transformation is certainly happening but is by no means complete, as the Czech star still struggles in the matches against the Big Four. Nevertheless, many see the French Open this year as a chance for Berdych to break his Grand Slam duck once and for all.

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It hasn’t so much been a storyline for Berdych through his career and chasing a Grand Slam title, whilst clearly a goal of his, hasn’t seemed to become an obsession. His hunger must be present, how else could you explain the raft of ambitious coaching changes he made at the start of the year.

Whilst the chatter is building over Berdych’s chances at Roland Garros, in part fuelled by his run the the final of the Monte Carlo Masters a few weeks ago, it is statistically his worst Grand Slam by quite a distance. His win percentage of 60.71% is a full 10% lower than his second worse, the US Open.

A series of first round defeats have hampered this specific statistic and mask a run to the semi final in 2010 and the quarter final in 2014. He is no mug on the clay, that much is clear. Two of his titles have come on the red dirt, albeit the most recent was in 2009 at the Munich Open.

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The underlying factor for Berdych that means people are giving him a fighting chance is his style of play. He has the power to bully any opponent, including a Djokovic or a Nadal. I think a part of people think that if everything were to come together, he could achieve something similar to what Marin Cilic did last year at the US Open.

Personally I wonder whether Berdych has the belief to lift a Grand Slam title. There are no many personalities at the top of the game who are obsessed with winning majors, no matter how many they already have in their trophy cabinet.

Is the fire burning bright enough for Berdych deep inside, where it really counts. I think he will make it to the latter stages, he is playing to well to suffer another early exit in Paris, but beyond there I can see another loss to one of the Big Four stuttering his progress once again.

French Open Chances: 2 out of 10

Next: What can Rafael Nadal achieve on the clay?

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