Why/how did Soderling lose to Fed in 2009?
- Thread starter atp2015
- Start date
Leaving aside the possibility that Soderling may simply have played better in one match than the the other, he mastered Nadal the same way Djokovic and most other Nadal-beaters have bested Rafa from time to time: taking Nadal's heavy but loopy topspin and blasting it hard, flat, and deep. Federer changed pace and spin more, mixing things up and not giving a big hitter like Soderling such a steady stream of fat targets. Federer defuses Soderling. Soderling overpowers Nadal. Nadal grinds down Federer. It's an interesting circle of stylistic matchups.
Charlemagne
Hall of Fame
Federer has much more variety and employs a much more complex array of tactics to keep a big hitter like Soderling off balance. He varied pace, spin, depth of shot and general shot making to do so. Nadal was much more predictable with heavy topspin. IIRC, conditions during that encounter between Nadal and Soderling were somewhat wet, which kept the ball lower and placed it in Soderling's strike zone.
TheAverageFedererFan
Professional
I don't know. Just couldn't handle the pressure I guess.
Stratsworth
Rookie
Styles make matches.
atp2015
Hall of Fame
I watched the highlights after posting the question and now this is my theory.
1 Federer was able to absorb Soderling' s flat hard shots standing near the baseline. Nadal , otoh, was way back behind the baseline and it opened up angles for flat shots to go through. The key difference was guarding the baseline.
2 Nadal appeared a bit slow, not sure something physical was bothering him that day or it was just soderling's shots were too fast for him.
Overall the primary difference how effectively Federer was able to neutralize hard flat shots from the baseline. He was just able to manage to block them back or deflect them deep.
High bouncing slow balls (Nadal style ) could have caused problems?? You never know.
1 Federer was able to absorb Soderling' s flat hard shots standing near the baseline. Nadal , otoh, was way back behind the baseline and it opened up angles for flat shots to go through. The key difference was guarding the baseline.
2 Nadal appeared a bit slow, not sure something physical was bothering him that day or it was just soderling's shots were too fast for him.
Overall the primary difference how effectively Federer was able to neutralize hard flat shots from the baseline. He was just able to manage to block them back or deflect them deep.
High bouncing slow balls (Nadal style ) could have caused problems?? You never know.
Last edited:
fedtennisphan
Hall of Fame
Soderling only beat Federer once and he lost convincingly to Nadal in their other meetings. He had his 5 minutes of fame in 2009, but it’s now 2017.
fedtennisphan
Hall of Fame
Fed could stop the Soderling train that year twice, but not the Del Po train then and this year.
Still dwelling on that one GS title when Federer has went on to win several more and Delpo was won a big, fat 0 since.
tennis_pro
Bionic Poster
He underperformed. Soderling was a beast in the 4th/QF of the FO in 2009/2010, then barely won his SF matches in 5 sets and got straight setted in the final.
atp2015
Hall of Fame
Ya, but Fed has lost more GS semis and finals than he has won since 2009.
MasturB
Legend
I would have traded Lord Fedr winning that one for his AO 2017 to be honest.
If he won that 2009 USO he would have had 4 in a row (RG 09, WB 09, UO 09, AO 10). Usually it was Nadal stopping him from getting 4 in a row for years.
mike danny
Bionic Poster
LOL no. I wouldn't trade Fed's AO 2017 win for anything else. Sweetest win of his career. Fed himself would not trade that win as he called it the best of his career.
Dedans Penthouse
Legend
He was probably an Aquavit-soaked, hungover mess after partying his tail off after the Nadal match. . Hell, who wouldn't have had a huge letdown after sending Rafa to the showers?
if delPotro's big, straight-armed Condor-wingspan forehand could knock off Fed in the USO finals years back then Soderling's similar forehand would've probably have done the same thing to Fed in the finals....that is, had a Robin "Soberling" showed up on court.
: )
if delPotro's big, straight-armed Condor-wingspan forehand could knock off Fed in the USO finals years back then Soderling's similar forehand would've probably have done the same thing to Fed in the finals....that is, had a Robin "Soberling" showed up on court.
: )
Last edited:
I think he said that the "sweetness" of this AO17 victory could be only compared to FO 09, but I think I know what you're talking about
Druss
Hall of Fame
Pity Soderling only showed up ONCE out of 17 meetings with Federer.
