Robin Soderling

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  • Date of birth: 14 August 1984
  • Birthplace: Tibro, Sweden
  • Residence:  Monte Carlo, Monaco
  • Height: 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
  • Weight:  87 kg (190 lb)
  • Plays: Right-handed; two-handed backhand
  • Turned Pro: 2001

 

 

 

Robin Bo Carl Soderling (born 14 August 1984) is a professional tennis player from Sweden who is ranked #12 in the ATP rankings as of June 8, 2009. Soderling is the first and only tennis player to defeat Rafael Nadal in the French Open. Though he would go on to lose in the final to Roger Federer, he completed the strongest performance in a Grand Slam event of his career. Currently he is the only Swede in the top 100 in the ATP rankings.

Biography

Soderling began playing tennis at the age of five.

Career

Early career

Robin Soderling made his first steps in international tennis in November 1998 in Luxembourg, when at the age of 14 he played his first official junior tournament, losing the opening match to Fred Hemmes Jr. In his first full year in the junior tour (2000), he achieved four tournament victories and in 2001 attained three more titles in the juniors including the Orange Bowl. In the same year Soderling achieved fourth place in the year-end ranking and played in his very first ATP tournament in Stockholm, winning his first match against Ramón Delgado.

2002

Soderling tried to break into the men's circuit, playing five more ATP tournaments and the second round of the US Open. In the Challenger circuit he achieved a 16–8 record, and he played in the US Open Junior tournament where he reached the final.

2003

The transition to the main tour was completed as he reached the third round at Wimbledon (coming from the qualifying rounds) and reached an ATP final in Stockholm (losing a decisive tie-break there), earning the year-end ranking of 86.

2004

Robin's first ATP title came in Lyon where he beat Belgian Xavier Malisse in the final. He also made the final at Marseille. By the end of the year, Soderling climbed into the world's top 40 in the rankings.

2005

Robin had his first serious injury, eventually resulting in a knee operation in March. But even though not fit to play many tournaments, he managed to score another title - in Milan (b. Radek Stepanek in final). After a mediocre and injury troubled season from there on, Robin reached just one good result (third round in the US Open), before going through another surgery in October.

2006

He bounced back from 100th place in the Indesit ATP rankings to top 50 within three months, even though knee and shoulder injuries still prevented him from playing at his best. Helped the Swedish team with two wins to keep its World Group Davis Cup spot in a play-off in Brazil. During the season he was healthy most of the time and managed a good climb, although he failed to impress at the Slams. But in the end of the year, he earned many points and finished at a career-high place of 25.

2007

Soderling made it to the round of 32 at Wimbledon, where he lost to Rafael Nadal in a five-set epic. He caused much controversy on the court when he exchanged mocking behaviour with Nadal, tugging on his shorts in the manner Nadal is known for.

Soderling did not make it to an ATP final for the first time in 5 years in 2007, however he turned out consistent results all through out the year. Yet he missed the last 3 months of the main tour due to a left wrist injury.

2008

Soderling missed the Australian Open due to injury. The first tournament he entered in 2008 was the Open 13 Marseille, where he reached the quarterfinals. He then reached the final of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament (Rotterdam), finishing runner-up to Michael Llodra in the final, 6-7,6-3,7-6. The next week he reached another final at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis, U.S. He beat top seed Andy Roddick in the tournament along the way to the final. However he lost another final in two weeks as he finished runner-up to unseeded Steve Darcis, 6-3,7-6. In late May he reached the 3rd round in the French Open where he lost against home player Julien Bennetau. At Wimbledon, he lost to Roger Federer in the round of 64 in three straight sets. After disappointing results in both the Beijing Olympics and the US Open, Soderling decided to break up with his trainer Peter Carlsson. He took on former Swedish world number 2 Magnus Norman as support until he appointed a new trainer. With the help of Norman, Robin reached his third final of the year in his native Sweden at Stockholm, but lost to David Nalbandian in a tough match (2-6,7-5,3-6). Three weeks later Soderling finally clinched a final win for his first title in 3 years, and the second on the particular venue, at the Lyon tournament, defeating Julien Benneteau in three sets (6-3,6-7,6-1). On his way to the final he recorded wins over top seed Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals, as well as the French number one Gilles Simon in the semi, both ranked in the top 10 ATP South African Airways ranking. With that, Soderling himself climbed as high as no. 18 in the rankings, a new career best. He finished the year with a career high ranking of no. 17. On 4 November he announced that Magnus Norman will be his trainer starting right after his vacation.

2009

Soderling made his 2009 debut at the 2009 Brisbane International. He lost in the quarterfinals against Radek Stepanek who eventually won the tournament. Soderling then participated in the 2009 Heineken Open where he lost in the semifinals against Juan Martin Del Potro who also eventually won the tournament. He was seeded no. 16 at the 2009 Australian Open and lost to unseeded Marcos Baghdatis in the second round.

He then entered the Indian Wells Masters 1000 event, losing to Nicolas Lapentti 4-6 6-7(7) in the 2nd round. Despite playing well and winning the challenger Sunrise, Soderling suffered from injuries mixed with poor results for over 2 months. He finally won consecutive matches for the first time since the 2009 Australian Open at the Rome Masters before falling to world No. 1 Rafael Nadal 1-6 0-6 in the 3rd round. Following another 3rd round exit at the Madrid Masters against Roger Federer, Soderling went to Dusseldorf with his fellow countrymen to defend the ARAG World Team Championship. Although Sweden did not win, Soderling defeated a notable list of players which included Gilles Simon and Rainer Schuttler.

2009 French Open

At the 2009 French Open, Soderling (seeded 23) managed to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time after defeating Kevin Kim, Denis Istomin, and David Ferrer. This set up a match with four-time defending champion Rafael Nadal in the fourth round.Soderling went on to win, ending Nadal's record Roland Garros winning streak at 31 matches. His 6–2 6–7(2) 6–4 7–6(2) victory over the reigning world #1 made Soderling the only person to ever beat Nadal on the red clay of the French Open, ending Nadal's 4 year winning streak there. Two days later, and as a considerable underdog once more, Söderling backed up his form with a comprehensive 6–1 6–3 6–1 win over two-time semi-finalist Nikolay Davydenko to reach his maiden major semi-final. Robin Soderling made his first grand slam final, beating Fernando Gonzalez 6–3 7–5 5–7 4–6 6–4 after having been down 0-30 and 1-4 in the final set, then reeling off the final five games of the set and match. Despite losing to Federer in the final, 1–6 6–7(1) 4–6, his ranking rose to 12th in the world, his highest career ranking.

 

source:  Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


 

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