Hunting a first Dubai Tennis Championships title, Tomas Berdych plays to test himself against the best

The German, through to the second round here, has lost more than a quarter of his career to losses to the Big Four but feels privileged to play in an ear of Djokovic, Federer, Murray and Nadal and aspires to join them.

Czech Republic's Tomas Berdych serves to Portuguese Joao Sousa during their ATP tennis match on the second round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on February 23, 2016. / AFP / KARIM SAHIB

DUBAI // In the era of the Big Four, or Big Five now, it must be difficult being Tomas Berdych.

Take the 2010 Wimbledon championships. He edged Roger Federer in the quarter-finals in four sets, then beat Novak Djokovic in straight sets, only to lose to Rafael Nadal in the final. In any other era beating just one of those would have assured him of the title.

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Now fast forward to 2016. In his first tournament of the year, the Czech reaches the semi-final in Doha, but then finds Djokovic waiting for him. In the Australian Open, he managed to end home favourite Nick Kyrgios’s campaign on his way to the last eight, but then Federer knocked him out in straight sets.

Last week, he made it to the last four in Marseille, but this time an irrepressible Kyrgios, one of the hottest prospects in men’s tennis, blocked his path.

"Well, yeah, those three losses are, you know, it's not the easy ones, definitely not," said No 3 seed Berdych following his 6-1, 6-4 win over Portuguese Joao Sousa in the opening round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships here Tuesday.

“Those two names [Federer and Djokovic] are very well known.

“Nick, I think, is one of the guys of the new generation who really has some fire in the arm and can do really good results, good matches. I mean, he’s still a very young guy, but with these players, you can see almost every month how they improve, how they play better.

“I played him a month ago in Melbourne, and now I played him on a slightly different court and you can see the difference.

“So it’s not easy, you know. All these young guys are coming up as well, so it’s getting more and more challenging, but I’m looking forward to it, actually.”

That sense of adventure has been a constant in Berdych’s career. He has generally shunned the smaller events, tournaments where he would have a better chance of winning trophies and ranking points, and has instead picked tournaments where he can challenge himself against the best.

That is the reason why he is here in Dubai for the 10th time. Over the past five years, he has lost two finals, in 2013 and 2014, and twice in semi-finals, in 2011 and 2015. Djokovic has been responsible for three of those defeats and Federer one.

In fact, the Big Five have been responsible for more than a quarter of his career losses: 75 of 286, just over 26 per cent.

Berdych, however, is happy with the choices he has made and says pitting himself against his celebrated rivals at the top of therankings has made him a better player.

“Well, I would say, overall, we are in an era of the greatest players,” Berdych said.

“There was a period of three or four years of domination of Roger, then in between that, really great years for Rafa [Nadal]. Now basically what Novak is proving on the court, I think it’s really, like, from another world.

“For us, it’s always a big challenge trying to chase those guys, but the positive thing is I think they definitely make me a better player because I’m trying to get closer to them, trying to reach higher levels.”

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