Soderling’s tactics paid off
Posted: Monday, June 01, 2009 12:35 PM
It struck me when the chair announced “6-1 Soderling” in the fourth-set tiebreak. Rafael Nadal was going down at the French Open. Not to Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic or a veteran dirtballer, but to Robin Soderling, a Swede whose only career achievements of note have been indoors.
Nadal losing on clay to an indoor specialist?
But Soderling employed the tactics many have implored Federer to use against Nadal. Soderling simply went all out on every shot of every point. He whaled forehands boldly, striking lines regularly. He blasted first serves over 130 mph, and we laughed in amazement at the boldness that allowed Soderling to hit 122-123 mph SECOND serves.
Simply put: No one is going to beat Nadal from the baseline at Roland Garros, and Soderling knew he had to put new meaning into playing with aggression. His heavy serve produced an astounding number of short returns from Nadal. I have never seen Nadal lose more three-stroke points, as Soderling repeatedly blasted winners off Nadal’s weak replies.
Finally, Soderling never blinked in the big moments. He crushed serves, absolute bombs, in the final set and for the first time, in the words of John McEnroe, Nadal “looked like a middleweight fighting a heavyweight.”
Where does it rank as an upset? McEnroe compared this to Michael Chang’s unforgettable upset of Ivan Lendl in the 1989 French Open in the Round of 16. Or Peter Doohan taking out two-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker in 1987. I tried Federer over Pete Sampras in the 2001 Wimbledon, the end of Sampras’ reign on grass. Admittedly, that’s a reach as Nadal is hardly finished on clay.
Simply, we didn’t see this one coming, not two days after Nadal dismantled Lleyton Hewitt, not from a Swede with no clay credentials, not at this Roland Garros, where Nadal seemed healthy and strong.
Now what? No doubt Federer just picked up a ton of expectation. He couldn’t take down Nadal in four tries in Paris, and now someone else has done the work. And in three and half hours, Federer went from one of the chasers to the prohibitive favorite.
I am not sure Federer is ready for that role. His last two matches have been a struggle and in no way is he playing as smoothly as he has in the last three years here.
But this shocking upset created for Federer a chasm into which he can make history. Win here and he has an irrefutable case for being the greatest player of all time. Win here and he will most certainly add one more major after this to break Pete Sampras’ record for most Grand Slam titles (14). Win here and he is still relevant in the discussion for the World No. 1 ranking.
One offshoot of this upset is how great does Federer’s run of making 19 straight Grand Slam semifinals look after Nadal’s loss? And how about making 14 of the last 15 Grand Slam finals -- all from a guy too quickly written off in the last year?
Federer has a tough road to navigate just to reach next Sunday’s final. He’s used to the spotlight, but a whole new pressure just landed on his shoulders.
