Prague, May 16 (CTK) – Czech tennis player Tomas Berdych, 33, who is number eight in the world according to the latest ATP rankings, has ended cooperation with coach Daniel Vallverdu after 17 months and he has no coach at present, Berdych announced on Monday.
“My latest results are not what I expected. I am not a player whose career would be starting and so I had to act quickly when I felt the need for change,” Berdych said.
Last week, he lost 0-6, 0-6 to Belgian David Goffin (13th in ATP) in the third round of the Italian Open tournament. This has been the worst defeat in his career.
Berdych said the crushing defeat was not an immediate impulse to end the cooperation with Vallverdu who coached British Andy Murray before.
At the beginning of his cooperation with Vallverdu in early 2015, Berdych advanced to the semi-final of the Australian Open. But he never beat any of the world’s best players, Novak Djokovic, Murray and Roger Federer. This year, Berdych also started losing matches with other players whom he managed to defeat in 2015.
Berdych has been among the TOP 10 for six years, but now he may be eliminated from it.
This happened to another Czech player, two-times Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova, who left the TOP 10 after five years on Monday and is 12th in the WTA rankings now. Following her unsuccessful performance at the Australian Open in January, Kvitova ended cooperation with coach David Kotyza after seven years.
Berdych won the Davis Cup with the Czech team twice and he advanced to the Wimbledon final in 2010. His best result in ATP was the fourth position.
