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London - Last year's runner-up Tomas Berdych coasted into the last 16 at Wimbledon on Saturday and his smooth progress through the draw continued to go almost unnoticed outside the Czech Republic.
He faced a barrage of questions in his native language at a post-match news conference and then politely answered one in English about the lack of interest in him.
"It's kind of funny. Maybe I need to win more matches for the English-speaking media to come," joked the 25-year-old Czech sixth seed after his 6-2 6-4 6-3 win over American Alex Bogomolov jnr which was carried over from Friday.
Since his journey to last year's final against world number one Rafa Nadal, during which he upset Roger Federer in the last eight and Novak Djokovic in the semis, Berdych has not won a tournament.
After a grasscourt masterclass lasting just 103 minutes his beaten opponent was in no doubt, however, that Berdych is peaking at just the right time and that the world number seven is good enough to win a maiden grand slam title.
"He got to the finals last year for a reason. He's playing really well on grass and hitting some incredible shots on the run. They're flat, they stay very low to the ground, and you can't really play offence against him," Bogomolov Jr. said.
Berdych will next face another American in Mardy Fish and should he win that he would set up a possible quarter-final clash with top seed Nadal.
