Did the surface hurt Soderling's game?

[OKUSA]

Everyone always talks about how Soderling would prefer a slower court since he could get set for his huge strokes with large backswings, but it seemed like today that wasn't the case. Either Soderling was off, but he made a boatload of errors and he still couldn't hit winners off Nadal in many points which probably led to him accepting his fate that he can't beat Nadal.

I personally think the slow conditions helped Nadal track down mostly everything, and eventually break Soderling's spirit midway through the 2nd set. Once Soderling's game plan of blasting Nadal off the court wasn't working he just went away instantly

 

[vortex1]

Soderling made many errors because of Nadal's ridiculous defense. He made him play that extra ball and make UE. That made Soderling angry and he went for more with his shots, which resulted in even more UE.

 

[OKUSA]

Well Nadal's defense is helped tremendously by slower conditions, especially on the return. Nadal got so many returns back today with decent depth as well

 

[urban]

I don't get all this crap about court conditions and all the Soderling hype. Of course, slower courts are hampering the big server. Why did Sampras and Stich so well at the 1997 RG. Because it was hot all day, the courts fast as hard courts. Nadal will beat Soderling even on grass and hard, because he is simply the better player. Soderling has a big serve, a lethal forehand, when he has room and time, but a quite weak backhand, no volley whatsoever and bad movement and footwork. Compare him to Safin: He had big serve and forehand, too, but also a lethal backhand and a decent forecourt game.

 

[Jay_The_Nomad]

Nope.

Soderling lost because Nadal made him run and exposed his fitness frailties.

 

[OKUSA]

So, it wouldn't have mattered today what the court surface was?

 

[jackson vile]

Everyone always talks about how Soderling would prefer a slower court since he could get set for his huge strokes with large backswings, but it seemed like today that wasn't the case. Either Soderling was off, but he made a boatload of errors and he still couldn't hit winners off Nadal in many points which probably led to him accepting his fate that he can't beat Nadal.

I personally think the slow conditions helped Nadal track down mostly everything, and eventually break Soderling's spirit midway through the 2nd set. Once Soderling's game plan of blasting Nadal off the court wasn't working he just went away instantly

Thing is that those super heavy conditions allowed him to beat Federer. So if the conditions were different you could argue that he would never have made it past Federer in the first place.

You can have it both ways, and neither can Soderling.

 

[thejoe]

On the court level camera angles, it didn't look to me as if Soderling's ball was going through the court very well.

 

[Deleted member 3771]

When the sun came out Nadal was dominant, his balls were absolutely zinging off the court when the sun was out.The overcast conditions took some zing off Nadal's ball and helped Sod set up his huge shots even more. But despite this Nadal was still far too good.

 

[TheLoneWolf]

Multiple choice question. Fill in the blank:
_________ hurt Soderling today.

1. The weather
2. The surface
3. The stock market
4. His underwear
5. Nadal

If you didn't pick 5, you need to eat more of this:

 

[BeHappy]

I don't get all this crap about court conditions and all the Soderling hype. Of course, slower courts are hampering the big server. Why did Sampras and Stich so well at the 1997 RG. Because it was hot all day, the courts fast as hard courts. Nadal will beat Soderling even on grass and hard, because he is simply the better player. Soderling has a big serve, a lethal forehand, when he has room and time, but a quite weak backhand, no volley whatsoever and bad movement and footwork. Compare him to Safin: He had big serve and forehand, too, but also a lethal backhand and a decent forecourt game.

A weak backhand?

I agree OP, but I also thought he wasn't aggressive enough off the return like he was against Federer. He had Federer on the defensive the whole match, which is what he has to do because he is so slow and is easily out maneuvered once he gives his opponent the initiative. I also thought he choked the first set away and only regained his nerve once he held off the second break. Once he failed to break Nadal in that long 3rd game his back was broken and he looked depressed and resigned to defeat, his intensity was gone and he looked like he was torn between wanting to get off the court quickly and not wanting an embarassing scoreline.

 

[samprasvsfederer123]

i could see that soderling didn't play near his best not even half as good.

i could see in the start that he started good but it all got sour when he missed the break point he had in his favor.

from very early i could see that he would get frustrated at nadal's ridiculous defense he had today, and since soderling him self didnt play his best he couldnt brake nadal's defense, he was forced to make errors, was unlucky, had like what 8 break points, 0 conversions

i dont know i guess my point is he was too off today and nadal played too well

 

[samprasvsfederer123]

Multiple choice question. Fill in the blank:
_________ hurt Soderling today.

