Quarterfinal Preview: Rafael Nadal vs Robin Soderling – French Open 2011
World number one Rafael Nadal is all set to take on Swede giant Robin Soderling in the quarterfinal of 2011 French Open here in Paris on Wednesday.
Nadal’s only defeat in his six French Campaigns was recorded in 2009 edition of the tournament when the same opponent stunned him with a 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-4, 7-6 (2). Before his defeat to Soderling, the Spaniard had lifted four consecutive
French Open titles. Although Nadal leads the head-to-head battle against Soderling 5-2, he has always faced a tough challenge from the Swede in their meetings.
Suffering from various injuries throughout his career, Nadal has shown some signs of fatigue this season. At the year first Grand Slam Australian Open, the King of Clay experienced a crushing defeat against compatriot David Ferrer
after he struggled with a leg injury. Holding on to the world number one crown, Nadal has been at the top of the tables for over 45 weeks now. However, his arch rival Novak Djokovic is having a dream run on the ATP tour and there is a general opinion that
the Nadal is now inferior to the Serb.
Coming to the results at the 2011 Roland Garros, Nadal started off in an uncertain fashion as he was forced to play a 5 sets match to overcome John Isner of United States. However he certainly up his game play afterwards, not dropping
another set since first round play.
Even Nadal himself admitted that he is not playing as good as he was last year at. Furthermore, four finals defeats inflicted on him by Djokovic, is playing with his mind. However, whoever has seen the Majorcan fighting for his
Wimbledon title against Roger Federer, will surely know that he is not going to give up easily and will give his 100 per cent till the last minute.
The Spaniard said he needs to "hit the ball with a little bit more conviction." Looking at the big picture, Nadal said, "The thing is, you have to be (a) realist, and today, I'm not playing well enough to win this tournament."
Robin Soderling on the other hand is yet to win a Grand Slam tournament in his career. Though, world number 5 has given his best performances here on the clay courts of Roland Garros, finishing runner-up in the last two seasons.
He has dropped only one set in the tournament, in the fourth round play against Ryan Harris and will certainly fancy his chances of advancing to the final stages of the tournament. In an interview, he expressed his views on Rafael Nadal;
"No, seriously, he's a great player," Soderling said of Nadal. "I think everybody knows what he can do. He won here so many times."
Both players possess destructive weapons which they can deploy against each other. Soderling is an erratic player who can floor any player on his day. Nadal may not be at his best but is improving with every match and is still
the favourite to emerge victorious from the clash.
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