SODERLING SET TO RETURN

Swedish number one Robin Soderling has confirmed that he will be returning to competitive tennis at the Rotterdam ATP World Tour tournament which is scheduled to take place mid-February. Soderling was forced to take time off from the tour when he was diagnosed with Mononucleosis (aka glandular fever) last year, and hasn’t competed since August 2011.

Soderling was playing some great tennis, and had risen to number 5 in the world before he contracted the illness, and has since dropped to 12^th position due to the lack of tournaments played. Glandular fever typically causes fatigue and swelling of the glands in the neck and can last several months. The tennis world will be glad to see the return of such a talented player, and hopefully he will be able to continue where he left off in 2011, and climb back up the rankings.

In the past two years, the Swedish player has gone from strength to strength, challenging for the top 4 positions, and holding 4^th place briefly in 2010 before finishing the season 5^th in the world. He started 2010 shakily, reaching a final and then losing two first round matches, including one in the Australian Open, to Marcel Granollers. He then went on to win a tournament in Rotterdam and make it to the final of the French Open, losing to Nadal, but beating Federer along the way. He also won in Paris, his biggest win at that point, and decided to split with coach Magnus Norman in December.

In 2011 Soderling paired up instead with Claudio Pistolesi, who helped him win the Brisbane International tournament early in the year, then go on to retain his Rotterdam title. Soderling also won in Marseille, before again swapping coaches to Fredrik Rosengren. A quarterfinal appearance in the French Open followed, losing to Nadal, and the Swede bagged his fourth and final title of the year at the Swedish Open. At this point he became ill, and had to start his current period of recovery, but everyone will be hoping he comes back with the same momentum and winning spirit he had and it will be great to see how he continues to develop in the coming season.