Analysis for Simon-Berdych (Davis Cup)

Head-to-head record 2:1

Simon and Berdych will kick off the hostilities tomorrow, followed by Tsonga and Stepanek. France probably has the strongest squad from all nations this year. The chances of Gilles Simon, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Richard Gasquet and Michael Llodra doing well but even such a strong squad do lack one crucial element and that is Davis Cup experience. Tsonga has played just one rubber, Simon none. Experience is something that the host nation does not lack. Berdych and Stepanek have played a total of 36 rubbers, both having made their Davis Cup debut in 2003. With such a solid pair, the Czech Republic can beat almost any nation. They have proven so by overcoming Switzerland with Roger Federer, USA with Andy Roddick and Spain with Rafael Nadal. We are not going to advice on Czechs to advance as they will probably have problems on Saturday in doubles. Berdych or Stepanek, if not both of them will probably have to play doubles and we are not convinced that they are able to defeat doubles specialist Llodra with Gasquet. So we will stay with singles this time. Berdych is an extremely talented player, as shown by his wins over top seeds. A baseliner, he employs fairly traditional technique with his forehand, two-handed backhand and serve, but what is notable is the degree of power with which he hits his shots. However, he is prone to inconsistency and is not always able to close out matches, and occasionally gets caught up complaining about line calls. He is not having a good season this year, however, he has already played some solid matches and advanced to the fourth round of the 2009 Australian Open where he faced Roger Federer. Tomas took a 2 sets to love lead over Federer, however, ended being defeated by Federer in a tough five sets. Regarding Gilles Simon, it is not the secret that he is not our favourite player and we are often betting against him. Simon has improved immeasurably in 2008 but he is still a bit inconsistent and often has a problems playing against offensive baseliners. We expect a tight match and see the equal chances on both sides. Berdych is worth taking for us with the odds above 1.9.