Robin Soderling has so far been recognized as one of two players capable of beating Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros. During the 2009 edition, the Swede succeeded in beating the champion of Roland Garros twelve times while taking advantage of the physical difficulties of his opponent.
The Spaniard reportedly gave up Wimbledon at the press conference after the defeat. In a recent interview, Soderling spoke of his state of mind before the 2009 Roland Garros final against Roger Federer.
Soderling spoke of Roger Federer’s ability to provoke disappointment in opponents
“It was my first Grand Slam final. It’s something I’ve dreamed of since I started playing tennis at the age of four.
It was hard. It took me a while to get into the game. To play against Roger, mentally, I was perhaps not prepared for that. I didn’t think too much about the way I played “- said Robin Soderling in the last edition of‘ The Tennis Podcast ’.
Soderling also spoke of Roger Federer’s ability: “For me, Roger has always been the toughest opponent. He mixes up his game, it makes you uncomfortable.
Against Novak or Rafa, you feel like you can play better and win. “- I knew I had to play well to have a chance to beat him. I was frustrated that I couldn’t do that.
But it’s his style of play. It’s his strength not to let his opponents play their best game. He won it only once. The way he played that year could have allowed him to beat Rafa in the final.
“Federer’s time on clay was dominated by his rivalry with Nadal – and the Spaniard’s success in this FedEx ATP Head2Head series. But Nadal’s record against Federer on clay (13-2) overshadowed the marks pictures of Switzerland on red earth.
Federer has won 76% of his matches on clay, the third best active player. Maestro Suisse is 214-68 for life on clay, but played his best clay tennis from 2005 to 2009, with 86-14, which includes his record 2-9 against Nadal. .
If you suppress those 11 games against the biggest of all time, the Swiss was 84-5 (.944) against everyone. Roger Federer failed in three of them, but his consistency in reaching four consecutive Roland Garros finals puts him in good position. Only four other players since 1924 have reached four or more consecutive games at Roland Garros.
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