D
Deleted member 307496
Guest
D
Deleted member 307496
Guest
Guess Gonzo went to the same party.
accidental
Hall of Fame
I'm not sure if you know much about this Federer guy, but from what I've heard, he's considered to be a pretty good player
It's funny how Federer is not seen to be such a good clay player, "because he only won RG once." Well, playing in the area of the greatest clay courter of all time, he was only in the final basically every year. Sampras never reaches the final in Paris, but clay never seems to be a knock on his legacy, yet someone is asking for a Federer victory to be "defended"? He was the second best clay player for a very long time. That's reason enough, no?
mike danny
Bionic Poster
Hey, the ************* believes that Nadal is more versatile than Fed. So it shouldn't surprise you.
octobrina10
Bionic Poster
Söderling didn't make the same mistake the next year (2010):
The final result in 2010:
chut
Professional
Octobot has "soderling" and "RG09" automatically covered by its scanners. The answer is always, always the same, no matter what the subject really is
One thing obviously is that Soderling played a bit scared both of his finals. For most of his career he was fragile psychologically, he got rid of that in the end with Norman but he didn't deliver in finals as well as the rest of his matches imo.
One thing obviously is that Soderling played a bit scared both of his finals. For most of his career he was fragile psychologically, he got rid of that in the end with Norman but he didn't deliver in finals as well as the rest of his matches imo.
Roddick85
Hall of Fame
AO 2017 is like a perfect story for Federer. Aging champ, coming back from knee surgery and a 6 months break, in unknown form. No one expects him to go very far given the context yet he deals with a rather difficult draw, plays a few 5 setters and defeats one of his main rival in a dramatic 5 sets match, come back from a break down in the 5th against someone that's been a nightmare to play against for most of his career. It doesn't get any sweeter than that I agree. Every slam victory is special in it's own way, but the story of AO 2017 stands in a league of it's own for RF.
Jaitock1991
Hall of Fame
Yeah. People really only remember his win over Rafa, but to me his brutal demolishment of Davydenko was just as if not more impressive.
TheMaestro1990
Hall of Fame
By being a MUG. Weak era. Fedr ballbasher. Close thread.
octobrina10
Bionic Poster
Octobot has "soderling" and "RG09" automatically covered by its scanners. The answer is always, always the same, no matter what the subject really is
One thing obviously is that Soderling played a bit scared both of his finals. For most of his career he was fragile psychologically, he got rid of that in the end with Norman but he didn't deliver in finals as well as the rest of his matches imo.
What goes around comes around, chutbot.
octobrina10
Bionic Poster
The people have been reminded about it by ******* on a daily basis since it happened.
Dedans Penthouse
Legend
(fedfan) boys.....seriously.........is the "my favourite male idol" thing that intense to the point that obviously
facetious posts involving "aquavit and hangovers" actually get lost in the sauce and hit nerves?........ "SeriOUslY?"...
...
facetious posts involving "aquavit and hangovers" actually get lost in the sauce and hit nerves?........ "SeriOUslY?"... ...
Jaitock1991
Hall of Fame
D
Deleted member 307496
Guest
Your unrequited adoration and love for a lesser player like Pete Sampras is quite amusing to say the least, and if your retort is going to be as tacky and cheesy as this one I wouldn't bother.(fedfan) boys.....seriously.........is the "my favourite male idol" thing that intense to the point that obviously
deacsyoga
Banned
Fed could stop the Soderling train that year twice, but not the Del Po train then and this year.
He stopped it in the 2009 RG semis, but even that could have ended up a 3 set win for Del Potro pending the 2nd set tiebreak.
metsman
Talk Tennis Guru
to be fair in 09/10 he faced really well playing big hitters in the semis so I wouldn't say he underperformed to win those semis.
El Principe
New User
I remember Fed's dropshot on the clay was godlike in that tournament. He really messed with Soderling with that shot.
BorgTheGOAT
G.O.A.T.
How can a win against a mug like davydenko be as impressive as beating prime Nadal at the French which is seen as maybe the biggest upset in tennis history?
BorgTheGOAT
G.O.A.T.
Lol at people talking about match ups, Soderling got nervous because of playing in a slam final. Almost the same happened one year later when he beat Fed in the quarters and then played poorly in the final against Nadal. There is no matchup issue here, Soderling is a hard hitter and when a hard hitter catches a lucky day and is going for the lines he can be dangerous for everyone even for Federer and Nadal. However, these days are usually rare and solderling completely underperformed in both his finals.
Jaitock1991
Hall of Fame
Watch the match. The quality of Soderling's play(which is what I'm taliking about, not the achievment itself) in that match is some of the most impressive clay court tennis I've ever watched.
BorgTheGOAT
G.O.A.T.
Ok to be honest I really haven't watched it yet. Will definitely do so soon.
Jaitock1991
Hall of Fame
I tried searching it up on youtube a few weeks back, but couldn't find it
Hopefully someone has put it out.
