[Steffi4ever]

The face and figure of the young Italian really reminds me of Berdych, a Czech who retired yeas ago with decent records. I see a close resemblance between the two. I donno how similar their games are to each other as I haven't seen the Italian play much yet. Anyone with me?

 

[-Dominator-]

They are both stellar ballstrikers, so I just voted 'yes'.

 

[POTUS Haase]

Great ballstriker, but doesn't Sinner move a bit better?

 

[-Dominator-]

Yeah, also think Sinners BH is stronger. Give Berdych the edge on the FH though.

 

[Budadiii]

No.

 

[guitarra]

Tomas Berdych was a fantastic player. Was blocked from grand slam glory due two facts:

• BIG3 edging him in key moments
• his weak mentality

Give him Djokovic's mental fortitude and he'd won 3-5 slams even in the BIG3 era.

As for Sinner - I think it's too early to say yet whether he win slams and how many. One thing's sure - he won't have to deal with the BIG3 for the majority part of his career so he'll have it much easier than Berdych.

 

[Budadiii]

Tomas Berdych was a fantastic player. Was blocked from grand slam glory due two facts:

• BIG3 edging him in key moments
• his weak mentality

Give him Djokovic's mental fortitude and he'd won 3-5 slams even in the BIG3 era.

As for Sinner - I think it's too early to say yet whether he win slams and how many. One thing's sure - he won't have to deal with the BIG3 for the majority part of his career so he'll have it much easier than Berdych.

Thats a bit of a leap to say 3-5 slams with Djokovic mental fortitude..

also, its different being just one of the guys than the underdog battling Big 3, no slam would have been guaranteed but he probably would have a couple.

 

[hypnotoed]

Totally agree that he's the second coming of Berdych in the looks department. He's even sponsored by Nike, like Berdych was for the majority of his career. Jannik seems to specialise in the same blank expression that Tomas had on his face nearly all the time!

 

[Burrow]

Tomas Berdych was a fantastic player. Was blocked from grand slam glory due two facts:

• BIG3 edging him in key moments
• his weak mentality

Give him Djokovic's mental fortitude and he'd won 3-5 slams even in the BIG3 era.

As for Sinner - I think it's too early to say yet whether he win slams and how many. One thing's sure - he won't have to deal with the BIG3 for the majority part of his career so he'll have it much easier than Berdych.

Tomas Berdych won his only Masters Series at 20 and it is fair to say that there is at the very least an argument that he played the best tennis of his career during that event. Where was he between 2005 and 2010?

The fact is that he was not a well-rounded player. His movement was poor, he was mentally dodgy and he was useless at the net. He wasn't just losing to the very top players, but also to the likes of Stephane Robert, Evgeny Korolev, Michael Llodra (several times), Ernests Gulbis, Guillermo Garcia Lopez, Gilles Simon etc.

Tomas Berdych became good at mostly beating who he was supposed to beat, but became increasingly worse at beating the top players. There was never a surer time that Tomas Berdych was not going to win a big event than when he was at his career high ranking - deadwood.

Jannick Sinner will hopefully be a lot better - surely.

I do agree with you in that if you give him Novak Djokovic's mental characteristics he would have ended up with a slam or more. He could have at least capitalised on a draw falling to pieces like Andy Murray did at Wimbledon a couple of times.

 

[SetPointDown]

His Ball striking is delicious a bit like berd

Berdych had some major issues though and also tougher top guys

 

[NedStark]

Berdych by all means should have better serve as well (even though Berdych serve is crap for his height).

 

[Monsi]

Great ballstriker, but doesn't Sinner move a bit better?

I'd say not a bit but a lot. His movement looks quite awkward in a typical teenage way, but court coverage is pretty great nonetheless. Hopefully, his suspect stamina will be fixed in the coming years.
Anticipation is better too, IMO, and the ability to dictate off the backhand is not something Berdych ever had, really. Sinner is very symmetrical in this sense and generates offense effortlessly on both wings.

Obviously, it's too early to predict his career total. A lot will depend on mentality. At this point occasional yips are natural. If he leaves them behind in the foreseeable future, I expect him to achieve more than Tomas. Who, ironically, was a very intimidating player as a youngster, but became more and more fragile as he matured.


BTW, OP, years ago? Berdych retired at the end of 2019.

 

[masterclass]

No, Mr. Tomas Berdych is alive and well! OP better be kidding about uttering " reincarnation". People have been banned for less.

10 days ago Tomas celebrated his 35th birthday. If he gets healthy, he could even play in next year's Tokyo Olympics.

Respectfully,
masterclass

 

[BodyServe]

Berdych at 19 beat Federer who was n°1. He was more going for his shots than Sinner which is understandable as a worse mover. Sinner is a bit more like Djokovic with good court coverage and great depth. Will punish you when he gets the opportunity.

Sinner is showing decent mentality so far, which is the most important factor after all.

 

[Budadiii]

Tomas Berdych won his only Masters Series at 20 and it is fair to say that there is at the very least an argument that he played the best tennis of his career during that event. Where was he between 2005 and 2010?

The fact is that he was not a well-rounded player. His movement was poor, he was mentally dodgy and he was useless at the net. He wasn't just losing to the very top players, but also to the likes of Stephane Robert, Evgeny Korolev, Michael Llodra (several times), Ernests Gulbis, Guillermo Garcia Lopez, Gilles Simon etc.

