In dwelling on where to conclude his career in late-2019, Tomas Berdych mulled over one last hurrah in his favourite event. However, his time pondering was brief.
The Davis Cup was holding its inaugural finals event in Madrid following a revamp of the so-called World Cup of Tennis. But Berdych, a two-time winner with the Czech Republic, passed up the opportunity. Simply put, he is a traditionalist.
Two years on, with the latter stages of this year's tournament ongoing and speculation rising of the finals moving to Abu Dhabi in a money-spinning move, the 2010 Wimbledon finalist had some stern words for the decision-makers: 'I spent so much time with the ITF on this. They asked many questions, blah blah blah, and then they changed the format this way.
Tomas Berdych spoke to Sportsmail about the Davis Cup while competing in London last week
Berdych was twice a winner of the World Cup of Tennis in his career with the Czech Republic
'I haven't heard many players for it. It's sad that we all gave our time and opinions to them and they went with this in the end.'
Berdych, a top-10 player for eight years running and a semi-finalist at all four Grand Slams, was not short of an rescheduling template which, to the naked eye, seemed sensible and effective.
'If the Davis Cup happened every two years, everyone would be crazy about it,' he told Sportsmail, at the Champions Tennis event at the Royal Albert Hall last week.
'The winners really would be like the world champions because it's more unique. You can find the dates in the year for the final to be in September (as opposed to the current date, in December) and then I think more players would sign up. Then it really would be very special.
Now though, that's a problem for the stars of today, of which Berdych is no longer one. Somewhat surprisingly, having been a Wimbledon semi-finalist just two years earlier, he called it a day in November 2019 amid persistent back and hip issues.
Berdych surprisingly decided to retire from tennis amid back and hip issues at the age of 34
With the likes of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and to a starker extent Roger Federer all continuing into their late 30s, the former World No 4 went somewhat against the grain by hanging up his racket at the age of 34.
Not an ounce of regret, though: 'I think I nailed it at the perfect spot. If you keep pushing over a certain period, especially at the end, it could change your view of your whole career.
'I've never had a doubt for a moment. I woke up that morning and thought: that's it.'
No qualms about the end of his
