Robin Soderling was forced out of the game due to illness during the prime of his career, but the winner of 310 ATP matches and 10 titles still relishes his time at the top of the tour with no regrets. He gave an exclusive to the Australian web site, TennisSmash and talked about his time on tour, what he achieved to be his greatest achievement, and more.
I feel good now, finally,” Soderling said. “I struggled a lot for many years. It took many years to fully recover and they were the toughest years of my life by far. Even though I had to retire I’m really happy that I feel healthy again.”
Soderling still remembers the French Open as his greatest achievement, but it’s not the victory over Rafael Nadal that shocked the tennis world in 2009 that he remembers most fondly—it was his ability to back that trip to the final up with another runner-up performance in 2010.
“Obviously beating Rafa and reaching the final in 2009 was special but I was really happy that I stayed top 10 and beat Roger to make the final again before losing to Rafa,” he said. “Quite a few players can do well in one tournament but it’s a completely different story doing it throughout the years. I proved to myself that I really belong in the top five players in the world.”
Like many of today’s top pros, Soderling thinks the ATP’s season lasts too long. December is the only month where top pros can rest, recuperate and make changes to technical aspects of their game. Is it enough to allow players to continue evolving? Or is it the reason that the tour has seen so many top players buckle and give way to injuries in 2017?
“There were so many guys that were injured, and tennis can only blame itself for that,” he said. “The season is way too long, it’s not like other sports where you have a three, four-month off-season where athletes can rest and recover. In tennis, we have a few weeks in December and that’s it. You start again the day after New Year’s Eve. The sport would really benefit from having a longer break.