TOMAS Berdych was delighted to see Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal make shock early exits at Wimbledon, claiming it was boring for fans to keep seeing the same old faces dominating the Grand Slams.
The Czech seventh seed, who was runner-up to Nadal at Wimbledon in 2010, reached the fourth round for the sixth time on Saturday (June 29) with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 over fellow giant Kevin Anderson of South Africa.
It was the 27-year-old’s ninth win in nine meetings with Anderson and fifth this year.
‘I think these days people and press and everybody get very used to it that the beginning of the second week they’re going to see the draw and they’re going to be seven out of the top eight guys, and the eighth one going to be maybe the 12th one, and that’s it,” said Berdych.
“In the last eight, nine years all the guys just end up in the quarters. People just get used to it.
Berdych, who will face unseeded Australian Bernard Tomic for a place in the quarter-finals, admitted the crash of the seeds which has accounted for Federer, Nadal, sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Richard Gasquet, the ninth seed and number 10 Marin Cilic could work in his favour.
“I'm going to be a little bit selfish. If I’m going to get a little bit of luck, then it’s better because then you have a chance not to play all of them actually if you want to win the tournament,” he said.
“Let’s see what the fans like more and what’s going to happen, if it’s going to be more often.”
