I'm really baffled by this 'Soderling is Nadal's nemesis' mumbo jumbo. Do you guys really think Rafa is sitting in a corner somewhere rocking back and forth and whimpering at the mere mention of Soderling's name? It's ludicrous how many people trot out this nonsense.
EVERYONE has a chance against the top guys and there WILL be upsets and streaks will be ended. That's not just tennis, that's life. Sod's victory was a big deal but please put it into context. He is far, far from being a metaphorical achilles' heel for Nadal.
I will attempt to explain why he and players with the same style are an achilles heal to Nadal.
You need some basic understanding of the technical aspects of the game to grasp this, tennis is about matchups, just as Nadal's style is a bad match up for Federer. The players who hit flat strokes and take away Nadal's time to setup to hit heavy topspin strokes are the bad matchups for Nadal.
These players would include: Soderling,Davydenko,Del Potro, Cilic, Aggressive Murray,Blake, Berdych,Nalbandian.
all can hit flat and take the ball early, as a result Nadal's forehand can be attacked by these players. His best weapon becomes a liabilty.
Soderling's high forehand is the best on tour, anything bouncing shoulder high he absolutely clobbers, this puts a lot of pressure on Nadal, to keep the ball deep against him, any short ball he hits Soderling steps into the court and hits a winner.
Nadal's basic strategy to hit topspin to the opponents backhand doesn't bother
Soderling and other tall players with 2 handed backhands at all. On top of that he has a 140mph serve. Finally we have Soderling's demeanor he is not in the least bit intimidated by Nadal's displays on court and will not allow Nadal to get his way so easily.
Nadal, like a coward, decided to take some shots at Soderling using the media. Soderling has been a man about it, stating if Nadal had a problem with him he should have came to him personally instead of talking to the press. Soderling has said some good things about Nadal recently, but I can tell you for certain there is no player on tour he loves to beat more than Nadal.
When they play it is personal.
People on TT have (extraordinarily) short term memories.
