Tomas Berdych

Began playing tennis at age five...Father, Martin, was a train engineer, mother, Hana, is a doctor...Began playing at tennis center in hometown of Valasske Mezirici, a town of just 30,000 and soon became a top junior...Won Czech Republic 12-under junior title and moved to city of Prostejov where there were more practice partners and better coaching...Commuted home often to keep his ties to his old school...

Won 14-under nationals and at 16, he won the prestigious 18-under national title in the city of Parovbice, which boasts Ivan Lendl as a former champion...Big fan of ice hockey and follows Detroit Red Wings...Has met many of Czech players from NHL and 1998 Olympic gold medal team, including Martin Straka, Jaromir Jagr and Dominik Hasek, since all of them are big tennis fans and have on several occasions come to Prostejov to play...Favorite surface is hard court and his strengths are forehand and serve...Has a 15-6 career Davis Cup record (10-6 in singles) in 11 ties... Coached by Tomas Krupa.

2002 -- Ranking improved over 800 positions...Won two Futures titles...

2003 -- Gained over 200 ranking spots with two Challenger titles...Made Grand Slam debut at US Open as qualifier and lost in 2nd RD (l. to Chela)...

2004 -- Won his first ATP title in Palermo (d. Volandri) while finishing in Top 50 for first time...Also won three Challengers...Reached QF at Athens Olympics (d. No. 1 Federer, l. to Dent) and 4th RD at US Open (l. to Haas)...

2005 -- Claimed his first AMS title in Paris where he defeated five consecutive seeds/Top 20 opponents, including No. 7 Coria, Ferrero, Gaudio, Stepanek and No. 10 Ljubicic in five sets...Runner-up in Bsstad (l. to Nadal)...

2006 -- Finished as No. 1 Czech for first time and reached finals in Halle (l. to Federer) and Mumbai (l. to Tursunov)...Went 10-4 in Grand Slam play with 4th RD at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open...At AMS events, reached SF in Madrid (d. No. 6 Roddick, No. 2 Nadal; l. to Gonzalez) and QF at Toronto (d. No. 2 Nadal, l. to Gasquet) and Paris...Broke into Top 10 for first time on Oct. 23...Went 5-8 vs. Top 10 opponents...Surpassed $1 million in a season for first time...

2007 -- Top Czech Republic player captured his third ATP title, first on grass in Halle (d. Baghdatis) and advanced to his first Grand Slam QF at Wimbledon (l. to Nadal) while posting a 46-24 record...On clay, reached SF at AMS Monte Carlo, Munich and QF at AMS Rome (l. to Volandri)...

Won three of four matches at ATP World Team Chp. in Dusseldorf to lead his country to final (l. to Argentina)...On grass, won title in Halle (d. Baghdatis) and followed with QF at Wimbledon...Closed season with back-to-back SFs in Bangkok and Tokyo and QF in Basel...Helped his country to 3-2 Davis Cup win over Switzerland to qualify for '08 World Group...Surpassed $1 million for second straigth year by earning a career-high $1,126,070.

2008 -- Finished as top Czech Republic player and in Top 20 for third straight year...Captured his fourth career ATP title and reached another final...After an 18-13 record through June, finished with a 17-9 mark from July-on...Began with 4th RD at Australian Open (l. to Federer) and in April, reached 4th RD at AMS Miami (l. to Nadal)...

In Davis Cup QF tie vs. Russia, sprained right ankle in fifth set vs. Davydenko...In July, reached final in Bastad (l. to Robredo)...After an opening round loss at US Open (l. to Querrey), reached SF in Bangkok (l. to Djokovic) and followed with first Asian title in Tokyo (d. No. 8 Roddick in SF, del Potro in F)...Closed with 3-3 indoor mark....Went 2-7 vs. Top 10 opponents and compiled records of 25-14 on hard and 6-6 on clay.

2009

The 23-year-old Czech Republic native compiled a 15-12 record through the first five months and in early May he captured his fifth career ATP World Tour title in Munich (d. Youzhny)...His previous best result was the fourth round at the Australian Open in January when he lost to No. 2 Federer in five sets after holding a two-set lead...

In March, reached the fourth round in Indian Wells (d. Blake, l. to Gonzalez)...The following month he reached the third round in Barcelona (l. to No. 7 Verdasco)…The No. 2 player from his country reached the second round at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Madrid where he beat Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez before retiring at 6-2, 4-1, in the second round due to a left leg injury vs. No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro.

Suffered a first-round exit to Simone Bolelli at Roland Garros before playing an ATP Challenger Tour event in Prostejov, where he reached the semi-finals (l. to Darcis)…Lost in a third-set tie-break to Mischa Zverev in the second round at Halle before reaching the fourth round (or better) for the third time at Wimbledon (l. to Roddick).

Helped his country to a 3-2 win over Argentina in the Davis Cup quarter-finals…Czech Republic now will face Croatia in the semi-finals in September…Afterward, lost first round in Stuttgart (l. to Kiefer) before making a strong start to his US Open Series campaign by reaching the quarter-finals in Washington (l. to Isner)…The following week was ousted in the Montreal first round by Philipp Kohlschreiber.