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2009-11-17 20:24:47
In the eight days leading up to the 2009 World Tour Finals, Ricky will individually preview this year’s eight qualifiers, starting with No. 8 and progressing toward No. 1. Now that Andy Roddick has officially withdraw, world No. 9 Robin Soderling owns the final spot in London.
Rafael Nadal had never lost at Roland Garros. Not once in four whole years.
That all changed on May 31, 2009. Unheralded Robin Soderling—an indoor-court specialist who had mustered only one game against Nadal in Rome just one month earlier—met Nadal in the French Open fourth round and stunned the four-time defending champion 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-4, 7-6(2).
Soderling need not apologize that he got to face a Nadal who was mentally in shambles (parents’ divorce) and hardly any better physically (knee tendinitis). It would be unfair to guarantee that even a healthy Nadal would have defeated Soderling, who—in rare form—went on to beat Nikolay Davydenko and Fernando Gonzalez before falling to Roger Federer in the title match.
Rarely do players get into the prestigious year-end event on the strength of a singular performance, but that is just what Soderling has done. The 25-year-old Swede was consistently good throughout the rest of his 2009 campaign, but certainly not great.
How He Got Here
2009 record: 47-19
Grand Slam performances: Australian Open R2, French Open F, Wimbledon R4, U.S. Open QF
Titles: Bastad
Runner-Ups: French Open
Key Wins
French Open R4: d. Rafael Nadal 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-4, 7-6(2)
French Open QF: d. Nikolay Davydenko 6-1, 6-3, 6-1
French Open SF: d. Fernando Gonzalez 6-3, 7-5, 5-7, 4-6, 6-4
Bastad F: d. Juan Monaco 6-3, 7-6(4)
U.S. Open R4: d. Nikolay Davydenko 7-5, 3-6, 6-2, retired
Shanghai R3: d. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 6-3
Head-to-Head vs. other WTF participants
vs. Roger Federer: 0-12 (0-6 on hard courts)
vs. Rafael Nadal: 1-3 (0-0 on hard courts)
vs. Novak Djokovic: 0-5 (0-4 on hard courts)
vs. Andy Murray: 1-2 (1-2 on hard courts)
vs. Juan Martin Del Potro: 1-1 (0-1 on hard courts)
vs. Nikolay Davydenko: 6-3 (3-3 on hard courts)
vs. Fernando Verdasco: 4-1 (2-1 on hard courts)
Outlook
Soderling needed help to get into the World Tour Finals. He did well to reach a career-high ranking of No. 9 in the world by the end of the regular season, but the magic number—of course—was eight. When Andy Roddick’s long-speculated withdrawal was finally confirmed on Tuesday, Soderling took the eighth and final spot in London.
Now the question is whether or not Soderling will capitalize on his good fortune.
Aside from his performance at Roland Garros, the Swede posted solid but unspectacular results during what was his breakout season on the ATP Tour. Against the competition he will face at the World Tour Finals, however, an unspectacular level of tennis will not get the job done.
Soderling is a combined 13-27 lifetime against his seven fellow WTF competitors. Of course, that mark is skewed by an 0-12 record against Federer. Then again, it is also skewed by a 6-3 record against Davydenko and a 4-1 clip against Verdasco (whom Soderling will not play in round-robin play; they will be split up as the Nos. 7 and 8 “seeds”).
His 2009 clay-court results notwithstanding, Soderling is at his best on indoor hard courts. As such, he will have a good chance of turning the tide on at least one or two of the opponents against whom he has not fared well against in the past. While he has a shot at advancing out of round-robin play, that combined 2-22 record against the top four players in the world is alarming. If Soderling reaches the London semifinals, his run will almost certainly end there.
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