CHillTennis
Hall of Fame
With Roland Garros not taking place until late September, I thought it would be fun to go back and talk about one of the biggest upsets in the history of tennis. In fact, maybe even in the history of sports, itself.
On May 31st 2009, Robin Soderling would defeat Rafael Nadal in the fourth round of the French Open.
At the time, I was in my late teens and had a blog that talked about the matches on the ATP tour.
I can still remember going to the ATP's website, that afternoon, to get the latest info on the tournament.
The first thing that came up made my jaw hit the floor.
The title said "Rafael Nadal Stunned by Robin Soderling."
Soderling was the last player that I would have ever picked to have beaten Nadal at the French.
"Hadn't he just demolished this guy a few weeks ago in Rome?" I remember thinking to myself.
As it turns out, the Soderling that played Nadal in Rome was actually a very different player from the man who showed up for this match.
Back in 2009, it was RARE for Nadal to even lose sets at the French Open.
This was a privilege that was usually reserved only for elite players like Roger Federer or on a really bad day...someone like Paul Henri Mathieu.
So how was it possible that a guy with absolutely no pedigree on clay would be able to defeat the four-time defending champion on his best surface?!
The answer to that question might not be completely obvious, but here are a few contributing factors as to what tipped the scale in Soderling's favor:
1. Burn out: Nadal had played in every single clay court tournament leading into the 2009 French Open. Making the finals in ALL of them. When you factor in the additional matches that he'd played during the hard court season, earlier that year, it was simply too many miles on his body.
The man was simply burned out and would be forced to take the next two months off to rest and recuperate.
2. Excellent Execution: Soderling had learned from his match in Rome that he stood no chance against Nadal by trading shots from the baseline.
In this match, he adapted a much different strategy and chose to hit through the Spaniard's line of defense. At 6' 4" Soderling was one of the few players that could actually do this. He would hit his way through Nadal's high looping forehands in a way that Roger Federer never could. Nadal was also a step slow in this match and the magic that always seemed to flow from his racquet was never there during this match.
3. Magnus Norman: Soderling's coach had studied Nadal's game and determined that there was a small and potentially exploitable weakness with his forehand. Early in Nadal's career, he would struggle against the players that could hit the ball low and fast to his forehand side. While the clay courts would lend to a slight slowing of the ball. Soderling was still able to put enough juice on his returns that Nadal wasn't able to get the ball back into play.
The playing conditions on this day were warm and dry. Which also helped Soderling pull-off the upset.
His victory over Nadal would go on to have a huge impact over the rest of the event. Ultimately leading to Roger Federer winning his first and only title at Roland Garros.
What are your memories of this match?
![A5jLVuc.jpg[img]](https://i.imgur.com/A5jLVuc.jpg[img])
