Congrats Rafael Nadal for the 5th French Open Roland Garros Title

What a performance from rafa,sod couldn't blast his way out of it.i feel so sorry for sod he didn't deserve that kind of beating in the final,but he cant complain rafa handed him plenty of chances but he couldn't break through
without dropping a set and his first serve was amazing 95% first serve in the 3rd set when he realy needed it,easily the best player under pressure and controlling the nerves,incredible the last time he won without dropping a set he won Wimbledoncant wait for the grass season.

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Roland Garros French Open 2010 Final Preview - Nadal vs. Soderling

No. 2 Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs. No. 5 Robin Soderling (SWE)

Rafael Nadal will look to both win his fifth Roland Garros title and reclaim the No. 1 spot in the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings when he faces Robin Soderling, the only player ever to beat Nadal on the clay in Paris, in Sunday’s final. Soderling, through to the Roland Garros final for the second straight year, has already ousted World No. 1 Roger Federer en route to his second major final and will look to win his first Grand Slam trophy.

Head-To-Head

Soderling has won the past two matches against Nadal, including in the round of 16 at Roland Garros last year, which ended the Spaniard’s 31-match winning streak in Paris. That is Nadal’s lone loss at Roland Garros (37-1) and the only time he has lost a best-of-five sets match on clay (55-1).

        Soderling    Nadal
Aces    75    12
Double Faults    25    7
1st Serve %    64%    74%
1st Serve Points     77%    72%
2nd Serve Points     58%    55%
Broken    11    11
Break Points Faced     36    35
Games Served     100    86
Fastest Serve     142mph    126mph
         
1st Return Points Won     35%    40%
2nd Return Points Won     53%    59%
Breaks of Serve     34    34
Break Points     70    63
Pct. Converted     49%    54%
Return Games Played     98    84
         
Forehand Winners     101    106
Forehand Unforced Errors     98    81
Backhand Winners     54    33
Backhand Unforced Errors     88    54
         
Winners    260    179
Unforced Errors     216    146
         
Net Points Played     119    101
Net Points Won     61%    70%
         
Games W-L     123-75    112-61
Sets W-L     18-4    18-0




RANKINGS UPDATE – If Nadal captures his fifth Roland Garros title in five years, he will also return to No. 1 in the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings. If he fails to win the title, Roger Federer will retain the top spot and will also hold the position until Wimbledon, therefore surpassing Pete Sampras’s record of 286 weeks at No. 1 on June 14. Nadal last ranked No. 1 the week of June 29, 2009 after holding the top spot for 46 consecutive weeks. Soderling is guaranteed to attain a career-high ranking after Roland Garros, reaching No. 4 if he wins the title and No. 6 if he finishes runner-up.

Streak Stopper Super Swede Soda

Many Felt Soda head best times are over with 2009, and that GS streak was just an one-time wonder, but now he is making it a habit to stop significance Tennis streaks to an end.

Last year at the same tournament he ended Nadal's RG streak and now he stopped RF's semi streak from growing numbers.

Semi-final match against Tommy Berdych will be tough, Tommy has a better game than Soder but his consistency is questionable, but given the form of Soderling I back him to make the finals but no case it would be an easy task if Tommy hits his purple patch.

I badly miss Del Potro's game this year, I would have personally loved to watch in form DelBoy vs current Soder in the humid and heavy conditions.

Will there be any more upset?, I guess Melzer can do it, however may not do it.

Wish you all the best RS, now go and prove that you can win a GS.

Robin Soderling To Make Barclays ATP World Tour Finals Debut

Injured Roddick forced to withdraw from tournament

Big-hitting Swede Robin Soderling will make his debut at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals after an injured Andy Roddick announced his withdrawal Tuesday. Soderling, who this year became the first man to beat Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros, had been the first alternate for the world’s biggest indoor tennis tournament, which begins Sunday, 22 November, at The O2 in London.

With Soderling’s elevation, Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga becomes the tournament’s first-alternate.

Soderling, who will be the first Swede to play at the season finale since Thomas Johansson in 2002, this year finished in Top 10 of the South African Airways ATP Rankings for first time, highlighted by reaching his first Grand Slam final at Roland Garros and capturing his first ATP World Tour title on clay, on home soil in Bastad. He won nine matches in his first 10 tournaments through mid-May but then turned things around by compiling a 35-9 match record over the remainder of the season, which included runs to the Roland Garros final, Wimbledon fourth round and the US Open quarter-finals (losing to Roger Federer each time).

Soderling keeps hopes alive to qualify for ATP World Tour finals

Ninth-seeded Swede Robin Soderling won a tense do-or-die third-round clash against sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko, a fellow Barclays ATP World Tour Finals contender, at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris on Thursday to keep alive a five-way battle for the last two singles berths at the prestigious season climax.

Soderling avenged last month’s Proton Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur 2009 semi-final defeat against Davydenko with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 win in the pair’s fourth meeting this year. Despite hitting 11 aces and saving eight of 10 break points, Davydenko must now wait on other players results at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament if he is to qualify for the elite eight-man event at The O2 in London.

Soderling will next challenge either French wild card Arnaud Clement or ATP World Tour 2009 match-wins leader Novak Djokovic, the No. 3 seed from Serbia, in the quarter-finals.

The 25-year-old Soderling, who finished runner-up to Roger Federer at Roland Garros in June, improved to a 47-18 match record on the season. He added 90 South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings points for 3,010 points overall and remains 290 points behind No. 8-ranked Spaniard Fernando Verdasco. Davydenko, a winner of four ATP World Tour titles this year, is currently No. 7 in the year-to-date rankings with 3,630 points.

Injury hits Soderling London bid

Robin Soderling saw his hopes of reaching the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals dealt a blow as injury forced him out of the Stockholm Open.

The world number 10 withdrew ahead of his semi-final against Marcos Baghdatis because of an elbow injury.

Soderling had an opportunity to make up ground on Fernando Verdasco by taking the title in Sweden.

The Spaniard currently occupies the eighth and final place for next month's season finale in London.

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Juan Martin del Potro and Andy Roddick have already qualified, with Nikolay Davydenko well placed to seal seventh spot.

"I felt so much pain when I played in Asia," said Soderling. "I had an MRI Tuesday and they told me that I have to rest two, three weeks to get well."

Soderling has not yet decided if he will play his remaining tournaments, in Valencia and Paris, ahead of London.

"I haven't withdrawn from any tournaments so far," he said. "I'll just wait and see and have more medical examinations."