Like some strange remix of a Richard Wagner opera, many tennis fans were waiting for another chapter in the ongoing saga between the smooth and silky Roger Federer versus the hard-charging and passionate Rafael Nadal not only to decide the champion of Paris, but the No. 1 ranking as well. But instead, the doors of the famed Court Central were blown open by another man who many have come to openly hate and who apparently has no interest in anyone’s history but his own.
But I bet if you ask Nadal who he’d rather play in Sunday’s final, he’d pick the man who disrupted his perfect streak a year ago and turned the tennis world upside down.
Nadal is a win away from reclaiming the No. 1 ranking after having lost it almost a year ago due to his loss to Soderling and his withdrawal from Wimbledon where he was defending champion. The twelve months since then has seen Nadal continue to deal with injuries including his retirement at the Australian Open. But it’s also seen Nadal step up to a higher gear both on the hard courts of the U.S. and especially his run of three Masters wins in the clay season. Nadal is for the most part healthier than ever and his recent win over Federer in Madrid seemed to confirmed that his return to the top of the game was inevitable.
Meanwhile, Soderling has proven everyone wrong by remaining consistent with his form and continued presence in the top 10. But that presence has earned him, perhaps fairly or unfairly depending on how you view it, a reputation as the sport’s “bad boy”. He continues to earn ongoing media coverage that questions whether anyone can “like” him and the ire of many tennis fans who view him as the “creep” that crashed the cool kids party going on while the parents were out of town.
Nadal goes into this final the clear favorite having not dropped a set all tournament or facing a set point against him. In fact, the men’s event has felt like two simultaneous affairs, the one side where sacrificial victims have been given up to Nadal for him to use as target practice and the other side trying to decide who will have the honor of losing to Nadal in the final. But when Robin Soderling defeated Federer in the fourth round, it sent a message hard to ignore, that of the Swede not caring anything about history, either during a Grand Slam or any other tournament. Soderling may be 2-3 lifetime versus Nadal, but he did win their last encounter at the ATP World Tour Finals in London, so he goes into this match knowing he has a chance. And even if he does lose to Nadal, he’s already proven he belongs with Nadal and Federer on the biggest stages much more so than the recent failures of the “man-boys” of Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic who seem to let the “history” overwhelm them when it counts.
And so we’ve come full circle from a year ago. Or have we? After his five set win over Tomas Berdych today, this was the first question asked of Robin Soderling.
Q. Is the type of match the old Robin should have lost, I think.
ROBIN SODERLING: What’s the old Robin? What’s the new Robin? I never understand. Of course I could have lost that match. It was very close. But today I won it, so I’m happy with that.
It’s easy to get why Soderling “doesn’t understand”. Many assumed, and it’s easy to see why, that Soderling’s defeat of Nadal last year in the fourth round of Paris and his run to the finals was a fluke and that the lanky Swede would fade into the tennis history books only to become a odd blip on the fairytale career of the Spanish wonder. And although I’m not quite ready to proclaim Soderling the next No. 1 player as Björn Borg did a few days ago, it’s quite obvious, and especially to those that despise Soderling for whatever reason, that his presence on the men’s game will only loom larger in the next years to come. But for Nadal, his moment to resume his place in history is at hand, and he will claim it with open arms, whether it be from the game’s greatest player of all time or from a man most wish would just fade into obscurity, but who instead is quite content to not let them ever forget.
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{ 3 comments }
I think you’re harsh on Soderling. He’s a great competitor & was sincere in his congratulations to Fed last year when he lost the FO to him. Are cool kids really cool, or are they just pretentious clones of each other?
This is the DREAM FINAL! Soderling is the only man to beat Rafa in Paris, and Rafa, well, he’s the man. But only one will claim the title tomorrow.
The history (2007 Wimbledon, and least year’s stunner) serve to heighten the anticipation nicely. If the match is one half as good as it can be, we’ll all be very happy.
I understand many people will get upset as soon as I mention this: Well, it’s great NOT to see Federer in the grand slam finals, (as most of us might recall, it hadn’t happened since Australian Open 2008, when Novak Djokovic beat him in the semis). I am not a fan of Federer (or Sampras), (in my opinion) these “maestros / machines” make sports boring, predictable. And at least now there is a chance someone might beat Rafa in the French Open finals.
Anyways, I do like Rafa’s game (mostly because he beats Federer), but since I almost always root for underdogs, I am gonna say Soderling will win in 4 or 5 sets. The only reason I won’t like to see Soderling win, is well…that would mean Mr.Fed will keep the No.1 ranking. Thus, I will be rooting for Rafa (too). I just checked the Weather.com report for Paris, it’s kind of mixed, not totally cloudy or sunny, at 3 pm their time. So I don’t think Robin will get any “unfair” advantage of damp weather condition, (which many people probably including Federer believe was the only reason why he lost to Soderling). I just hope match goes to five sets.
Btw, if Federer is the “greatest / the best” tennis player ever, then how come he lost to Nadal in three consecutive grand slam finals, on three different surfaces! I don’t want to sound like psychologist, but I think Nadal is mentally tougher than Fed. (Yes, I do understand, Nadal being left handed gives him advantage when it comes to ralleys or serve (especially the second serve, which he hits to Fed’s backhand almost 100% of the times)
- TennisFan
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