1. The weather
2. The surface
3. The stock market
4. His underwear
5. Nadal

If you didn't pick 5, you need to eat more of this:

5, and maybe 1

 

[drive]

I've been reading during last days on this forum that cloudy weather would favour Sod. If you take aout maybe 20 minutes, wheater has been cloudy all the match and now it turns out that weather has been against Soderling?
Please can someone explain it to me? Thanks

 

[TheLoneWolf]

5, and maybe 1

OK, only half ration for you mister.

I thought Soderling preferred cooler weather, didn't he say so himself?

 

[okdude1992]

soderling likes the heavy conditions. those conditions favored him against federer. so the weather didn't hurt him. nadal's defense, and his own UEs sure did though

 

[OKUSA]

I've been reading during last days on this forum that cloudy weather would favour Sod. If you take aout maybe 20 minutes, wheater has been cloudy all the match and now it turns out that weather has been against Soderling?
Please can someone explain it to me? Thanks

I did explain it, the reason why it hurt him is because Nadal got to everything frustrating Soderling to the point where he had a gameplan A but it failed. After that he had no gameplan B, and just withered away.

 

[samprasvsfederer123]

OK, only half ration for you mister.

I thought Soderling preferred cooler weather, didn't he say so himself?

i dont know its just the most plausible out of the other options
because weather also affects the surface right

so that would knock out options 1 and 2..

im more into mockingbirds...:twisted: jk

do you understand the spiritual metaphor?

 

[Mr_Shiver]

First off Nadal played great defense. Soderling didn't help himself by mindlessly bashing and going for too much. He didn't work the point to put himself in position and when he did he often went too close to the lines. As for the Fed match, Sod was hot and lets face it Fed s defense isn't what it used to be. He spends a lot more time covering up his bh now a days.

 

[TheLoneWolf]

i dont know its just the most plausible out of the other options
because weather also affects the surface right

so that would knock out options 1 and 2..

im more into mockingbirds...:twisted: jk

do you understand the spiritual metaphor?

LOL. I think so, yes. It was a bird in a mocking thread, so we might as well call it a mockingbird.

The surface/weather thing is just looking for explanations for what happen today in a place that doesn't involve Nadal. Nadal simply neutralized Soderling in the first half of the match, and Soderling lost faith in the second half.

 

[samprasvsfederer123]

LOL. I think so, yes. It was a bird in a mocking thread, so we might as well call it a mockingbird.

The surface/weather thing is just looking for explanations for what happen today in a place that doesn't involve Nadal. Nadal simply neutralized Soderling in the first half of the match, and Soderling lost faith in the second half.

you got the metaphor

 

[OKUSA]

You can't honestly say that the conditions didn't help Nadal's defense. If it helped Nadal then it certainly hurt Soderling

 

[Lsmkenpo]

No wasn't the surface, Nadal just played better, and Soderling didn't hit very clean on the few opportunities he got to make a difference in the match.

 

[TheLoneWolf]

you got the metaphor

It was a good (great actually) one. I like word games as well, so I can appreciate it.

 

[samprasvsfederer123]

It was a good (great actually) one. I like word games as well, so I can appreciate it.

word games huh

fine then ill give u 1 it contains numbers as well

What is special about the following sequence of numbers?
8 5 4 9 1 7 6 10 3 2 0

 

[TheLoneWolf]

word games huh

fine then ill give u 1 it contains numbers as well

What is special about the following sequence of numbers?
8 5 4 9 1 7 6 10 3 2 0

No idea, man. I'm afraid you got me there.

Wait...When you add them together you get the amount of burritos that Rosie O'Donnell devours while watching a lesbian flick with her girlfriend? I have no idea...

 

[samprasvsfederer123]

No idea, man. I'm afraid you got me there.

Wait...When you add them together you get the amount of burritos that Rosie O'Donnell devours while watching a lesbian flick with her girlfriend? I have no idea...

no no you got it wrong you didn't explain who her girl friend is,... nancy grace.

 

[Mick]

i think it's kinda like when nadal lost the match to soderling last year: at the pro level, you have got to play pretty close to your best ability in order to beat the other guy.

last year, nadal wasn't able to do it (against soderling) and today soderling wasn't able to do it (against nadal), thus they lost.

 

[Cyan]

Soderling made many errors because of Nadal's ridiculous defense. He made him play that extra ball and make UE. That made Soderling angry and he went for more with his shots, which resulted in even more UE.

Yeah he would make Baresi, Maldini and Beckenbauer proud.:shock:

 

[TheLoneWolf]

no no you got it wrong you didn't explain who her girl friend is,... nancy grace.

How did Rosie get her girlfriend preggo? This riddle is going to prove even more inscrutable than the Gordian Knot.