By Jerry Magee September 6, 2004
NEW YORK – The name Tomas Berdych does not exactly resonate through the men's tennis community. An Andy Roddick he is not. Nor is he an Andre Agassi or a Lleyton Hewitt.
Berdych, though, has done something none of those players has accomplished this year. He has beaten Roger Federer. The boyish Berdych, an 18-year-old from the Czech Republic, outplayed the Swiss star in the Round of 32 at the Athens Olympics 7-6 (7-2), 4-6, 8-6.
Consider Berdych's 7-11 record coming into the U.S. Open and there is a temptation to dismiss his conquest of Federer as an aberration. Consider, too, that he won only two ATP Tour matches from late January to early July and this impression deepens.
But after this period, Berdych said he began practicing more. His preparation for the Open included capturing a couple of Challenger events in Germany. Consider those points and a few others and it is possible to conclude that the guy can play a little.
For one thing, he is in the fourth round of the Open after a 2-6, 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 victory yesterday over Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, ranked No. 38 in the world. Youzhny had defeated the respected David Nalbandian of Argentina in his previous match.
For another, Berdych had begun the Open by handling veteran Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden, also in five sets, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, 1-6, 6-3.
If there is a secret to beating Federer, Berdych said he doesn't know what it is. "You have to go on the court, and you have to play more than 100 percent," said the Czech. "And you have to be a little bit lucky."
The next person scheduled to try his luck against Federer is Andrei Pavel of Romania, who opposes Federer in the concluding match of this evening's program in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Federer, it can be noted, brought a seasonal record of 58-6 into the Open, with losses only to Tim Henman (at Rotterdam), Rafael Nadal (at Key Biscayne), Albert Costa (at Rome), Gustavo Kuerten (at the French Open), Dominik Hrbaty (at Cincinnati) and Berdych.
Nadal, Costa and Kuerten have been eliminated, which leaves Henman, Hrbaty and Berdych as this year's only Federer beaters still hanging around the Open. Federer's record underscores this point: You get him early or you don't get him. Five of his six defeats have come in early rounds. Henman stopped him in a quarterfinal. No one has outplayed him in a semifinal or final.
The player given the best chance of preventing Federer from winning a third Grand Slam this year – he also took the Australian Open and Wimbledon – is Andy Roddick. The American was sizzling yesterday in removing Guillermo Canas of Argentina 6-1, 6-3, 6-3.
Roddick rocked his opponent with 21 aces and did not double fault. He had 49 winners and just 19 errors.
In Southern California, Jack Kramer and Ted Schroeder, two American stars of another time, were watching on television. According to Schroeder, they came to an agreement: The only way Roddick can lose here would be to someone who would make him hit so many passing shots that the unforced errors would do him in. And the men's game is almost devoid of players who pursue serve-and-volley tactics.
On the men's program yesterday and last night were eight third-round matches. Advancing in addition to Roddick and Berdych were Tommy Haas of Germany, Karol Beck of Slovakia, Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, Joachium Johansson of Sweden, Michael Llodra of France and Hewitt.
The No. 4 seed, Hewitt checked Feliciano Lopez of Spain in last night's closing match 6-1, 6-4, 6-2.