Berdych joins growing list of US Open withdrawals
Ninth seed Tomas Berdych became the 17th singles player to pull out of this year’s US Open during his third-round match against Janko Tipsarevic today.
The Czech had been struggling with a right shoulder problem since the Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati two weeks ago and, although he survived matches against Romain Jouan and Fabio Fognini, this proved a step too far.
Tipsarevic, the 20th seed, had taken the first set 6-4 when Berdych took a medical time-out to receive treatment. He carried on but lost the next five games before opting to call it a day.
Berdych said: “I felt it already in the match with Fognini but I was able to finish it. I didn’t even go to hit yesterday. I wanted to just have treatment on it, relax and not do anything and hope that it was going to be better, but it’s not.”
Serb Tipsarevic, who has now beaten Berdych in all their four meetings, will play in the fourth round of a grand slam for the first time since Wimbledon in 2008.
He felt he handled the situation well, saying: “I’m happy that I won the first set because I feel that had nothing to do with an injury, but I’m happy that I executed the next five games in the second set.
“Normally what is happening to some of the players, or myself for that matter, is I back off a little bit and start playing more defensive because I think he will start to miss because of his shoulder problems.
“I stepped it up and started playing even better when I saw him struggle.”
Tipsarevic, famous in the tennis world for his love of philosophy, is having the best season of his career and the 27-year-old revealed he has been inspired by seeing the success of others.
He said: “I guess I was kind of sick being all the time around 30 or 40. I’m not old but I’m not young. I see guys from my generation like (Robin) Soderling or (Gilles) Simon had their, if I can say, dreams come true, winning tournaments, being top 10.
“I feel that I have the quality. It’s just the thing is that my head was not there in the previous years. The goal this year is to be top 20 and then maybe next year to hopefully attack top 10.”
No sooner had Berdych retired than 31st seed Marcel Granollers also quit, succumbing to what appeared to be a back problem while trailing fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-1 4-3.
The high number of withdrawals have been a major talking point of the tournament, with two players pulling out before the start, two more choosing not to play their matches – including Venus Williams – and 14 more retiring mid-match.
Many of the players have been strong critics of the length of the tennis season, and Andy Murray weighed into the debate on Twitter, saying: “is the 18th pull out in the us open telling the tennis authorities anything?? No?? Thought not....”
Former world number one Ferrero, 31, has been battling back from knee and wrist surgery and he will meet Tipsarevic for a place in the quarter-finals.
