Wimbledon:
25 June - 08 July 2007

And one more time in a Grand Slam tournament the first seeded player, Soderling can meet is Rafael Nadal.
But first he had to make it to the third round and the first hurdle was the struggling Belgian Olivier Rochus. The match was extremely easy for Soderling, as he served well, made 20 aces and was never challenged on serve. He didn't face a single breakpoint and broke Rochus five times for three sets win.
The second round against the former semifinalist Grosjean was going to be tougher. Although Grosjean has a well below par season so far, he is still a formidable player. And on the grass a single break was deciding the sets. The first three sets went to the first server - the opening for Robin, the next for Grosjean and the third for the Swede with an early break. And unlike the Australian Open, Robin stepped-up into the fourth set to break twice and with a 6-2 to move to the third round against Nadal.

In the third round he met Nadal for the second time (after last year's Roland Garros). After a rain delay the match started with an early advantage for Soderling, but he didn't convert his breakpoint. He was serving well and lost only six points off his serve, but unfortunately, four of them were in one game and he was broken - enough to lose the opening set.
The Spaniard broke in the second as well, but this time Soderling fought back to level at 3-3. But that wasn't enough as he lost serve again and trailed 4-5 before the first rain-delay that interrupted the play.
After the play was resumed, Nadal served out the set and after making another break early in the third set, it was looking that he was heading for a straight set win. Robin broke back though, and then made another break to serve for the set. His nerves failed him on this attempt and the Swede was broken to 15 (double-faulting on the breakpoint) and Nadal took the set into tie-break. Soderling trailed in the beginning, fought back to have a set-point on serve. He made two successive errors then and Nadal got to his match-point. Everybody, including Nadal thought the match was over with a forehand winner from the Spaniard, but Robin challenged Nadal's shot and the point was overruled.
Here came the second rain interruption and few hours later they returned for the remaining of the tiebreak. Soderling won the next point to earn second setpoint, which he converted with an ace.
The next set was decided by a single break as Nadal's game was clearly not at its best at this point. He got broken to love midway through the set and then Soderling served it out with ease.
In the beginning of the final set there was a little controversy with Nadal (see movie in the forum), but it was clear that he had lifted his game. He won the opening game to love and broke Robin to 15 in the next. At 30-30 in the third game Nadal was serving to consolidate the break, when the rain poured down again and the match was suspended for Tuesday.
And already three days behind schedule (the third round should have been completed on Saturday), Soderling and Nadal played only six games the entire day. But it was good stuff from Soderling, as he won the first two point on Nadal's serve (they were starting at 30-30 to re-break and then made two service games to love and 15. In between he had a chance to break once more, but Nadal played two good points to dig himself out of a 15-40 deficit.
Final of the match was on Wednesday. This time Nadal was playing well off the mark, Robin got to breakpoint again though. But the Spaniard played a great point and saved it. He won his service again to lead 6-5 and Soderling had to serve to stay in the match for the second time.
This time it was hard - he made three unforced errors and Nadal got two matchpoints at 15-40. Robin saved them with some great play and brave net coming, Nadal though was not giving up and pushed to have two more, also saved by the Swede. Then two errors off Soderling's backhand handed the Spaniard the win after four hours on court in three days.

Soderling Interview

This is the after match interview:

