Interview Tomas Berdych July 28, 2008

CINCINNATI, OHIO


T. BERDYCH/F. Gonzalez
6-3, 3-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. People here still obviously remember you from the match when you beat Nadal after he won Canada. I was wondering what this place means to you? Do you have any fond memories of Cincinnati?
TOMAS BERDYCH: Yeah, well, like you said, the match with Nadal, it's not every week, so of course I remember all the matches with those guys.
I mean, with Federer, with Nadal, yeah, those guys. Especially when you play the match and you can beat him on any surface, any tournament, then it gets to your memory and it stays there.
Yeah, I mean, my memories are good for this week and for this tournament. Well, I'm always happy to come here, but in the few last years I didn't have as good results as I would expect.
Yeah, I hope this year it's going to change and it's going to be everything different.

Q. It's funny, because when you beat him that year I remember in your post-match press conference it didn't seem that big of a deal to you that you had beaten him.
TOMAS BERDYCH:: Well, I mean, if it's like straight after the match, and then like all kind of emotions and everything from the court, you're tired and everything and you just want to relax. So maybe you don't like have it in your mind that you beat Nadal and all the things like this.
It came a little bit after, or maybe the next day or anything like that, so I think it was this case.

Q. How do you feel your summer so far?
TOMAS BERDYCH:: Well, I mean, my season starts pretty good, but then with the injury in the Davis Cup match in Russia everything got changed. I was playing really good coming after semis from Miami.
Everything was fine, but then I was like one month off the tournaments and then coming slowly and lost couple of pretty close matches.
So far, the summer, it's -- yeah, it can be always better than this. But, yeah, I had the finals in Bastad, and now I think it's getting better and better.

Q. The Olympics are coming up. The buzz, are players feeling it?
TOMAS BERDYCH:: I don't think it's already right now. I think it's going to be maybe few days before or when you arrived to Beijing.
Because I think like the tournament, when you came to the site, it's the same like here or in New York or anywhere else in the world.
But the atmosphere on the village, like on the place where the Olympics are, it's completely different. You can meet all the athletes and everybody. You're staying in the Olympic Village with all the other athletes from your country, so this is quite a big difference.
Yeah, I'm looking forward to go there. I like to be there. I had a great memories for my last Athens Olympic Games. Yeah, it's going to be nice for me.

Q. The last Olympic games, of course the match with Roger. Out of the Olympics, do you take more out of the experience of four years ago, or is it beating Roger that really stands out?
TOMAS BERDYCH: Well, I mean, it's like you said, it's four years ago. There it was one of my first tournaments because I was one of the last in the draw. I was around 80, 90 in the rankings, so I was just pretty close to just get in.
Then I was starting to play my first like big matches. Well, I think it's these two things together. Come to the big tournament and have a good results, and then it didn't stay just with this result.
Because sometimes it's kind of player who just came to one tournament then he can win or be in semifinal and then nobody heard about him no more.
I'm pretty happy that I can start there and then to consistently keep going and make a better result.

Q. Everybody now in the tennis world is talking about the fight for No. 1. Rafa could do it this week. Is there a buzz in the locker room about that, or is it, for most of the players, just another week like you said?
TOMAS BERDYCH:: Yeah, I think it's maybe sometimes you just talk with maybe your coach or maybe when you just sit at the dinner or something like this. But it's not like -- I mean, everybody watch what's -- I don't know maybe Roger or Rafa are doing, if they're doing anything different or things like that.
I think both of them are trying to play their best tennis. If it's the way that Nadal is going to be first or Roger is gonna stay for another weeks, I think it's going to be -- yeah, just it goes, and this is life.

Q. How did Lucie like your blog last week?
TOMAS BERDYCH:: Well, she was at home so she saw everything. Well, I mean, took it like as a normal.

End of FastScripts