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Before we begin discussing their semi-final, let us get one thing straight: Andy Murray and Tomas Berdych are actually pretty good friends.
They have had their moments on court but, then again, so has every player in the heat of battle – even John and Patrick McEnroe have, in the past, exchanged words during the Gentlemen’s Invitation Doubles (not much brotherly love shown there when the chips were down). But Murray and Berdych rub along nicely when they are not competing for one of the biggest prizes in the sport. That’s that sorted, then.
Their lives have been intertwined over the past couple of years, however, and that has not always been easy to deal with. In 2014, Murray and Ivan Lendl ended the first chapter of their highly successful coaching partnership. Berdych, sensing there might be an opening for him, tried to persuade Lendl to join his team. No luck. Lendl did not want to travel anymore and had other plans to attend to closer to home.
Then, at the end of that year, Dani Vallverdu left the Murray team and Berdych signed him up, quick as a flash. Together, Berdych and Vallverdu marched on to the Australian Open only to bump into Murray in the semi-finals for what turned out to be a tense encounter.
Not only had Vallverdu been Murray’s assistant coach for years, he was also the Scot’s best friend. To put it politely, it was one of those #awkward moments.
But now Berdych has fired Vallverdu and Lendl is back with Murray. The man both players wanted as their guide and mentor is happy to be on the road again and, having picked Murray as his pupil, is bringing the best out of the world No.2. That could, potentially, have been a bit of a conversation dampener when the two teams met in the locker room but apparently not.
He's a big guy who serves well. When he's dictating the points he hits a big, big ball
“I approach Ivan when he stop with Andy first time,” Berdych explained. “He basically says that he doesn't have the time and he don't want to be involved in tennis. Then he come back to Andy. So that's how it is. I mean, it's another opponent for me. I’m just going to try to focus on my next match.”
So is it frustrating that Lendl is back in harness with Murray? “No, absolutely not,” Berdych said, so killing dead a perfectly good row story for the newspapers (he may be a splendid tennis player but Tomas would make a hopeless sports editor).
So, the nuts and bolts of the semi-final match up: Berdych is the world No.9, he is 30 years old and he stands an intimidating 6ft 5in in his tennis socks. He can give the ball an almighty clout but, alas, leaves himself very little margin for error – when his eye is in, he pastes the lines; when his timing is off, it can be messy. And Berdych has been to the final here before but left without so much as a set in 2010, beaten by Rafael Nadal.
Murray is one year younger, two inches shorter and seven places higher in the rankings. He is also two Gand Slam trophies better off, having won here in 2013 and at the US Open the year before, and leads their career rivalry 8-6 (he has won their last four meetings for the loss of only one set).
After more than a decade on the road together, the two know each other well and clearly have much respect for the other’s achievements. Even in the run up to the semi-finals, when you might think they would be focusing only on themselves, both men were being extremely complimentary about the other.
“I think at the beginning, he was a bit more defensive,” Berdych said, “playing a little bit more just waiting for what the opponent is going to do. I think it was working pretty well for myself. I was able to really dictate the game and play aggressive. Now he becomes to be more aggressive, way more creative on the court. So he's also looking for the way how to improve, how to be better. I think that's the difference.”
It tickled Murray that Berdych had highlighted the new aggressive streak in his game. “It's nice that the players I'm playing against say I'm playing more aggressive,” he said, “because everyone's only said I've played aggressive when Ivan has been coaching me. The last few years I have been playing more aggressive tennis, playing with a little bit more variety, for sure. That's worked well against him.
“We've never played on grass before. Obviously he's a big guy who serves well. When he's dictating the points, he hits a big, big ball. He's a powerful guy. Ideally, I don't want to have him dictating all of the points because then I'll be doing a lot of running.”
And when the running stops and the place in the final has been decided, Murray and Berdych will still be friends. Just don’t expect them to be exchanging pleasantries round about teatime on Friday.
