Robin Soderling.


What more can be said about his play during the 2010 French Open? Steamrolling his way through the first few rounds, even over world number 1 and 2009 French Open Champion Roger Federer, simply overpowering him. Match stats showed Soderling's winners were an average of 10 miles faster than Federers, with Soderling's serves clocking in at well over 220km on average. Federer was simply run off the court by Soderling's power.

In the final he will be taking on arguably the greatest clay court player to ever play the game. Rafael Nadal, from 2005-2008 The French Open was his tournament, winning it in 2005,2006,2007  and 2008.


2009 however was a different story, Nadal, battling injury and personal issues was taken out by a then unheard of Robin Soderling, who went on to the finals to lose to Roger Federer in straight sets.


This year Soderling had his redemption against Federer, can Soderling mark his place in tennis history and defeat Nadal the second year in a row and win the French Open?



I think so.

2008 was a great year for Rafael Nadal, raising the trophies at Roland Garros and a shocking win over heavy favorite Roger Federer at Wimbledon, and carried on into 2009 where he again shocked Federer and won the Australian Open. Cruising on that high into the clay court season Nadal was a heavy favorite to win Roland Garros, but that's when everything started to head south.

1. Nadal's 31 match winning streak is ended by a hard hitting Swede Robin Soderling.

2. Knee problems forced Nadal to withdraw from Wimbledon and he was unable to defend his 2008 win.

3. A 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 beating in the US Open semi-finals at the hands of Juan Martin Del Potro.


One would think problem after problem would be due to the strenuous calendar the ATP tour follows, with players travelling all around the world and in a different part of the world almost every week. But the on-court faults of Nadal stemmed from problems coming from places not on court. If you watch Nadal's match against Soderling from 2009 you can clearly see he's not all there, shots are coming up short, the crazy spin from his forehand just isn't there. The divorce of his parents I believe had a big part to play in Nadal's slump through the latter part of 2009, and early 2010 where he withdrew from his quarterfinal match against Andy Murray.

Nadal is a very family-oriented person, it's clearly obvious-his parents were at almost every match he played, and while most players relocate from their hometowns to other various parts of the world, Nadal's homebase is still his hometown in Mallorca. So the divorce wasn't easy on him, but I think he finally found acceptance coming into the 2010 clay court season and it was clearly seen with his change of play in Monte Carlo, it was vintage Nadal, the heavy topspin on his forehand was back, that penetrating backhand became even more penetrating! It was exciting to see Nadal back in top form.

His road to redemption at Roland Garros included winning all three ATP master's titles leading to the French Open (Monte Carlo, Rome, and Madrid) and absolutely steamrolling his way through the draw of the French Open to setup a rematch with just the player he wanted to see on the other side of the net in the final-Robin Soderling, who defeated Nadal in 4 sets to end his 31 match winning streak.

And in classic Nadal fashion, he thrashed Soderling in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 to not only redeem his 2009 loss, but to win a 5th French Open title, and reclaim the world #1 ranking.

Vamos Rafa!

Men's Draw.

Definitely a level playing field, Rafa is healthy, Andy Murray is slowly coming out of his slump, Andy Roddick is playing great tennis all around, and Roger...well..he's just being Roger, he's won this tournament 6 times in the last 7 years. Novak is playing solid tennis, and you cannot rule out Robin Soderling at all.

My guess:

 

Champion: Andy Roddick

Runner-up: Roger Federer.


Women's Draw.

This is the tournamnent of the Williams sisters, in the last 10 years 8 Wimbledons have been won by either of the Williams sisters. The hard hitting belgian duo of Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin are not to be ruled out either.



My guess:

Winner: Serena Williams
Runner up: Justine Henin

Roger doing what he does best.....

From Wimbledon, I believe 2008 or 2009

Probably the the most epic fail of a challenge ever, I mean look at Roger!

Some vintage tennis right here! murray, santoro, gonzales, baghdatis, agassi, blake, youzhny, federer, nadal, hewitt

Hope we'll see it again this year. Cheers Roger.

Wilson BLX 6.1 Tour.

This is the racquet of choice for world #2 and sixteen (yes count 'em) sixteen time major champion Roger Federer.

Or so this is what the public eye thinks...but is it really what it is? Roger Federer has been with Wilson since his rise to the top of the men's tennis world.

When he first stormed onto the tennis world people thought he was using the Pro Staff 85 (Same racquet of choice for former world #1 Pete Sampras) Which he was, it was the version made in China and contained lead.

After that, supposedly He was using the Hyper Pro Staff 6.0 Tour....but under that paint job was still the Pro Staff 85. Federer finally switched over to the Pro Staff Tour 90, but kept the Hyper Pro Staff 6.0 Tour Paintjob.

Eventually after the pro staff tour 90 he switched off to the N 6.1 Tour 90, people long speculated that it was again a paintjob, but a playtest from Greg's Racquet Service proved that it was infact an Ncode  6.1 Tour 90, but had been modified for Roger Federer himself, and from that RF version the retail Ncode 6.1 Tour 90 was spawned.

Later on Federer switched over to the K Factor K6.1 Tour 90, which Wilson claimed several times over was the actual retail racquet you could buy off the shelves. But was it? Sources claimed that Federer had has personal frame designed with a softer graphite, and depending on the surface lead was applied in the handle.

And now he's switched to the BLX 6.1 Tour 90...but what is this one? I will continue investigation and let you know.




 

There is arguably no doubt that this match is possibly the match of the year. Nothing will top it. After witnessing John Isner and Nicolas Mahut duke it out over three days in a match spanning 11 hours, 5 minutes and finally ending with a final score of 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(7), 6-7(3), 70-68, yes, you read that right. Isner and Mahut's last set spanned two days and 138 games. Eight hours, eleven minutes in the fifth set alone, which is a whopping 98 minutes longer than any match on record. Yes, the fifth set Isner and Mahut played was longer than the longest recorded match on record.

Ivo Karlovic isn't too happy either, he had to sit out of the Wimbledon Championships this year and sit at home and watch his single match ace record get smashed to pieces. Isner serving off 112 aces, Mahut with 103.

Fellow players from around the ATP had this to say:

Roger Federer: “I've been following this as closely as I could. I walked on court at about 11-all in the fifth. They're still going. This is absolutely amazing… In a way, I wish I was them, in some ways I wish I wasn't them. So this is a very special match. I hope somehow this is going to end. I don't know. They'll be fresh again tomorrow, I guess. If they have to come back, it's unbelievable. I don't know what to say."

Andy Roddick (via Twitter):seriously..... doesn’t anyone have to pee ? umpires included

Rafael Nadal was given a code violation by French umpire Cedric Mourier for allegedly receiving advice from his coach, uncle Toni Nadal, during his five-set win over Philipp Petzschener on Saturday.

Both Nadals said Toni had only been giving the player encouragement.

On Monday the fine was announced at $2,000 (a mere chump change for Nadal, who at the French open sported a watch worth an astounding $525,000)

Rafa on the fine:

 

"Rules are Rules"

 

That's right, whether you're ranked #1 or #101, the rules are the same for everyone!

Your thoughts?

Top Ten Thoughts That Went Through John Isner's Mind During The 11-Hour Tennis Match