Robin Soderling Reveals How Federer Would Have Beaten Rafael Nadal To No 1

Federer had a wonderful performance and he ended the season as world No 2 by winning two Grand Slams, but he couldn’t catch his old foe Rafael Nadal in top spot. Despite claiming number ATP events (7-6) Federer was still unable to make up the ground on the Spaniard.

On the other hand, Nadal played more frequent as shown by his win record of 67-11 to Federer’s 52-5 for the year. In the middle of the season, Roger Federer took a break and he missed all the events on clay to ensure he remain in top shape for the rest of the year, however, in and around Paris, he gave Nadal a clear run. For the season, but Federer finished 1040 points behind Nadal, this means that one more tournament of Federer could have made the difference.
Read more »

Robin Soderling’s career has gone down hill since 2011

Robin Soderling’s life has completely changed from what it was some time back. In 2011, he was a very talented player who had just started to mature and was going up pretty quickly.

Three years down the line, that same Soderling is an administrator who is in charge of the organization of the tennis tournaments in his motherland Sweden.

It’s a really, really sad story. What a start Soderling had to the 2011 season. He had become the champion in 3 out of the 4 tournaments that he had taken part in which had helped him climb the rankings. He had got himself to no. 4 in the world.

His career seemed to be taking off, but, then, a peculiar sort of sickness hit him. It did not seem to be a dangerous sickness at the start, surely not dangerous enough to destroy Soderling’s career.

Soderling even went on to lift one more trophy that season after the diagnosis of that sickness, but, as time went by, he kept getting wakened and his body did not remain in a condition for him to be able to play at the professional level.

His fans, however, remained optimistic about his comeback. He himself was optimistic too. He even attempted to start training earlier this year, but, all in vain. He quickly realized his body was not supporting him.

Recalling those days, Soderling says, “When I was fit, I used to have two rounds of practice, but, now, it’s not possible. After one round, it seems there is nothing there in the tank. My body has given me clear signs that I am done as a player.”

Soderling has shifted his focus on the other things now. Administration is one of them, while, the second is the production of balls.

Wawrinka Unhappy With Reschedules

Stanislas Wawrinka is not happy with how his matches in this year’s Wimbledon Championships have been rescheduled.

Wawrinka actually had to play in the Round of 32 on Saturday, but, that match got washed off and the members of the organizing committee decided to postpone that match to Monday.

Wawrinka managed to win that match against Denis Istomin on Monday, but, now, he has to play his next match against Feliciano Lopez tomorrow itself.

If he wins that one, he will have to be ready for the quarter final match within 24 hours. Now, this is tough on any player and thus, Wawrinka’s unhappiness can be understood.

Talking to the reporters at the end of his match against Istomin, Wawrinka said, “The Grand Slam matches are never easy as they are quite lengthy. You have to have three sets in your favour to win. So, you need a bit of break after a match, at least of one day, but, according to this schedule, one out of me, John and Feliciano will be playing on three days successively. This is going to be extremely difficult.”

“I am surely a bit upset. The organizers could have been flexible. If they had rescheduled a junior match and had made me or even John and Feliciano play earlier that day, it would have been much better. But, you know as a player, it’s not possible for you to do anything about these stuffs. You are just supposed to play whenever you are told to.”

Wawrinka, who is the top ranked Swiss player in the world now ahead of Roger Federer, is eager to make a mark at All England Club this season. His performance at that particular venue in the past has not been up to the mark.

Rodriguez No Longer Part Of Li Na

Carlos Rodriguez, who has played a key role in reviving Li Na’s career in the last couple of years, is not going to be associated with the player any more. He has left his position about 1 and half years prior to the completion of his contract.

Rodriguez is also contracted to a tennis academy in China and it’s actually from there, Li had taken him on rent.

The officials of that academy had no problem with it initially, but, now, they have started feeling that Carlos has not been able to give enough time to the academy because he has to travel a lot with Li. So, they have decided to call the Argentinean back on a full time basis.

Max Eisenbud, who is the representative of quite a few tennis players including Li, gave all this info to the media yesterday.

Speaking to the media, Eisenbud said, “We had an agreement with the academy to let Carlos work with Li, but, they have told us now that they no longer can allow him to do both the jobs.”

When asked about Li’s reaction to this, he said, “Well, she is obviously not that happy. This is an awkward sort of a situation, but, you know, nothing much can be done about it.”

Rodriguez has had great record as coach over the years. He had guided Justine Henin, the Belgian female player, to as many as 7 slam trophies.

Being impressed by his work as Henin’s coach, Li had taken him on board and he helped the Chinese superstar a lot.

Some significant improvements came in Li’s game after she started working with Rodriguez. She would have liked to keep working with the Argentinean for another season or so, but, it’s not going to be the case now.

SODERLING PLANS ADMIN CAREER

It looks like Robin Soderling is planning to make a career in the field of administration now. He has been named as the director of the Stockholm Open.

The Swedish player however has denied the speculations that he is going to hang his racquets.

It’s been a while since Soderling had last appeared on the professional tour. He has been out since more than a couple of years.

Soderling had been at a very good position in the world rankings at one point of time in his career, but, he got hit by a strange sort of illness which forced him to keep himself away from the game.

He is still struggling with that problem, but, he is yet to give up on it. He has hopes that he would be able to be back one day and that’s a great sign. Some sportspersons tend to quit when they go though such sort of vicious situations, but, Soderling is not one of them.

The Swedish player released a statement yesterday about why he took over as the Stockholm Open director. That statement reads, “I still have the desire to come back and I am working hard for it, but, meanwhile, I though it’s a good opportunity for me to be involved in the sport in some other way.”

The members of the organizing committee of Stockholm Open also made it clear that Soderling’s new role doesn’t mark the end of his playing career.

They said, “Robin joining as director would benefit the tournament a lot, but, people should not assume that he is done as a player. He is up for the comeback and hopefully, he would succeed in that.”

Despite all that, it’s safe to say that time is running out for Soderling as he has already become 30 years of age.

LARSSON MISSES OUT

Robin Soderling’s countrywoman, Johanna Larsson, has been defeated by Ana Ivanovic of Serbia in the second round of the ongoing ASB Classic tennis tournament.

Ivanovic won the match in the straight sets by 6-1, 6-1. She was at her peak right from the word go and it didn’t take her even an hour to crush her opponent.

Ivanovic hadn’t looked in good touch in her first round match against Alison Riske of USA. She had struggled for the points and that’s why, a few people believed that Larsson had an opportunity to pull off an upset against her, but, that wasn’t the case to be. The Serbian player improved her game significantly and put up a dominating performance against her Swedish opponent.

Talking to the reporters in the post match interview, Ivanovic said, “You feel really confident after putting up these sorts of performances. I hardly made a mistake in the entire match.”

“I had faced Johanna a few times in the past and she had pushed me to the limits. So, I went out there thinking that I would be given a tough fight, but, thankfully, that didn’t happen and I managed to dominate for most parts.”

“I was positive from the outset. I wanted to take the attack to her and I am happy that I succeeded in doing so.”

With the win against Larsson, Ivanovic has now made her way into the quarterfinals. To move further, she will have to defeat the Japanese player Kurumi Nara who has also been in fantastic form in the tournament. She lost just one game in her previous match against her countrywoman Ayumi Nara.

However, there is huge difference between the world rankings of Ivanovic and Kurumi and the former is definitely the favourite to make it to the semi finals.