Q. How tough was that match?
Robin: It was four hours, 7 5 in the third, so it was pretty tough. It was special with all the delays, all the rain. It was for sure different.
Q. What is the source of your bad blood with Nadal?
Robin: Well, it's tough to say. He's a good player. He's a really good player. I mean, he plays well on every surface now. So I think I needed to serve a little bit better today than I did. I didn't put so many first serves in as I needed to. You know, I had my chances at 4 All, one breakpoint. It wasn't my day today.
Q. Rafa has been quite critical of you, your sportsmanship. Your thoughts on that?
Robin: He said what?
Q. He was quite critical of your behavior.
Robin: Okay, yeah. I'd probably say the same, yeah, but I won't do that. I keep it to myself.
Q. Did you miss understand my question? I asked what was the source of your bad blood with Nadal? Why was it such an unfriendly match?
Robin: Well, I don't think it was. I mean, it was a tough match. It was really tough match. That's how tough matches is.
Q. Why don't you seem to like him as a person and as a fellow competitor?
Robin: Well, I haven't said that to anyone, that I don't like him. I mean...
Q. Rafael is saying that he tried to say hello to you. You never answer. Try to shake hands with you. You almost did not want to. Almost nobody in the locker room is speaking good about you.
Robin: I would never say that about anyone on the press conference. I mean, that's what he said. I mean, I could say the same. I could talking shit about a lot of people, but I won't do that.
Q. You were imitating him out there on the court. It seemed like you were making fun of him. You were delaying a little bit, sometimes stepping back. It seemed pretty obvious there was something going on. What Rafa said seemed to confirm that.
Robin: Okay, yeah. I mean, I told you, I say it again, I mean, that's for him. I mean, that's what he said. I would never say anything about that to the press. I mean, I'm never talking bad about anyone to the press. I mean, if he's complaining about that, I never say hi to him, what can I do?
Q. He was also complaining the ball hit the net, went over, not doing the courtesy wave, the handshake.
Robin: He must have been in his complaining mood today. If my opponent, I mean, gets a lucky shot and he doesn't say I'm sorry, I don't care. For me it's okay. Why should I say I'm sorry when I'm like happiest moment of my life? Why should I say I'm sorry? It's just bullshit.
Q. How would you describe how you feel about him and what your relationship is?
Robin: I mean, I have nothing to say. I mean, I can talk about him as a player, but I don't even know him outside the court.
The Moderator: I think we need to change the line of questioning. He said he doesn't want to answer about that.
Q. Stopping and starting the match the day before and today, do you lose a lot of mental stamina because of that, or do you feel you have more energy and umph to move forward and win?
Robin: For me personally, I think I'm pretty good in matches like this. I think I start my matches pretty well. I think I did like the past 200 rain delays. But today I felt I play a little bit better yesterday. Today, as I said, I didn't put as many first serves in as I needed to. But still I had my chances. I had a breakpoint. But he played well. All credit to him.
Q. Do you think Rafa has the game to stop Roger Federer taking a fifth title?
Robin: On grass, no, I don't think so. As I said, everything can happen. I think all players who are left in the draw now, they can win the tournament. But I think Federer on grass, he's a better player. He has all strokes. I mean, he really can play. Like Nadal, he's really good at what he's good at. I mean, Federer, he's a more complete player I think.
Q. Were you upset you weren't playing on Sunday?
Robin: No, not really. I know they were not playing on Sunday. It could have rained all Sunday anyway. But, no. I expected to play on Monday.
Q. After the match was called off, we had one hour of sun.
Robin: Yeah, I don't know why they canceled it. I mean, it's easy to say now after when we saw what happened.
Q. Which things were feeling uncomfortable to you in the court?
Robin: What feelings are uncomfortable?
Q. You were feeling uncomfortable in the court, not easy on the court.
Robin: I mean, I felt okay.
Q. In general, how difficult is it to be on the court, go back again to the locker room?
Robin: It's difficult. I mean, it's not something you do every match. I mean, this must be the record. We played the match for, I don't know, five days or something. For sure it's something you haven't done before.
Q. Did the tension cripple the match in that respect?
Robin: It can happen, but I didn't I don't think that was the problem for me in this match.
Q. Would you tell us what you were thinking when you were grabbing at your shorts and why you were doing that?
Robin: Oh, well, it was more of a fun thing, you know. I mean, I had to wait for him it was at the start of the fifth set. Until that, I think I had to wait for him, I mean, more than 200 times. Every point I had to wait for him. He had to wait for me one time. He's starting already shaking his head, doing these things. So, but, it was maybe I shouldn't have done it. I'm not angry at him at all.
Q. How did it make you feel during those 200 times he did slow things down?
Robin: It's tough. I mean, most of the players I think all players play faster than him. It's different. That's how he plays against everybody, so...

Wimbledon London, England Surface: Grass Status: Grand Slam Prize Money: £5,022,560 Draw Size: 128 Winner: (1)Roger Federer Finalist: (2)Rafael Nadal Robin Soderling this year: Third round Lost to (2)Rafael Nadal 4-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4, 5-7 Defending Champion: (1)Roger Federer Last Year's finalist: (2)Rafael Nadal Robin Soderling last year: First Round Lost to Tim Henman Seeded players: 1. Roger Federer 2. Rafael Nadal 3. Andy Roddick 4. Novak Djokovic 5. Fernando Gonzalez 6. Nikolay Davydenko 7. Tomas Berdych 8. Andy Murray 9. James Blake 10. Marcos Baghdatis 11. Tommy Robredo 12. Richard Gasquet 13. Tommy Haas 14. Mikhail Youzhny 15. Ivan Ljubicic 16. Lleyton Hewitt 17. David Ferrer 18. Jarkko Nieminen 19. Jonas Bjorkman 20. Juan Carlos Ferrero 21. Dmitry Tursunov 22. Guillermo Canas 23. David Nalbandian 24. Juan Ignacio Chela 25. Carlos Moya 26. Marat Safin 27. Philipp Kohlschreiber 28. Robin Soderling 29. Agustin Calleri 30. Filippo Volandri 31. Dominik Hrbaty 32. Juan Monaco cut: Juan Pablo Guzman - 106

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