Novak Djokovic might be out of the Wimbledon Championships, but he was still included in conversations on semi-finals day thanks to Tomas Berdych.
The Czech faced Roger Federer in the second match on Centre Court. It wasn’t before long that people started to pay attention to Berdych’s footwear. The white trainers with three vertical green stripes had a picture of Djokovic on the tongue. A scenario that confused many tennis fans.
Amazing: BBC notices that Novak Djokovic’s mug is on Tomas Berdych’s shoes. pic.twitter.com/UPp1KUs54q
— Tyler Green (@TylerGreenDC) 14 July 2017
Berdych has a “Bird” on his shoe…. and the name & face of Novak Djokovic! pic.twitter.com/xmdb5umyxX
— Genny SS (@genny_ss) 14 July 2017
Many theories occurred about why Berdych was wearing the shoes, including a tribute to the Serbian after his withdrawal from the quarterfinals with an elbow injury. In reality, the 31-year-old was just wearing them for comfort.
“I’m wearing Novak’s shoes because the other shoes just doesn’t fit well to me, so that’s why I have to play in the shoes that they are fitting well and doesn’t hurt my feet.” Explained Berdych.
Berdych failed to progress to the Wimbledon final after losing to Federer 7-6(4), 7-6(4), 6-4. It is his 19th loss to the Swiss player and he hasn’t defeated him since the 2012 US Open. Nevertheless, Berdych remains upbeat about his Wimbledon performance this year.
“I think I played really good tennis throughout the whole tournament. But, you know, I just unfortunately faced a guy that he’s playing at his best. I think he’s playing by far the best tennis right now.” He said following his loss to Federer.
Outside of the ‘big four,’ Berdych has won more matches at Wimbledon than any other active player with a win-loss record of 42-14.
