*Breaking* Nadal Upset by Soderling – Nadal Press Conference Quotes; Notes on Soderling and Nadal
May 31, 2009 by dwil
Robin Soderling, the French Open #23-seed, has had a war of words with Rafael Nadal since Wimbledon two years ago. Today Soderling took his venom to the court and defeated the number one player in the world at Roland Garros in a monumental upset, 6-2, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6.
Until Sunday, Nadal had never lost at Roland Garros, had a 31-match winning streak, and was going for his fifth straight French Open championship.
“I told myself this is just another match,” said the jubilant Soderling.
“All the time, I was trying to play as if it was a training session. When I was 4-1 up in the tiebreak, I started to believe.”
Nadal had a different take (quotes taken from a televised press conference):
I lost because I was losimg my calm and didn’t play well. People think I win because I am in in good physical shape but it is because I play well. Today I didn’t play well. The second set, I should have won it 6-4…. but I lost my calm.
I need to face the fact I didn’t play well… When I practiced today I felt good but that’s the end of the road, I have to accept my defeat. This is not a tragedy losing at the French Open. It had to happen some day.
Had I played my best level against Soderling maybe the result would have been different… I didn’t play at my best level and was playing someone who was playing very well today. I’ve seen him play many times so his playing level was not a surprise. My playing level was a surprise today.
You cannot collapse because you have won and you cannot collapse when you lose. No one remembers defeats in the long run, they remember victories.
I wish the crowd could cheer for me more in the future. This is not even close to the worst defeat in my career. I have never lost in a finals of a tournament.
And here is Soderling’s after-the-match take on his upset of Nadal:
“If people don’t like me, there’s nothing I can do about it. I just concentrate on my game. I’m here to play tennis, not to make friends. I don’t care about being famous.” says the current world No25, who broke into the top 20 for the first time in his career in February 2009.
His rematch with Nadal had been given extra spice by the cheek the Swede showed during their third-round encounter at Wimbledon in 2007. At the beginning of the fifth set, Magnus Norman’s protégé imitated the Spaniard by adjusting his underwear before every game.
“Quite frankly, that was a lot of fuss about nothing. I’m disappointed that Nadal complained to the press without talking to me about it directly. Personally, if I have a problem with a player I go and talk to him face-to-face.”
So has Soderling got any friends on the tour, apart from the ever-loyal Jarkko Nieminen? “Not many. I used to hang around with the other Swedes, but there are fewer on the circuit now,” says the softly-spoken Scandinavian, who toppled No14 David Ferrer in the third round.
Evidently, that lack of company does not weigh on him too heavily. Following an injury to his left wrist which kept him away from the tour between August 2007 and February 2008, Soderling had his best season ever in 2008, chalking up a win in Lyon, two finals and a place in the top 20. After a difficult start to the 2009 season, the Swede is finally enjoying the fruits of his consistency which, according to the man himself, failed him in the past.
“Now I feel that I can show my potential and accomplish great things. I want to get into the top 10 and the only way to do that is through being consistent. A handful of good results is not enough. All the guys in the top 30 dream of breaking into the top 10 and can make it happen. If I stay fit I know I can do it.”
It is about time someone stood up to Nadal. I have said for the longest that all it takes is player that unafraid of Nadal, who, in all honesty is little more than a one-trick pony, dirtballer, 21st century Guillermo Vilas, who has been intimately implicated in a blood-doping scandal by the once-doctor to around 200 European star athletes, Dr Eufemiano Fuentes.
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It is said that Nadal’s run at the French Open is perhaps the greatest ever in sports. Roger Federer, though, is working on a streak where he has reached 19 Grand Slam semifinals in a row (2004 Wimbledon to the present).
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Also today last year’s women’s French Open champion Ana Ivanovic, the #8-seed, was upset by Victoria Azarenko of Belarus, 6-2, 6-3
Proud day for us swedes, thought Söderling was gonna choke it away as he usually does but he kept hitting forehand after forehand never letting Nadal get control of the match.
Aruna-
Where did you watch the match? In Sweden? In the U.S. it won’t be shown until later in the afternoon (late evening for you, if you are in Sweden).
Online french stream, Swedish eurosport actually didn’t show it either (cycling). It was nice to see Söderling keep his mental compsure from start to finish and not resort to any complaining or gamesmanship after he dropped the tie break in the second. Nadal looked quite pissed after the game, I guess Söderling wasn’t his preferred choice to upset him since their heated Wimbledon encounter.
Ahhh, I see. Wow, I wished I could have watched it here in the U.S. Yeah I remember the Wimbledon match and the how angry Soderling was after the match and has been for two years now. I guess he’s been waiting for this moment for quite awhile (though Nadal crushed him in Rome this year, what 6-1,6-0).
“Roger Federer, though, is working on a streak where he has reached 19 Grand Slam semifinals in a row (2004 Wimbledon to the present).”
That is simply incredible. I’ve always maintained that true dominance and greatness is not defined by the narrow view of championships but of always being in the hunt for one.
– The Bills trip to four consecutive Super Bowls is as impressive as any other football achievement.
– During the 90′s, Ewing’s Knicks reached the second round of the playoffs nine out of 10 years, a feat matched by barely a handful.
– The yankees making the playoffs 12 years in a row and the braves’ run in the ’90s was also ridiculous.
The only sport that defines runner-up status as an achievement is college basketball and “Final Four” appearances. Why is that unique to CB? Because someone else said so?
I didn’t see the match. Glad to see someone finally beat Nadal at the French Open, though. More glad to see that Soderling stood up to him when I read that part about him mocking Nadal. People have been complaining about Nadal’s “habits” ever since he came on the scene. No one has done anything about it. Maybe if he concentrated more on his tennis instead of adjusting his clothes in this match, he might have won.
@kos
from what little I know, or care, about tennis… Nadal wins plenty, and shouldn’t care what anyone thinks of how he adjusts his clothes. It’s like when LeBron twists his rubberbands around on his wrists so he can always read what they say, if you care more about making fun of him doing it, he’ll just continue to dunk on you
It is about time someone stood up to Nadal. I have said for the longest that all it takes is player that unafraid of Nadal, who, in all honesty is little more than a one-trick pony, dirtballer, 21st century Guillermo Vilas, who has been intimately implicated in a blood-doping scandal by the once-doctor to around 200 European star athletes, Dr Eufemiano Fuentes.
Cheap shot, bro, cheap shot! You are much better than this. Other players haven’t lost to Nadal because they are afraid of him. You know better than that.
Boney-
The problem I and many others have with Nadal constantly adjusting his shorts, bouncing the ball 5000 times before the serve, and all of his other idiosyncrasies, is that it’s a stall tactic. Notice that Nadal doesn’t do those things as much when he’s winning. When he starts losing, he goes full blown on them. And let’s not even talk about his penchant for being “injured” and calling time outs when he’s down in a match. Tennis is a rhythm game. You can disrupt a good opponent if you do this enough. It is part mind game, but if you’re the number 1 or 2 player in the world, you shouldn’t have to resort to those types of things to win.