Robin Soderling\u2019s career burned bright but fast, hitting its crescendo with the two French Open finals, and wins over modern greats Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer en route. And like any good raconteur, he doesn\u2019t need a second invitation. \u201cI will never get annoyed answering questions or talking about that,\u201d Soderling says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very proud of the two tournaments, and I am always glad and grateful that people have shown so much passion and appreciation for it.\u201d It\u2019s hard not to appreciate what Soderling accomplished at Roland Garros in 2009. Not only was he the first to defeat Rafael Nadal in his natural habitat, but Soderling\u2019s defeat in the final allowed Roger Federer to win his first (and, going by the Swiss\u2019 recent meticulous scheduling, perhaps only) French Open title and complete the career Grand Slam.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, he hasn\u2019t thanked me. I\u2019m still waiting,\u201d Soderling told reporters on Thursday. \u201cWhen he saw I beat Rafa, I think he was a little bit happy, of course. But maybe he could have beat him in the finals. Who knows?\u201d On that fateful afternoon nine years ago, then world number 25 Soderling came out swinging and completed a four-set win over Nadal, who was on a 31-match unbeaten streak and going for his fifth French Open.<\/p>\n
A month before, at Rome\u2019s Foro Italico, the Swede could only manage to win one game against Nadal. Not many, then, were putting their money on Soderling. \u201cThe day before the match a journalist asked me, \u2018Do you think Rafa will win Roland Garros this year again?\u2019,\u201d Soderling guffaws.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole world believed I would lose, so I had to tell myself that I have to do it myself. I kept telling myself I could beat him for the entire day, and by the time I took the court, I almost felt like the favourite mentally.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soderling says the only time he felt nervous was when he went 6-1 up in the fourth set tie-breaker, and realised, \u201cOh! I really have match points and can defeat Rafael Nadal.\u201d The 33-year-old, one of only two men (along with Novak Djokovic in 2015) to defeat Nadal at the French Open, doesn\u2019t see anyone stopping the Spaniard from winning a record 11th title.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe (Dominic) Thiem could come up with an upset, but it\u2019s very tough to beat him here,\u201d says Soderling, who managed to do so by taking the match to Nadal with his confrontational tennis. \u201cYou have to be extremely aggressive and go for it. I don\u2019t know about the underarm theory, but you must try to play a little flatter than normal to be able to hit through him.\u201d Soderling recalls the straight-set thrashing at the hands of Nadal in the 2010 final, and adds: \u201cYou absolutely need to have a very good day, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n
The former world number four couldn\u2019t build on the strong performances and obvious potential, and was forced into retirement at 26 after contracting infectious mononucleosis, a viral illness also known as glandular fever. \u201cIt affected me both physically and mentally. I would be in cold sweat and fever, and then there would be the weakness,\u201d says Soderling.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne time it laid me down on the bed, I had to go to the bathroom but had to sit down midway. It is very tragic for an athlete to be forced to retire and not on your own terms. I would have liked to play many more years and chase the world no.1 spot and a Grand Slam victory. But at the same time, it could have been much worse and I try to think that I got many years on tour. You have to accept it.\u201d Forced off the court, Soderling has done his best to stay involved with the game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Robin Soderling\u2019s career burned bright but fast, hitting its crescendo with the two French Open finals, and wins over modern greats Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer en route. And like any good raconteur, he doesn\u2019t need a second invitation. \u201cI will never get annoyed answering questions or talking about that,\u201d Soderling says. \u201cI am very […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33529,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33528"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33530,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33528\/revisions\/33530"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}