last 4 singles matches of the tournament were all straight sets beat downs
kind of a let down
berdych looked lost out there, no real strategy, let himself get abused on the serve out wide on the ad court, no real confidence in his backhand, the confidence he did have in his forehand was erratic and dipped at the end of each set (or he would rip it and spew ufes in key games). the only real positive for him was that he did serve decently towards the end of the first set and more-so in the 2nd and on.
really think he would have taken a similar beating against most of the rest of the top 20 and struggled against a good portion of other top 100 caliber players. to be honest the same thing happened against brands and istomin (brands should have won that match, serving up a set and 5-3 or w.e, but pretty much gifted it to him from that point forward. not sure about istomin).. i also wish i knew why berdych couldn't incorporate some swinging forehand volleys at certain points, more often then not he'd get a floating slice or one of nadals high arching forehands, and instead of trying to move forward to stay on the offensive to end the point when given the chance (protip: this is how you beat nadal, rofl, see: tsonga ao08, del potro uso09, fed w06/07, ferrer uso06?) he would elect to try and backpedal to let the ball bounce and plant himself, fail to plant himself (to varying degrees), and hit an off balance short/mid range ball with little pace. nadal would then almost always end the point like 1-2 shots later. infuriating to watch, tbh. i think this in itself would have made the scoreline tighter and maybe even extended nadal to a 4th or 5th set, although i doubt he could have won.
i would give nadal an a-, he was solid (and seems capable of maintaining a very varied and consistent serve), was pretty much lethal with his forehand, and got better towards the end of each set. he kind of let berdych self-destruct out there too, imo.
also oddly enough i think his form here was better than at the french. ofc i am giving him the benefit with his supposed knee issues against haase and petschzner, and to do that i think is generous since he is only bitching when he is getting mugged or struggling against an inferior player. he was able to pick his game up whenever he had to, and the level he was playing at when he did speaks for itself.
if he continues to improve his serve hes going to be a pain in the ass for anyone (even on a good day) to even stay competitive with, knee problems or not. kind of like how these last few years federer quietly worked on his serve until it was one of the best and earned a fuckload of free points, especially in big moments. if nadal can do the same, well.. might even be able to bag a uso or two