Tomas Berdych became good at mostly beating who he was supposed to beat, but became increasingly worse at beating the top players. There was never a surer time that Tomas Berdych was not going to win a big event than when he was at his career high ranking - deadwood.

Jannick Sinner will hopefully be a lot better - surely.

I do agree with you in that if you give him Novak Djokovic's mental characteristics he would have ended up with a slam or more. He could have at least capitalised on a draw falling to pieces like Andy Murray did at Wimbledon a couple of times.

Cmon now, thats a weird timeframe to choose.

Why pick a time span pre-prime? You could do this to anyone.

Where was Federer from 2000-2003?

Fact is from 2010-2014 Berdych was one of the most consistent slam performers ever, and probably the most consistent and best outside of the Big 5 since 2000.

 

[Budadiii]

Berdych at 19 beat Federer who was n°1. He was more going for his shots than Sinner which is understandable as a worse mover. Sinner is a bit more like Djokovic with good court coverage and great depth. Will punish you when he gets the opportunity.

Sinner is showing decent mentality so far, which is the most important factor after all.

Sinner isnt the "will punish you when he gets the opportunity" type. Thats a label reserved for less attacking minded and less gifted players. Sinner can absolutely open up the court at any time.

 

[Burrow]

Berdych at 19 beat Federer who was n°1. He was more going for his shots than Sinner which is understandable as a worse mover. Sinner is a bit more like Djokovic with good court coverage and great depth. Will punish you when he gets the opportunity.

Sinner is showing decent mentality so far, which is the most important factor after all.

Yes. One of the biggest weaknesses for Tomas Berdych was how he largely played at one pace and more specifically his inability to play any other type of shot when he was pushed out of position. He was so brainless that he would not even consider playing a moon ball or something like that to get himself back into position - he would just hit another flat and hard shot often over the high part of the net. Not enough soft edges to his style.

Therefore, one could say that he did a lot of the harder stuff well, in terms of ball striking, but he didn't do any of the easy stuff.

Completely brainless.

You could say a waste of a talent, but more so a waste of a player who could have been good to watch, especially with the attitude he brought to the table in his early years before becoming a cuck.

 

[raysun68]

Fact is from 2010-2014 Berdych was one of the most consistent slam performers ever, and probably the most consistent and best outside of the Big 5 since 2000.

It's interesting that both Berdych and Ferrer had their most consistent period in slams about 2010 RG-2014 RG, and Ferrer was more consistent in this period, he never lost before R3 (never before R4 if you start from 2010 Wimbledon), including the epic 2012-2014 10 consecutive slam QF streak. Berdych had 4 R1 exits in this period, some draws were tough but overall it's a level below Ferrer.

 

[Burrow]

Cmon now, thats a weird timeframe to choose.

Why pick a time span pre-prime? You could do this to anyone.

Where was Federer from 2000-2003?

Fact is from 2010-2014 Berdych was one of the most consistent slam performers ever, and probably the most consistent and best outside of the Big 5 since 2000.

Tomas Berdych managed to win an AMS having just turned 20, in 2005. Regardless of what any MTF recency bias experts say (and there are many, or many who simply don't remember), he played arguably the tournament of his life and as BodyServe said, he was beating Roger Federer aged 19. He was beating Rafael Nadal in AMS events (defending champion in Madrid and Canada 2006), who was no worse at that stage than many other stages in his career when he was losing to the likes of Jurgen Melzer, Florian Mayer, Ivan Dodig and co.

The argument is that it didn't need to be his "pre-prime". Tomas Berdych beat Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon in 2010 - he didn't just all of a sudden become that player in that event, he was that player the years prior. That's why I asked where he was.

Yes, he was an incredibly consistent performer overall for a non-slam winner, which as I said, made it all the more incredible that it was becoming increasingly obvious that he was never going to win another big title. Normally, as players become more consistent, they create more opportunities and at some point in time one of those opportunities will materialise in a big tournament win. The opposite seemed to happen with him. At least, that was my perception and it turned out to be right on that one.

 

[Budadiii]

Tomas Berdych managed to win an AMS having just turned 20, in 2005. Regardless of what any MTF recency bias experts say (and there are many, or many who simply don't remember), he played arguably the tournament of his life and as BodyServe said, he was beating Roger Federer aged 19. He was beating Rafael Nadal in AMS events (defending champion in Madrid and Canada 2006), who was no worse at that stage than many other stages in his career when he was losing to the likes of Jurgen Melzer, Florian Mayer, Ivan Dodig and co.

The argument is that it didn't need to be his "pre-prime". Tomas Berdych beat Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon in 2010 - he didn't just all of a sudden become that player in that event, he was that player the years prior. That's why I asked where he was.

Yes, he was an incredibly consistent performer overall for a non-slam winner, which as I said, made it all the more incredible that it was becoming increasingly obvious that he was never going to win another big title. Normally, as players become more consistent, they create more opportunities and at some point in time one of those opportunities will materialise in a big tournament win. The opposite seemed to happen with him. At least, that was my perception and it turned out to be right on that one.

The totality of his results is completely different from 05-09 than 10-14, he was a worse player in the 19-23 years of age time slot, and thats completely normal. Regardless of big wins which any young talent racks up, or a Masters won over a horribly declining Ferrero in an injured year, Gaudio on carpet, Stepanek, and Ljubicic.

Berdy created great opportunities for himself in 2012 at the AO and USO, but ran into the machine of the Big 3 right in the heart of its prime. But other than that, I agree with much you said.