PARIS, FRANCE - MAY 30: Thomas Berdych of Czech Republic looks on during the mens singles first round match against Jeremy Chardy of France during day four of the 2018 French Open at Roland Garros on May 30, 2018 in Paris, France. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Tomas Berdych announced on his Instagram page that he has withdrawn from the Wimbledon Championships. Reportedly struggling with a back issue, Berdych wrote:

“I have been struggling with back pain for a couple of month now and have tried every possible treatment and medical solution in order to be able to keep on competing. Unfortunately, things have not gotten better and all my attempts to be ready for the grass season were not successful.”

Decline in Form

Berdych has seen a steady decline in form post his Australian Open performance, with his year’s win-loss standing at 11-10. What those numbers don’t reveal is that the Czech player failed to win a single match on clay, falling in his first match in every clay tournament he played.

This is not the first time Berdych has faced back issues. He took a break from the sport in 2017 after his campaign in Beijing in October ended in the second round due to the same reason, coming back only for the Australian Open warm-up tournament in Qatar.

His withdrawal from Wimbledon also means that he stands to drop out of the Top 60 or worse, as he is defending semi-finalist points in Wimbledon, which Berdych described as a place “Where I have amazing memories”. Wimbledon is his best slam, having reached a quarterfinal or better on five different occasions and having reached the final in 2010, where he beat Federer and Djokovic back to back in the quarterfinals and semi-finals, respectively.

This withdrawal also means that Berdych now joins an exhaustive list of players in their 30s in a steady decline. Players include David Ferrer, Gael Monfils, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, with Gilles Muller and Feliciano Lopez recently joining the list as well (Largely due to not defending their biggest title wins from 2017).

Ferrer, Monfils, Tsonga and Berdych have long been touted as the best players to have never won a slam.

We wish the best of luck to Tomas in his road to recovery and hope to see him competing soon.

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