Tomáš Berdych was born in Valašské Meziříčí, in Moravia, on 17 September 1985. He started playing at five at his hometown's tennis centre, won the Czech under-12 title and later moved to Prostějov for better practice partners and coaching. From 2002 to 2009 he was coached by Jaroslav Navrátil. He built his game on his serve and forehand and was at his best on hard courts.
He made his name early. At the 2004 Athens Olympics, as a qualifier, he beat world No. 1 Roger Federer in the second round, and in 2005 he won his first Masters title in Paris, beating Ivan Ljubičić in a five-set final.
His best major came at Wimbledon in 2010. He beat Federer in the quarterfinals and Novak Djokovic in the semifinals before losing the final to Rafael Nadal in straight sets. The same year he reached the French Open semifinals, and he went on to reach the semifinals at all four majors, adding the US Open in 2012 and the Australian Open in 2014 and 2015, plus a second Wimbledon semifinal in 2016. He finished seven consecutive seasons in the top 10, from 2010 to 2016, qualified six times in a row for the ATP Finals and on 18 May 2015 reached world No. 4, his career high.
Berdych led the Czech Republic to the Davis Cup in 2012 and 2013. He played 29 ties over 13 years, shares the Czech record of 21 doubles wins with Jan Kodeš, and won 16 of 18 matches with Radek Štěpánek. In 2012 he also won the Hopman Cup with Petra Kvitová.
A back injury from June 2018 cost him most of that season, and a hip problem affected him at the 2019 US Open, his last major. He confirmed his retirement on 16 November 2019, aged 34, and was given a send-off at that month's ATP Finals. He won 13 singles titles.