Very disappointing. It does seem though that he has a match-up problem with Berdych, but that doesn't excuse the fact that he didn't serve nearly as well as he can. And if he doesn't serve well, the rest of his game seems to fall apart. Playing like that Djoker would have trounced him in the next round anyway.
Disappointing, but not a huge shock in a way - Andy had a losing record against Berdych coming into this and a 0-9 record against top 8 players on clay, despite some very near-misses. The highest-ranked player he has ever beaten on clay is Davydenko when Kolya was WR 9.
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GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!
In terms of Andy's points and clay practice, something is better than nothing; Fed and Rafa have quite a lot of points coming off in the next 3 weeks. Andy has very few coming off so can only gain, and Fed wasn't even playing this week.
I did detect quite a lot of optimism from Andy re the clay season so I think he will be rather dissappointed.
And although yes much less than Novak and Rafa, he did earn his best ever clay court points haul last year with SFs at Monte Carlo ( points already taken off ), Rome and in the French Open, and L16 in Madrid so far from negligible points to defend.
Andy can be as optimistic as he wants. But if he's not getting the results it means nothing. Berdych played really well but he's ranked 7 and I think hardcourts are his favourite surface. So this could be just a mismatch of styles, but it shows the number four spot is not a given for Andy this season.
Please take all my comments in the light of the fact I know absolutely nothing about tennis - just watch it !