SPARE a thought for the modern male tennis player. If it is a minor scandal that Andy Murray, blessed with all his talent, application and consistency, has only ever been able to win two major titles in a decade or more of trying, think how the players a step or two below him in the sport's unspoken pecking order must feel. If it weren't for an estimated £19.2m in career earnings, Tomas Berdych, the 6ft 5in Czech who he will face in today's Wimbledon semi-final, must sometimes wonder whether it is has all been worth the hassle.

Back in the summer of 2010, the world appeared to be the man from Valašské Mezi?í?í's oyster. He had reached the semi-final of Roland Garros, losing to Robin Soderling, and then crushed Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic to reach the final of Wimbledon, where he went down in straight sets to Rafa Nadal.

The intervening six years, though, have seen the Czech stage just three more visits to the last four of a major tournament. Each time he has been unsuccessful. And usually Murray is the man on the other side of the net, shaking his hand and attempting to console him after sending home to think again.

It is little wonder if Berdych gets a little bit touchy about it all every now and then. There was a wind-swept and interesting encounter en route to his maiden Grand Slam win at the 2012 US Open where a gathering storm blew each player's kit bags and benches on court at one point. There was that famously feisty showdown at the 2015 Australian Open, when the Scot's future wife Kim was caught saying unspeakable things on TV. With an unplayable Stan Wawrinka having put paid to his other attempt, here comes Murray again, hoping to complete a hat-trick of his broken dreams.

Another running sore is the fact that Ivan Lendl is back in the Scot's coaching box and not in his. The Czech approached his countryman after his split with Murray in 2014 only to be told that "he didn't have the time and he didn't want to be involved in tennis". Yet here he is, cheerfully picking up where he left off.

"It's hard to say," said Berdych, asked if his career would be unfulfilled if he never won a major. "At the end of the day, the most important thing is that you can stand and say, 'okay, I've tried everything that I possibly can'. If you made it one day, great. If not, what can you do? There are so many other guys that they have never reached the final at least."

As well as he was doing without him, there is clearly an alchemy about Murray's relationship with Lendl. Jonas Bjorkman, part of the Scot's entourage 12 months ago, can appreciate it, even if he isn't quite so sure how many percentage points the Czech himself is adding to his overall level.

“At his level, he is almost 100 per cent perfect," said Bjorkman. "The top four or five guys don’t really have any weaknesses and yet they still try to improve those tiny percentages when it is not easy to find those percentages which are better now than in the past. Ivan knows what it takes. He has a good approach with Andy and can bring a lot. It is not only the serious stuff when it is matches, he is very easy going off the court and behind the scenes as well.”

When you take in his return from back surgery and the dominance of Novak Djokovic, another one of the Scot's former coaches Mark Petchey feels that winning this year's Wimbledon would be as great as ending 77 years without a home winner in 2013, regardless of which players he happens to face along the way.

“It’s difficult to say whether he is in the form of his life, he obviously played unbelievably well in 2012 through 2013," said Petchey. "But he has played great all year - it’s not as though he came into this playing poorly and suddenly he’s found his form at Queen's. He had a little bit of a wobble in Indian Wells and Miami but apart from that he has hit the ball great. If he were to play Raonic in the final and he wins I think there will be a few people who write ‘well he beat Novak back in 2013 so that is a greater achievement’. My personal feeling opinion is whoever gets to the final from the top half of the draw, whether it is Roger or anyone else, is going to be a handful."