Tomas Berdych and Jaume Munar pull out from last pre-Roland Garros tests
Former world no. 4 and the winner of 13 ATP titles Tomas Berdych was forced to miss the second part of 2018 due to a back injury, winning just 11 matches until June. The Czech has been one of the most consistent players on the Tour in the last 15 years, scoring more than 600 ATP wins and almost 350 at Grand Slam and Masters 1000 level combined, also spending 12 years in the top-50 and 15 in the top-100! Eager to get back where he belongs, Tomas kicked off the season with the final in Doha and the fourth round at the Australian Open, building the momentum and entering the last four in Montpellier as well.
Denis Shapovalov, Borna Coric and Feliciano Lopez toppled the experienced Czech in Rotterdam, Dubai and at Indian Wells, not playing since then due to more back problems. Tomas pulled out from Miami and he is yet to play a match on clay this spring, announcing the withdrawal from Lyon in what was supposed to be the last preparation ahead of Roland Garros that is also in doubt for Tomas. Five days ago, Berdych announced he is back at the gym, working on a comeback and hoping to make a return in Paris where he scored 25 wins so far, losing in the semi-final to Robin Soderling in five sets nine years ago.
The young gun Jaume Munar has also decided to skip the last test ahead of Roland Garros, pulling out of Geneva to stay on 15 wins in 2019 so far. The Spaniard has made great progress so far this year, playing in the quarter-final in four of the first five tournaments and ousting Alexander Zverev in Marrakech for another notable triumph. Jaume lost in the marathon match against Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the first qualifying round in Rome and opted to skip Geneva and take some rest ahead of Roland Garros where he fought valiantly against Novak Djokovic last year.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2wcqiFT
No comments