TENNIS Tomas Berdych has announced that he has hired Daniel Vallverdu as his next coach in his attempt to improve his performances at Grand Slams. Vallverdu was a longtime hitting partner, assistant coach and friend of Andy Murray. Diego Sampaolo
Berdych reached the semifinals at the Australian Open and the quarter finals at the US Open the third round at Wimbledon.
Vallverdu will replace Tomas Krupa, who had coached since 2009. Berdych made an attempt to hire Ivan Lendl who stooped his coaching relationship to Murray last March, but the former World Number 1 player declined last October because he was too busy.
“Dear fans and friends, my new coaches for the next year will be Dani Vallverdu and Azuz Simcich. Thank you to Tomas Krupa and David Vydra for a great time and fantastic work.”
Vallverdu, who comes from Venezuela, met Andy Murray when they were teenagers at the Sanchez Casal Academy in Spain. He worked with Lendl when the legendary player from Ostrava guided Murray to the 2012 Olympic title in London and the 2012 US Open win and the 2013 Wimbledon triumph but left Murray’s team last month after five years of close co-operation.
